About a dozen years ago, we built a full court basketball court in our back yard. It is 84 feet long and 48 feet wide (just a bit less than regulation high school size) with top quality baskets and lights for night play. The court is also lined for short court tennis although we rarely play that.
The court is surrounded by a ten foot high chain link fence to catch stray balls. On one side of the court, we will have a tennis wall against which we can smack balls. We also have a 10′ high pitch back against which we’ll hurl lacrosse balls, soccer balls and periodically small children.
It took about four months from start to finish (not counting planning, getting permits, etc.). We had a lot of rain that summer and that slowed us down, but probably only by a few weeks. Obviously it transformed our backyard and while the kids often say they’d have preferred a pool, we’ve gotten good use out of this court — and my now flatter back yard — over the years.
Here’s a pictorial history.