Congratulations on the new home and property.

The steps and information you are requesting will have a number of variables. In other words, somebody would have to write the equivalent of a few chapters of a book to give you all the details you need. Fortunately, there are many many garden and landscape books which discuss this topic throughly. Check your local library for free information.

There is also a Lawns forum here, mostly about caring for lawns, but the folks there might have good suggestions.

Best of luck with your project.

Here is a link that might be useful: Lawns forum

Why don't you want the guy who started the job to finish it? I watched a couple of guys do the grinding thing, gut busting noise, and they took the middle bit out down to a foot or so but not the roots that spread out, don't they? I'm just thinking that an experienced team might take this into account but you/I might not. Then you rent the digger thing and hit a root and you are in trouble.

fadim,

I understand you wanting to be a part of creating a beautiful lawn, and not wanting to hire it all done.

I am in a similar situation, and will be hiring a local with a tractor, and power tiller to do the tilling. This is what you are wanting to do yourself, I assume. A good rental place should be able to recommend the tractor and tiller appropriate for your job.
Once tilled, I will do whatever little leveling of the soil that is necessary, and remove any rocks or debris. A wide aluminum landscape rake is best for this, and I use mine in the veggie garden as well.
Then spread seeds. Rake the seeds lightly with the back of a bamboo rake, leaving about half the seeds exposed.
Roll it with an empty roller, to press seeds into contact with the soil. Do not cover completely, as the seeds need light to sprout, as well as warmth, and moisture.
Fertilize and water. Keep the area thoroughly watered for at least 2 weeks.
Mow when the grass is 2 1/2 inches high. Weed and Feed the second season.
These are basically the steps I've taken from my favorite reference book, and I'm sure others may do things (a bit) differently.
Will you then be maintaining the lawn yourself?
Do you already have a lawn mower/tractor?
Just thinking out loud here, but on down the line might you want a veggie garden? Maybe you need to buy a lawn tractor and power tiller for your own use now and in the future.
If you don't have a lawn seeder, I'd buy one (they are not very expensive) to have handy for maintaining your new lawn. I'd also invest in a roller as well.

I'm sure the folks at the Lawn Care Forum, can help you as well. They have no FAQ covering 'new lawns'.

I did a search there on 'new lawn' and there were hundreds of threads...some really good additional reading.

Sue

Here is a link that might be useful: Lawn Care Forum

Congratulations, your place sounds wonderful.

Adamante's point about side roots is a good one. We've had to remove several old silver/norway maples and have had to do extensive hand digging to remove side roots, even though the stumps were ground down below grade. Those roots are really difficult to get out; they're far too thick for even a heavy-duty rototiller to handle. If you're comfortable with a tractor, and can rent one, it may not be a problem for you.

If you leave them underground, they will decay over time and produce deep ruts in your new lawn, after a few years with great crops of mushrooms.

I'm by no means a lawn perfectionist (actually I prefer tangled overgrown woods to lawns anyway) but even with my low standards for lawns, I would never again seed or sod a lawn after removing trees, especially maples, without hiring someone to remove the roots first.

Not that this project can't be done by a homeowner, just be advised that it will be an enormous amount of work - especially if the trees were good sized and/or if there were trees with surface roots on the site.

Also keep in mind that if you move a lot of soil around with machinery without knowing what you're doing, you could create drainage and/or erosion problems. Spend the time to do some research, get some books out of the library, talk to neighbors who may have done their own prep, and start only after you know what you're up against.

Personally, there are a lot of aspects of gardening and landscaping that are more fun than prepping for a lawn, so I'd save my energy for those and hire out the heavy work if I could afford to.

I just recently cut down about 20 pine trees in my back yard. I am in the same situation. I am going to get some estimates to have some of the stumps closer to the house totally removed and other on the far end of my property grinded. I have a lot of debris and branches to get rid of as well.