Court Construction in Tucson, AZ

Apex Court Builders, a family business based in Phoenix, builds and resurfaces pickleball, tennis, basketball and multi-sport courts in Tucson, Oro Valley, Marana and Green Valley. Apex holds one license, Arizona ROC 324026, that covers commercial and residential work, grading and concrete included, and court lighting is on the same contract. One of its Google reviews is for a pickleball court at a house near Tucson, finished on time, on budget and the way it was described in the bid.

Call (480) 264-6889, Monday to Friday 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM Arizona time, or request a free estimate.

Tucson and Pima County share one outdoor lighting code, adopted in 2012 to protect the dark night sky and support astronomy. It names courts and covers recreation areas whether publicly or privately owned. Court lights need a permit, a design certified by a registered engineer, full cut-off fixtures unless that engineer certifies shielding impractical, and a special inspection. They are exempt from the code’s lumen caps, but each lighting area sets a curfew, and a lot in two areas takes the stricter one.

• In area E3, the code’s urban area, court lights go off by midnight.
• In areas E3a and E2, they go off by 11 PM.
• In areas E1b and E1c, the wide circles around the Mount Hopkins and Kitt Peak observatories, they go off by 10 PM.
• In area E1a, around the observatories and on park and forest land, court lights are not allowed.

The proposed 2025 rewrite keeps the same court curfews. Marana’s own code also requires a permit and an engineer’s certification for court lights, with an 11 PM curfew.

Oro Valley has its own code, and an HOA can add rules. One Oro Valley association asks for approval ahead of time, a layout of each light’s lumens and timing, bulbs shielded from view and lamps of 3,000K or less. Confirm the lot’s lighting area, and how the code applies to a backyard court, with the town or county before lights go into a design.

Tucson’s building code exempts non-structural flatwork from a building permit. Whether a court slab counts, and what its fence needs, are questions for the city’s Planning and Development Services. Oro Valley requires a permit for a fence or wall over 7 feet and Marana an application, so a 10-foot court fence needs one in either town.

Near a wash in unincorporated Pima County, the county’s Regional Flood Control District requires a floodplain use permit before almost any structure or improvement goes into a regulatory floodplain, fencing, walls and drainage changes included. The county says the permit may take several weeks.

Caliche, soil cemented by calcium carbonate, is common in southern Arizona and can form a rock-like layer from a few inches to several feet thick that restricts drainage. Digging for fence post and light pole footings can hit that layer.

Acrylic court coatings go on inside a temperature window. The makers’ data sheets call for air and surface at 50°F or warmer and no rain on the way, and one caps the surface at 140°F. Tucson averages 68 days a year at 100°F or above, and a court in summer sun runs far hotter than the air, so in summer the surface cap favors early morning coats. Normal lows sit below 50°F from November through March, so a winter coat waits for the day to warm past 50°F. The National Weather Service dates the monsoon June 15 to September 30, so summer work also plans around storms. A court here can be coated through most of the year.

Pickleball courts

Apex builds single backyard pickleball courts and multi-court layouts for HOAs and clubs, each a concrete slab finished with acrylic color coats. See pickleball court construction.

Tennis courts

Apex builds tennis courts at the regulation size of about 60 by 120 feet, run-off included, or a smaller practice layout where a lot is tight, and can add pickleball lines in a second color. See tennis court construction.

Basketball and multi-sport courts

Apex builds basketball half courts and full courts, and multi-sport courts that line one slab for more than one game. See basketball courts and multi-sport courts.

Apex also builds bocce courts and padel courts.

A resurface runs in a set order. The court is cleaned, cracks are filled, low spots are leveled, an acrylic resurfacer evens the texture, and color coats go on before the lines for every sport on the court, basketball markings included. UV and heat wear an acrylic coat down, so the color fades and the surface cracks sooner than in a milder climate. Monsoon rain then gets into any crack left open. A recoat keeps to the same temperature window as a new court.

A sound tennis court can be converted for pickleball without a new slab. One tennis footprint fits up to four pickleball courts, the ratio the city used when it turned 4 tennis courts at Fort Lowell Park into 16 pickleball courts. See court resurfacing and repairs.

Every court is quoted per project, and final pricing depends on court size, existing surface condition, crack repair, drainage and low spots, coating system, colors, striping and site access. Tell us where the court is going, whether you want lights and whether a wash runs near it. Call (480) 264-6889 and the owner answers. The consultation is free. Or send the form below and we call you back.