Ask him what tools they plan to use to do the finish grading. That looks like finish grade to me. Rough grading is usually done to make a pad at proper elevation for the construction of buildings. During construction anything can happen around the property but the building pad is to be kept pristine. What is typical is the contractors come in with their trucks leaving a very hilly mess with construction trash (pieces of pipe, insulation, wood, nails, roofing, etc.). Before the finish grading they are supposed to clean up the trash. Finish grading is done with a tractor and box blade after the contractors have left the area. If additional soil is needed for proper drainage away from the buildings and out to a drain, they bring that soil at the time of the finish grading. If they need to haul soil away, they do it at that time. The end result will be a soil surface profiled to divert water away from all buildings with no low collection spots out to a drain in the street in into a neighborhood ditch. If you have that now, then you need to work on the weeds. If in fact they plan to bring more topsoil and redo it with a tractor and box blade, then the contractor is exactly correct. The very first stroke with the box blade will remove all surface vegetation.

What sod? You mentioned more finish grading, but what's the deal with the sod.

Generally here's how sodding should go for minimal weeds.

1. Grade the soil

2. Water the surface lightly, 3x per day, for 7 days to germinate all the weed seeds you possibly can. All you're doing is lightly watering, not saturating the soil.

3. Spray the weeds with Round Up.

4. Continue watering for another week to catch the slow germinating weeds and spray with Round Up again.

5. Lay the sod.

This approach should give you a relatively weed free start.