If you are thinking about building new padel courts or maybe even a padel club, it is important to make relevant considerations about the project before you start. In this article, we will guide you step by step through what you should consider if you are planning to build one or more padel courts.
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First, we'll look at how much it costs to build a padel court and we'll go through the most important aspects to consider when setting a budget for your construction project. Next, we emphasize the importance of building permits, and we look at essential aspects of padel courts such as space requirements, ceiling height and court lighting. Finally, we discuss the maintenance of paddle tennis courts, as well as an underestimated but nonetheless extremely important area: considerations on the best booking software for your padel courts.
The price of a padel court varies a lot, but an estimate is around €20-25,000. The cost of building new padel courts depends on whether you're building from scratch, whether it's indoors or outdoors, and whether you have special requirements for facilities around the court. You can dive deeper into the prices of the individual components of a padel court in this post, where we look at the costs of a padel court.
From the very beginning, it's responsible to draw up a budget for your padel courts so that you have a financial framework for the project. A budget helps to give you an overview of the construction costs, so you avoid unpleasant surprises in the later stages of the project.
When creating a budget for building padel courts, you can consider the following questions, among others:
The budget can be included as part of an overall business plan.
If you haven't obtained the necessary building permits, this can be a show-stopper for the project. The construction of the padel courts can be delayed or completely rejected if the permits and any changes to the area's local plan are not in order. In other words, taking care of the above is an essential part of the preparation before you start building the padel tennis courts.
In addition to having the building permits and licences in place, you should also consider the distance to the neighbors when building padel courts. A good relationship with the neighbors is clearly desirable so that you, the users of the court and the neighbors do not experience inconveniences such as noise from the courts.
A standard padel court is 20 meters long and 10 meters wide. There should be at least half a meter more on all sides and preferably even more to improve the playing experience.
If you are building singles courts for padel, you can make do with a court that is 20 meters long and 6 meters wide plus the additional half meter on all sides.
When building outdoor padel courts, it is advisable to consider where the wind comes from and how the sun's rays fall during the day. It makes a difference whether the court is positioned south/north (recommended) or east/west. Wind and weather greatly affect outdoor padel, so if you are able to locate the court sheltered from the wind, this is a great advantage.
Implementing an effective drain in the court is also worth considering. After a heavy rainfall, water can be left on the surface of the court surface and if the water is not drained away, the artificial grass turf is unplayable.
Finally, surrounding trees can also be taken into account when choosing the best location to build a padel court. Avoid building the court right next to trees, where fallen leaves and branches risk making the court slippery.
If you are building padel courts in an existing center, which may already house other sports, you should also consider how the padel courts interact with the venus's other activities.
And of course, it is also worth looking at whether it is easy to get a parking space and get to and from the courts by public transport.
When building padel courts, it's always a good idea to work with specialists who have done it before. In addition to the players on your local market, there are specialized teams in e.g. Spain that do nothing else but build padel courts. Regardless of who is in charge of installing your padel courts, you should be planning tasks such as renting a scaffolding and a lift with the suppliers in advance so that no time is wasted waiting for one of these items when the work team is ready.
If you're building indoors or with a cover, it's important to build to the right height - otherwise you risk players preferring other padel tennis centers with sufficiently high ceilings. It is simply essential that the padel court has the right ceiling height so that players can make a proper lob.
The ceiling of a padel court should be at least 6 meters high, but building higher is recommended. A height of 9-12 meters is preferable as it significantly improves the playing experience. If there are two courts next to each other and one has 6 meters to the ceiling and the other 12 meters to the ceiling, you will always choose the court with 12 meters to the ceiling because you can use the lob much more efficiently.
If you are building a covered padel court, we recommend that you consider possible noise and echoes on the courts. If the court is fully covered and the sounds from players and equipment cannot escape, it can resound in the hall and the acoustics can become problematic.
The right lighting conditions on and around the padel court are of great importance. Players should not feel that they have floodlights shining on their eyes and are blinded when looking upwards. On the other hand, it should also not be so dark that the ball disappears from your view.
In addition to the padel courts themselves, there are various options to enhance the overall experience for the players. If you want to attract the best players, or are thinking of organizing padel tournaments, factors such as audience seating and sufficient space for players to run outside the court to return a smash are key considerations to take into account.
Likewise, the environment around the padel courts is important. A café or lounge area by the courts where people can buy food and drinks can help to create an atmosphere and encourage people to stay longer in the center.
For players, changing and shower facilities are also always nice to have. If you get straight into your car with sweaty clothes after your padel match and drive home, you risk getting cold. Here, good changing rooms and bathing facilities are an essential service for your users, as they contribute to both the sanitation and the social aspect of the paddle sport.
Once your courts are completed, you should expect regular maintenance work to be carried out on them. This is partly to maintain a good playing experience for users and partly to optimize the lifespan of the courts.
Important maintenance tasks for a padel court include regular wiping of the glass walls and sweeping of the artificial turf of the court surface. If the glass is greasy, it is not inviting to players, and the bounce of the ball can also change if the surface is not uniform.
Both the glass walls and the court surface should also be given an annual health check to prevent major damage.
It is of great importance for the performance of the surface that the sand is properly and evenly distributed. Otherwise, you run the risk of the ball bouncing unevenly on the artificial turf. In addition, you should also periodically check that there are no sharp objects such as screws or bolts protruding from glass walls or the surface.
The net of a standard padel court is 10 meters long, and 0.88 meters high in the middle and 0.92 meters at the sides. When maintaining your padel tennis courts, you should also make sure that the nets on your courts are always the correct height and that they have the optimal tension.
This is a point that can be easily underestimated but is of vital importance. To choose the best booking system for your padel courts. When your new, state-of-the-art courts are ready and waiting to be put into use, it's crucial that it's easy and user-friendly for people to book them. Whether the courts are intended for use in a commercial padel center or in a padel club, managing bookings and users is an absolute key point. Choosing the best system for managing padel courts can generate increased revenue, less administration and, most importantly, satisfied users.
Today, there are a number of digital booking systems for padel, each with different strengths and weaknesses. In the following, we have recommended our considerations when choosing a digital membership system for your padel center.
The best online booking systems support the operations and revenue from your courts. It should be easy to book courts, and the user should immediately after a booking receive a booking confirmation with a password to the center and info about the conditions for cancellation. Learn more about what it costs to book a padel court in this article.
Besides court booking, there are other important areas in the administration and management of your paddle courts. Below we have compiled a brief overview of the most important considerations when choosing a booking platform for padel:
Your padel center's website is in many cases the user's first impression of your club. The website should be appealing and visitors should be able to quickly find the information they are looking for.
If you offer practice sessions to your users, it should be possible to see an overview of the available training classes and what level they are aimed at. If the user can sign up and pay at the same time directly on the website, it will reduce the administration considerably. Similarly, it will be a huge advantage for the club's coaches if they can see who has signed up for the individual classes, so they can plan the lessons well in advance.
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Organizing come-and-play activities such as Drop In and Americano is also worth choosing a management system that can handle. Although these types of events are typically free in padel clubs, it's nice for the organizers to keep track of registrations so that the number of participants matches the number of courts. A platform developed specifically for padel might even have a waiting list feature, where the next person on the waiting list automatically takes over the spot in case someone who has already signed up cancels.
If you offer memberships or subscriptions for your padel club, it is important that the chosen management software supports the types of memberships you want. Here it is important to consider, among other things, whether the system supports:
In this area, a lot of time can be saved on administration if members can sign up and leave the club themselves, without you having to do it for them. Therefore, it can make sense to go for a membership management software where the user creates a profile and buys a subscription (or just books their court if it is purely pay'n'play). Similarly, it will reduce time spent on membership management if the person can cancel his or her membership and stop the membership fee payment without having to correspond with the padel club. This kind of self-service among users fits in well with the current trend of efficient workflows and quick execution.
In today's fragmented media landscape, people are used to seeking information on different channels. The same is most likely true for your padel center; Some users look for information on your club's website, some read your newsletters via , others visit your Facebook page or other social media, while still others seek personal contact with staff and volunteers at the padel courts. Having a club management system that supports smooth communications with both members and guests will save you a lot of time, so consider in advance how the communication around your padel courts should take place. It's an investment that will be well worth it.
Whether you have an existing sports facility or tennis club if your aim is to get more people through the doors, it will almost certainly help! The numbers generally surprise most clubs and you roughly get 180-200 players per week per padel court, providing you are doing a good job of renting the courts. But if you do want the best chance of being successful when build padel courts, here are a few considerations:
This is a crucial decision, both in terms of where in your club to put the courts and the direction/space it has. If you put only one padel court tucked away at the back of the club where nobody can see it, then it makes sense it is more difficult for you to get it busy. Padel is a more sociable sport than most, so the best place is within viewing distance of the café/clubhouse. Players bring their friends, families often play together and so it will benefit the club to have it in that location.
When it comes to the direction of the padel court, North-South facing is even more important than for tennis courts, owing to the fact that the back walls are glass. You could put a fabric across the back like tennis, but that completely defeats the purpose of having a glass court in the first place. We would also recommend not having it backing on to the car park. There is nothing worse than playing and trying to see the ball with hundreds of sun reflections shining at you from behind the court.
Give space around your court if you can. For official tournaments 2metres between courts is ideal, but even if you will not host those tournaments it is a good amount of space for people to have their equipment and change ends etc.
On a side note, you can actually get netting to go around the top of the fence that will stop balls going out. We would recommend this if you are on the perimeter of your club or next to a café/car park etc. The court manufacturer in most cases can provide this if you ask for it.
This plays a part in deciding whether to cover the court, the paint used, the type of grass etc. If your climate is rainy, then as you would expect a cover makes sense (the glass is very difficult to play with when wet). Nowadays you can find canopies or bubbles that can go over the courts, which we will discuss in the next section.
If you are near the sea, make sure you have a layer of protective paint or you will find the metal and bolts are quickly corroded.
Within environment probably fits the issue of planning permissions and this is something that it is really worth getting to know the system in the area you are planning to build. It is different in each country (and often different within areas of the same country!).
If you’re in an environment where you require a canopy or cover, then there are a few things to consider. The canopy should clear the width and length of the court by a couple of metres (or have sides), because rain will still get on the court if it is the same dimensions as the court. If the cover is only above, then you would want the court facing North-South due to the light at sunset. If the court it fully covered, then it is not relevant.
The height varies, but we recommend a minimum of 9 metres, if it can be 11/12 metres that’s even better. The courts should be placed under the roof so that it is even on both sides, not one side of the court sloping to the edge of the canopy while the other side has plenty of space.
In most cases where the weather is an issue, the cover can provide an additional 4-5 months of play and is definitely worth it.
There are a few different models of courts and plenty of companies that manufacturer them now. So lets discuss a few:
Concrete
This is how all the courts used to be built, concrete back and sides, then a netting along the side. It does the job, you don’t get the same amount of humidity on the surface of the concrete, so that is a benefit. But then you also do not get the same energy transference with the rebound. The big problem for the clubs with the concrete court is the viewing, as you can only watch through the side fence.
Standard
This is the basic model of court which has a metal support between each pane of glass around the court. Often with this type of court, as there’s the support the glass thickness can be 10mm (as opposed to 12mm). This court plays exactly the same as the other versions of glass court, with the viewing slightly interrupted due to the posts.
Panoramic
This model does not have the posts supporting along the back glass for better viewing. Glasses are held in place by the metal structure. There are various type of “deluxe” “special edition” “super duper” panoramic courts, with various aesthetic structures, but the principles are the same – better viewing.
Singles
There are singles courts that are available and some clubs are considering them. I would only recommend them if the club is absolutely full and you do not have the space to build a full size court. You might be able to do some coaching or junior hours on there, but I doubt they will ever be as popular as the doubles courts, as padel is built on socializing!
There are now plenty of companies that manufacturer courts, in different countries now too. All of which are relatively easy to contact through social media or a website. There are also plenty of “intermediaries” that essentially get you a quote from these companies if you are finding it difficult. It is definitely worth getting a few quotes when it comes to the project, because I have experienced differences in up to €20,000 for almost the same court. Many of the quotes from Spain (or most countries) can include shipping and installation, but might not include rental of cranes/local charges etc. Definitely read the fine print to know what is covered.
Another reason to order more than one court is that if you are shipping them, it can often be slightly cheaper as many companies can include 2 courts in the same shipping container. Many clubs are put off by an expensive quote, but if you get 2 or 3 you will realize the costs are not that high – even for quality (which we recommend above just getting the cheapest).
We cannot emphasize the importance of a proper foundation enough! We’ve seen many clubs put down courts on “flat
You want to hit the ball as flat as possible, this has three good reasons: Consistency A flat ball is harder for your opponents to hit back. This has everything to do with the fact that the ball comes down on the..
” surfaces only to find problems with alignment and the grass coming up etc. All the court manufacturers will provide the spec to make the foundation, but this is not an area to try to shortcut. It is not always so similar as to put a court directly on a tennis court. Consult the court manufacturer before ordering the courts to make sure your contractor knows what they are doing as far as the base.
We have talked about this in a previous blog post, which you can find here. But it does not make sense to put in 1 or even 2 courts. From a sport development angle you would be limited, as a coach will occupy half your available hours, there is not enough space to have proper tournaments. This is not even considering covering the costs of construction, which will be covered much faster with more courts. Almost every club that has put in only 1 or 2 have regretted not putting in more at the start and most are trying to get permission for more! Personally, I would be looking for 6+ courts if you are in any medium-large city in Europe (excluding Spain probably where the competition is fierce and 6 courts is considered a warm up area!).
This might sound like a really obvious part of building the court and the most enjoyable aspect to ponder on. But this will be critical, particularly if you are building in an area that is relatively new to padel and you don’t have an existing padel community. Spend time to find a good coach to manage the events and give lessons…and it will take time, padel coaches are not easy to find. A tennis coach dabbling in a bit of padel is not the same. Try to have your booking systems setup and staff trained in advance, because when the padel gains momentum at the club you will have a flood of interest. And lastly, but definitely not least, plan your social media and objectives for the club.
Having been involved in countless padel projects from start to finish, I hope I’d be able to answer your questions (and I am not sponsored by a court manufacturer so my answers will be completely unbiased), please feel free to and I’ll help where I can: