A single lawn drinks 10,000+ gallons a year. We help neighbors swap thirsty grass for low-water California native yards, with rebates and local sponsors helping cover the cost.
Replace living grass with native plants and get $4 per square foot, up to $1,000. A 250 sq ft yard earns the full amount. You own the install; we handle the HOA, the 811 call, good local deals, and the rebate paperwork.
Important: send us photos of your lawn and sign up for the rebate before you start converting.
Estimate your rebateIt starts with a quick call — no one shows up at your door uninvited.
Send a quick email with your city and rough yard size. We reply within 48 hours to schedule a video or phone chat.
If it's a fit, we visit, measure, and sketch a low-water plan with you.
We help with your HOA approval and the 811 call before digging.
Hire the gardener you choose to convert your lawn, then get up to $1,000 back. We point you to good local deals.
On your water and lawn maintenance bills.
A yard that looks better, costs less, and sips water instead of gulping it.
Plants that evolved here — they thrive on rainfall, feed pollinators, and stay beautiful through the dry months.
Your sprinklers convert to drip — water goes straight to roots, not the sidewalk. Up to 70% less outdoor water.
Mulch locks in moisture and blocks weeds. Paths, boulders, and rain gardens make it a space you actually use.
We'll do the math with you — before you spend a dollar.
Two design styles to start from, each built around plants that thrive in our hot, dry summers. Tap any design to see it bigger.
These are design concepts to show the style, not photos of finished ZeroLawn yards. Your plan is drawn for your own yard from our design templates. Rock, dry creek, and paver features are optional. You decide what goes into your install.
You hire and pay the gardener you choose. ZeroLawn takes care of the hard parts around it, free of charge.
Important: send us photos of your lawn and sign up for the rebate before you start converting. Rebates are paid for converting living grass to native plants and follow the rebate program's own rules, so removing grass too early can cost you the rebate.
Here's what converting a single 250 sq ft patch of lawn actually does for the environment — every year.
California swings between drought and flood, and the dry years are getting longer. Most of the water our towns use travels hundreds of miles through pumps and canals before it reaches a single tap — and in a drought, those deliveries get cut first.
Half of a typical home's water goes to the yard, and most of that goes to grass nobody walks on. That makes your lawn the single biggest environmental upgrade your household can make — no lifestyle change required.
And it compounds: every converted yard makes the neighborhood more drought-proof and shows the next neighbor what's possible. Ten yards on one street is a quarter million gallons a year.
Started by local students — focused on our own towns first.
100% imported water — the perfect place to lead on conservation.
Bigger lots, bigger savings, and a rebate window worth catching.
ZeroLawn is a summer passion project started by local students who think our towns can lead on water. We're not a business — we're neighbors helping neighbors make the switch, and pointing you to the programs that make it affordable.
We're organizing ZeroLawn as a nonprofit. If you're a local business or neighbor who'd like to sponsor part of a conversion — helping a household cover what rebates don't — we'd love to hear from you: zerolawn.org@gmail.com
A student-led nonprofit initiative turning California's thirstiest yards into water-smart, living landscapes.
A California where neighborhoods lead on water — where the default yard is a thriving native landscape, not a thirsty lawn, and every household is part of the solution to the state's water future.
To help families replace water-guzzling lawns with beautiful, low-water native yards — making the switch simple and affordable through rebates and sponsorships, while giving students real, measurable ways to serve their community.
Local students building something real for our towns.
Founded ZeroLawn and sets its vision. Builds the technology behind it — the website, the yard-design tools, and the data systems that track every gallon saved — and leads all development.
Runs the organization — partnerships, sponsorships, community outreach, and the operations that get yards converted on the ground.
ZeroLawn is run by students, for our community — and we need more hands. Volunteers help with yard walks, planting days, door-to-door outreach, and tracking the water we save. We log and verify your hours for school, NHS, CSF, and scholarship applications.
Please read these before you apply. They explain who can join, what ZeroLawn helps with, how the rebate works, and what homeowners are responsible for.
Effective date: [date]
You own the install: you choose, hire, and pay your own gardener or contractor. ZeroLawn helps for free with your design plan, HOA approval, the 811 Dig request, good deals from local gardeners, and your rebate application. The rebate is $4 per square foot of living grass converted to native plants, up to $1,000. You must send us lawn photos and sign up for the rebate before you start converting. The full terms below are what apply.
ZeroLawn is [a nonprofit organization] that helps homeowners in Mountain House and Tracy, California replace water-intensive lawns with drought-tolerant, California native landscaping. ZeroLawn does not install landscapes. Homeowners own and pay for their installation; ZeroLawn provides free guidance and support, subject to volunteer availability and these Terms and Conditions.
An applicant may qualify if all of the following are true:
Meeting the eligibility requirements does not guarantee participation.
ZeroLawn's help is free. It includes:
ZeroLawn does not perform, supervise, or pay for installation work.
The homeowner chooses, hires, contracts with, and pays their own gardener or contractor, or does the work themselves. ZeroLawn is not a party to that agreement. A referral or deal from ZeroLawn is not a guarantee of anyone's work, price, license, or insurance; the homeowner should confirm these before hiring.
ZeroLawn does not guarantee plant survival, specific water savings, or specific cost savings. Savings estimates are estimates only.
To the extent permitted by law, the homeowner releases ZeroLawn, its founders, volunteers, and board members from claims related to the project, including property damage and personal injury, except in cases of gross negligence or willful misconduct. Claims about installation work should be directed to the gardener or contractor the homeowner hired. The homeowner agrees to indemnify ZeroLawn against claims from third parties (including HOAs) arising from the project on their property.
With the homeowner's permission, ZeroLawn may photograph the yard before and after conversion and share the photos and water-savings figures on its website and in grant reports. Photos will not show the house number or people without separate consent. The homeowner may opt out at any time.
ZeroLawn does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, age, disability, marital status, familial status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Requests are handled only on the eligibility criteria in Section 2 and the order in which they are received.
ZeroLawn may change these Terms and Conditions or the services it offers at any time. Rebate amounts and rules are set by the rebate program and may change.
Agreements are valid only when signed on behalf of ZeroLawn by [name and title of adult board officer].
These Terms and Conditions are governed by the laws of the State of California.
By submitting an application, the applicant confirms they have read, understood, and agree to these Terms and Conditions.
Questions about these terms? Email zerolawn.org@gmail.com.
Tell us your city and rough yard size. We'll estimate your rebate and reply within 48 hours to schedule your virtual call. No forms, no phone tag, no pressure.