How we build a premium soccer & football field.

Drainage engineering — sized to the storm, not guessed.

Every drainage system on a Bearcat field starts with a hydrology calculation, not a pipe-size default. Using a 1.0 inch-per-hour design storm across a fully contributing field surface, the math works out to approximately 0.0104 gallons per minute of required capacity per square foot, per inch/hour of rainfall intensity. On a 213,000-square-foot multi-use field, that's roughly 2,210 GPM at a 1.0 in/hr storm — scaling to about 1,150 GPM at 0.5 in/hr and 4,600 GPM at 2.0 in/hr, the range North Texas sees in its harder summer storms. We size collector pipe, panel spacing, and outfall connections against that number, not against "it drained fine last time."

• Standard system: 18″ perforated HDPE N-12 collectors plus 12″ lateral feeders, washed #57 drain stone backfill, non-woven geotextile under-liner. Designed to evacuate 3–4 inches of rain per hour and return the field to playable condition within 30 minutes.
• Flat-panel herringbone upgrade: parallel flat-panel underdrains at roughly 18.5 ft on-center in a chevron pattern, cutting the lateral distance water travels through the base before it hits a collection line. We spec this over standard collector pipe on tight-timeline builds, expansive-clay sites, and fields tight against retaining walls where routing a full lateral grid is harder.
• Discharge coordination: subsurface drainage performance assumes the downstream civil outfall structures and site storm piping carry adequate capacity. We confirm points of connection and invert elevations with the project's civil engineer before pricing, not after.

The mechanism behind all of it — why a high carpet permeability rating doesn't guarantee a dry field on North Texas clay — is covered in our turf permeability and drainage reference.

Base & laser grading

• Separation fabric: continuous 8 oz needle-punched nonwoven geotextile over the prepared subgrade, preventing native clay fines from migrating up into the stone base.
• Aggregate base: 6 inches of compacted #57 drain stone across the full footprint, compacted to a minimum of 95% Modified Proctor density.
• Finish tolerance: laser-graded to within ±0.05 ft (about a quarter inch) over the field envelope, with a 0.2%–0.5% designed planar slope carrying water toward the drainage collection edge. Tolerance protects ball roll and footing; slope is what actually moves the water — a spec needs both.

Perimeter curb & turf attachment

Continuously reinforced 12″ × 12″, 4,000 psi concrete curb around the full field perimeter, reinforced with two continuous #4 rebar runs and control joints at 10-foot maximum intervals. A pressure-treated composite nailer is mechanically anchored to the interior face so the turf seams to a solid edge instead of a stone face — the detail that keeps edges from curling and eroding over the life of the field.

Shock pad & G-Max

A closed-cell shock pad between the stone base and the turf carpet is the single biggest lever on player-safety numbers: it drops a new field from the 140–160 G-Max range (no pad) into 90–110, and it's effectively required by insurers for youth competitive play. We hold fields to no greater than 130 G-Max at installation, verified by an independent third-party testing firm, staying well clear of the 165 recommended ceiling and the 200 ASTM F1936 never-exceed limit. The full number tiers, and what to write into a bid spec, are in our G-Max guide for athletic directors and the spec-writer version at /specifications/gmax-testing.

Infill system

A dual-layer system installed in controlled lifts and power-broomed between passes: a silica sand ballast layer (roughly 1.0 lb/SF) to seat the backing and stabilize the fiber, topped with a crumb rubber performance layer (roughly 1.5 lb/SF) for impact absorption and traction. Organic alternatives — coconut, cork, or coated sand — are available where heat or allergen concerns drive the spec.

The six-stage build.

Every field follows the same sequence, whether it's a 200,000-square-foot multi-use surface or a smaller school build. Materials and quantities scale to the project; the order doesn't. For the full line-item version with 2026 pricing, see our 17-step build and cost deep-dive.

1. 1Mobilization. Site logistics, staging, safety controls, and survey layout from established civil control points.
2. 2Drainage. Collector system (standard or flat-panel) installed with continuous fall to designated outfalls, in alignment with the site's civil grading plan.
3. 3Perimeter curb & nailer. Continuous concrete curb poured and anchored nailer installed to restrain the base and turf edges before any stone goes down.
4. 4Base & finish grading. Aggregate base placed, compacted, and laser-graded to tolerance with the designed planar fall.
5. 5Shock pad & turf. Pad installed continuously, turf rolled, seamed, and lines/logos inlaid for durability — not painted on top.
6. 6Infill, testing & turnover. Infill installed and groomed, independent G-Max testing, maintenance training, and delivery of the field groomer to the owner.

Why the engineering matters more than the price per square foot.

Athletic facilities get planned around a 10-year-plus service horizon, and over that horizon the real cost of a field is set by lifecycle stability, not the number on the winning bid. An underbuilt system shows up as water pooling in the sub-base and saturating infill after moderate storms, expansive clay heaving an unseparated or under-drained base into soft spots and trip hazards, and carpet backing sitting submerged during wet cycles until the adhesive and fibers fail years ahead of schedule. An engineered system — multi-tiered drainage sized to the storm, a geotechnically aligned base, and independent shock-pad protection — is what keeps a field playable, safe, and on its original schedule for the full 10 years instead of the first three.

Clarifications & exclusions.

Stated up front in every Bearcat institutional bid, so a comparison against another bidder's number is apples-to-apples:

• Mass earthwork, benchmark control, rough grading, and global retention/detention are provided by others unless itemized separately.
• Subgrade is assumed delivered within design tolerance, free of debris, and compacted to specified density before we start.
• Storm-outfall points of connection are assumed available at the field perimeter, at inverts that support gravity drainage.
• Field lighting, scoreboards, netting, fencing, vertical structures, and offsite utility work are excluded unless itemized as a separate line.

Bid documentation.

On request, we provide the following with our bid submission:

Before you publish your ITB.

If you're drafting an RFP or Invitation to Bid for a soccer or football field, we'll review the spec language before you post it. The mistakes we see most often:

• Drainage specified as "adequate" instead of a GPM capacity tied to a stated design storm, which lets every bidder assume a different number.
• No slope requirement alongside the grading tolerance — a flat, in-tolerance base still holds water.
• Single-sourcing a turf brand that restricts competitive bidding without improving the finished field.
• No independent G-Max requirement at closeout, letting the installer certify its own work.