Large yard is not descriptive enough. How many acres of grass will you have? Knowing this will guide the replies. Is this something that you can do alone with a hoe, or do you need a landscaper with a tractor and box blade?

How many dogs and kids? If you have 2 acres that won't matter but if you have 2,000 square feet, it will.

And if you really do have more than an acre, I'm going to ask if you are interested or willing to cut down the turf size and put in alternatives to turf (walking paths, gardens, orchards, etc. I have a loooong list of alternatives).

What part of PA are you in? The zone doesn't matter nearly as much as your actual location. Do you have Lake Effect winters? Are you in the corn fields? Are you on a hill top? Sea shore(ish)? PA is a big place.

So don't get ahead of yourself and start doing stuff. NOW is the time to act, but don't do anything until you answer the questions. For example if you bring in more topsoil or rototill what you have, those would be big and long lasting mistakes.

Thank you for the guidance!

Yard is about half or 1/3 of an acre, the remainder of the 1 acre property is our house or landscaped beds and patio/paths. The lawn area will continue to shrink over the years as I expand garden beds, but for now it has to start as lawn. I will be hiring a landscape company to preform the labor.

2 kids, 2 dogs. Dogs will have a sacrifice area for the majority of their time, but will have supervised access to the whole yard as well.Kids will have a small play structure.

We do not water grass, except for specific patches in extreme circumstances. Otherwise its up to nature. I also prefer to avoid toxic chemicals in herbicide/pest control/fertilizer. Ok to spend more to find alternatives.

In western PA, in the city. Top of a large hill, but surrounding houses and mature trees cut down significantly on wind and harsh weather. Winters typically have several freeze/thaw cycles each year. Summers have a few days of 90s, but generally highs in the 80s. Regular rainfall.

I saw that you mentioned not to rototill...I had a landscape architect insist that we must till before planting to looses the dirt that had been compacted by heavy machinery. Can you please explain?

Hope this is everything!