How much does a backyard rink cost?
The cost guides I found give one wide range for every yard, such as $300 to $1,500 for a basic DIY rink. This page works it out for your size instead. Enter the rink and the unit prices, and it multiplies the liner area, the board and bracket counts and the water volume by them. The four prices I could source are filled in, including a 2x10 board price from a lumber yard. Replace them with what you see in your store.
Your estimate
| Line | Quantity | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Liner | 33 × 63 ft (2,079 sq ft) | $332.64 |
| Boards | 18 × 10 ft | $386.10 |
| Brackets or stakes | 46 | $552.00 |
| Water, first fill | 3,366 gal | $16.83 |
Open this rink in the calculator for a sloped yard, fill time and the exact liner size.
Where the default prices come from
I opened these seller pages on 2026-10-07. Prices change, so treat them as a starting point and replace them with what you see in the store.
- Liner, $0.16 per sq ft. Midwest Ponds lists the NiceRink three-layer white replacement liner, 21 × 33 ft, at $110.00. That is 693 sq ft, or about $0.16 per sq ft. I applied that rate to every size. Larger liners can cost a different amount per square foot, and the page gave no price for the 25 × 45 ft size.
- Bracket, $12.00 each (my reading, see below). The NiceRink support bracket on the same site is listed as "$12.00 for the Classic NiceRink Support Bracket System". The page does not say whether that is one bracket or a set, so I treat it as the price of one. It is made for 18 in plastic boards or 3/4 in plywood, and the page does not say it fits lumber. If you use stakes, I'd expect them to cost less, so change this price to what your stakes cost.
- Water, $5.00 per 1,000 gal. I made this rate up as an example. Utilities charge very different rates, and some add a sewer fee on top. Read your own bill and change the field. Water fills a rink once, so even a doubled rate moves the total very little.
- Boards, 2x10 kiln-dried spruce/hem-fir. Hancock Lumber (Augusta branch) lists the 2x10 at $21.45 for 10 ft, $26.82 for 12 ft and $36.82 for 16 ft. The page I opened showed no 8 ft price, so for 8 ft boards enter your own. The estimate uses the price for the board length you pick, unless you enter your own. Lumber prices differ by region and week, and the Home Depot, Lowe's and Menards pages would not load for me.
Cost by rink size
3 in of water, 2 in of board above it, 10 ft boards, a bracket every 4 ft and the default prices above. The last three columns add 10 ft boards at $16, $21.45 and $28 each. $21.45 is the Hancock Lumber (Augusta branch) 2x10 price above. The other two are examples that show the range.
| Rink | Liner | Brackets | Water | Boards | Total at $16 | at $21.45 | at $28 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 × 28 ft | $94.24 | $264.00 | $4.19 | 10 | $522 | $577 | $642 |
| 20 × 40 ft | $158.24 | $360.00 | $7.48 | 12 | $718 | $783 | $862 |
| 30 × 60 ft | $332.64 | $552.00 | $16.83 | 18 | $1,189 | $1,288 | $1,405 |
| 40 × 80 ft | $571.04 | $720.00 | $29.92 | 24 | $1,705 | $1,836 | $1,993 |
Kit or DIY?
Midwest Ponds sells the NiceRink Rink-In-A-Box kit for a 16 × 28 ft rink at $419.99. It holds the 21 × 33 ft liner, 26 brackets, patch tape and glue. Sideboards are extra. Buying the same liner ($110.00) and 26 brackets separately, at $12.00 each if that price is per bracket (the page does not say), comes to $422, so the kit price is about what the parts cost. A kit saves the shopping and the counting, and the sizing is already done.
Larger kits cost more. Pwice, a rink kit site, page first posted May 18, 2026, puts kits without side boards at $1,000 to $2,000, kits with dasher-style boards at $3,000 to $6,000, and a basic DIY rink at $300 to $1,500. It gives no sizes for those ranges, and I have not checked them against seller pages. Its figure for a DIY liner is $100 to $300.
With DIY you pick the lumber and the liner size yourself, which is where any saving comes from. The estimate above covers one season's parts on level ground. It leaves out tools, delivery, tax, repairs, a hose, skates, nets and the water bill for top-up floods. A sloped yard needs taller boards on the low side, which adds lumber (see the board height guide).
How the estimate is built
- Liner area comes from the liner size formula with a 12 in overhang, rounded up to whole feet. Real liners come in fixed sizes, so you may pay for a bit more.
- Board and bracket counts come from the materials list: one course of boards, counted per side and rounded up.
- Water is the first-fill volume in US gallons at the rate you enter.
- Sizes outside the fields' limits and non-numeric input fall back to the defaults.
Next: what size rink fits your yard, and which liner thickness to pay for.