One backyard court. Pickleball, basketball, tennis — your call.

A multi-sport court is one pad carrying two to four sets of game lines. The design work is in the line hierarchy - which sport gets the dominant color and which gets the secondary - and in choosing equipment that shares footings.

**Common footprints:** 30' x 60' covers basketball half court plus one pickleball court - 50' x 84' adds volleyball, badminton and a shuffleboard lane without crowding.

Every hard-surface court we quote in Georgia is built in the same five stages. What changes between a $18k pickleball court and a $60k tennis court is the size of the footprint, the depth of the base, and the surface system on top.

1. Layout, grading and drainage The contractor lasers the footprint, confirms setbacks and access for equipment, strips organics, and cuts the pad to grade. Georgia clay holds water, so the pad is built with a 1% planar slope in one direction — never a crown — and edge drains or a French drain are added where the yard sheds toward the court.

2. Structural base 4"–6" of graded aggregate base compacted in lifts to 95% density. This is the single most important cost line on the job: a court that cracks almost always failed in the base, not in the coating.

3. Slab or asphalt pad Post-tensioned or fiber-reinforced concrete (typically 4"–5") or 2"–3" of plant-mix asphalt. Concrete is the Georgia default for backyard courts because it tolerates our freeze/thaw and heavy rain cycles and can carry a modular tile surface later without rework.

4. Surface system Either an acrylic system — primer/sealer, acrylic resurfacer, two textured color coats, then textured white line paint — or a modular interlocking sport tile court kit laid over the cured pad. Acrylic gives the classic tour look; sport tile gives instant drainage, zero recoating, and a DIY-friendly install.

5. Lines, equipment and perimeter Game lines to governing-body spec, then posts, nets, hoops or backstops set in sleeves or footings, followed by fencing, netting, windscreens, lighting and landscape restoration.

**Space:** confirm the full pad plus a safety run-out on all sides. For a modular sport tile court kit, the pad must extend at least 2" past the finished kit dimension on every side so the tiles can expand and contract seasonally.

**Slope:** up to about a 3' fall across the pad can be absorbed with grading; beyond that you are into retaining walls or engineered fill, which is where budgets move.

**Base condition:** sport tile can only go over a solid, level surface — new or existing concrete or asphalt. It cannot be installed directly on gravel, compacted stone, or bare ground.

**Existing courts:** a cracked or faded slab is usually the cheapest court you will ever own. Crack fill plus an acrylic resurface, or a sport tile kit laid straight over the old surface, both avoid new concrete entirely.

**Access:** a 9'-wide path for a skid steer and concrete truck reach. Pumping concrete over a house adds cost.

**Permits and HOA:** most Georgia municipalities treat a backyard court as an impervious-surface addition. Expect setback review, impervious-coverage limits, and HOA architectural approval before build.

**Acrylic color system.** Best when you want a clean visual hierarchy: one dominant playing color with secondary sports striped in contrasting textured line paint.

**Cushioned acrylic system.** Recommended when the court will host running sports as well as pickleball or basketball.

**Modular sport tile court kit.** The cleanest multi-sport answer. Molded game lines in different tile colors mean each sport reads instantly instead of fighting a maze of painted stripes, and layouts can combine basketball, pickleball, volleyball, badminton and shuffleboard in a single kit with a custom center logo.

- Adjustable basketball hoop plus removable pickleball or volleyball posts - Additional game line sets (each sport striped or molded in its own color) - Multi-sport divider netting to run two games at once - Ball-containment netting and 10' fencing - LED lighting for evening play - Custom center logo, team colors, scoreboard - Bench seating, storage cabinet, landscape surround