Re-landscapers make it easy and lucrative for themselves, and that might not be easy for you. If you went to new construction, the finish grading looks like this...

That is a box blade on the back of a regular tractor. For any size up to 5 acres they can finish that job in a morning and leave it perfect for either sod or seed. The landscapers you're talking to apparently don't know how to do this job with this equipment.

You seem to understand the concept of the lumpy bumpy lawn, so I'll talk a little about soil microbes. The soil microbes live at different depths in the soil depending on what they are eating and how they interact with roots and other microbes. There are some that will only survive on the surface, some that will only survive immediately below the surface, and some that will only survive some number of inches below the surface. When you rototill the tiller churns up the soil and these microbes. The microbes that cannot survive exposed to the sunlight and elements will die immediately as will those that must live on the surface. The effect is not permanent, but it can be avoided by not tilling in the first place.

Can we assume you live in New Jersey? What part? Would you characterize your soil as sand or something else? What is your lawn situation?

Unfortunately terminology is not consistent in any professions except the extremely technical ones like Chemistry and Biology, and there are some exceptions in those professions.

If you are talking to a landscaper and they use the term Tilling, I would quiz them to understand exactly what they are talking about.

I am not a professional, but it seems like it would be cost effective to do the "tillling" with a box blade rather than using a rototiller type of unit that would require a lot of work to get the yard level

I have seen the Box blade in action but never knew what it was called.

Check out a "Harley Rake/ Soil Conditioner" it's what I plan to use in the spring. Looks like the skid steer has something similar attached to it in the pic dchall posted.

Yes, I'm in central NJ. I would say I have sandy soil for sure. I had lots of trees taken down and the back yard was dirt and not that level before now it's like off roading in the back yard.

ill have to ask what they meant by tilling. I guess it probably be a lot of time involving in tilling an entire yard. I just assumed it was with one of those machines.

When I was in college my brother in law was in the finish grading biz. I worked for him in the summers and holidays, so I got do see a lot of this in action. There are box blade attachments for skid steers and bobcats, but between the short wheel base, smaller wheels, smaller tools, and the high center of gravity, the bobcat and skid steer drivers would take a week or more to do what my BIL did in a morning.

The Harley rake is not a bad tool and can be used on the smaller equipment very effectively. It only works at the surface, so it doesn't disturb anything down deep.

Sand generally does not compact nor does it get very fluffy when it is rototilled. Reestablishing a soil structure in sand takes about an hour of watering. And I realize now I forgot to mention soil structure earlier. Soil structure includes the layers of microbes, but it also includes the pores and capillary openings in soil that allow air and water in and out. When you rototill you are destroying this structure. That is what takes sooooo long (3 years) to get reestablished and leads to the bumpy conditions on the surface. Again, sand is different.

If the soil surface is sort of level, then leveling it perfectly is not that hard especially when there is no grass to deal with. It sounds like you have rough grading that needs to be finish graded.

Our house is 35 years old. I cut down over 20 trees many of which where huge. There were about 10 more huge stumps around the property. From what I've gathered the area was woods and an orchard. The builder cleared enough for the houses and Lear many of the trees. The ground is sloping and sort of hilly. There is no way to bring it level to my neighbors to be back and left. I'm basically down hill. I don't even know if it was graded or what. Now add in me tearing it up back there with removing the trees it's a mess.

Your biggest problem will be all the roots that tilling will pull up.

Can you post a picture or two? Try and capture the essence of the hilly nature. What you need in the end is a surface profile that will drain water away from the house and from your neighbors houses. Also you don't want low spots where water will accumulate after a rain.

The tractor and box blade can deal with profiled (non level) surfaces.

These are from the summer from either end of the. Back yard.

http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l2/gto171/E6F11A63-23C6-46AA-BD0D-DB1CC48F9415_zpszen2f6sc.jpg

http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l2/gto171/6168B812-DEC3-4547-BA8E-16F569B37D69_zpsoxodupsd.jpg

Is it me or does your back yard slope downward toward you house?

Yes it does. My neighbor to the other side is worse.

Did my pictures scare everyone away, lol?

Your question isn't one with a clear cut answer like: "Should I salt my lawn?"

Tilling a sandy soil isn't a major no-no.

With a sand soil, it should settle and level out quickly, but to what advantage?

I tilled a sandy soil after taking out trees and had no problems with settling, but all the roots that were brought up made it look like Don Johnson's stubbly face and created clean up issues with the equipment.

If a soil test shows that your soil needs amending, tilling the amendment in is a fast way to change the soil throughout the root zone. On the other hand, with a sandy soil, just putting the amendment on the surface will work nearly as well without the cost and effort of tilling.

If you are having drainage issues, like pooling water or wet basement, now is the time to grade the yard with or without tilling.

I don't think it is worth the effort, even if amending, but it's not a situation that makes me want to yell "Danger, danger, Will Robinson."

Thanks Ridgerunner, The topic had sort of evolved into what do to in my situation instead of a general question. I was just joking about the pictures of the mess I'm dealing with. You did give me a lot of good info. I appreciate that. I'm just in the early stages of figuring out how I'm going to tackle my yard or what to watch out for if I end up hiring a pro. This may be more than I can handle on my own to get started. I just want a nice lawn and landscape I'm sure I won't have a flat yard, but I want it graded correctly and unfortunately. I am probably going to have to do this in steps

I just looked at the pictures. It looks like the neighbor's runoff comes into your yard. Is that correct? That should not happen, but it looks like it does.

Out about 10 feet from the patio and to the side of the house you need a swale to divert the water. The soil should slope down to the swale from both sides to keep water out of the house. The swale should curve to the center of your side yard and out to the street in front. Here's a picture of some yards in California.

There's a swale in the upper house lawn to keep runoff out of the neighbor's lawn. Then there's a swale in the lower lawn to divert water to the front from the back. I believe the hole in the curb comes from the upper house's back yard to keep that water out of the lower yard.

Yeah neighbor behind me seems to be sloped towards my back yard. We have not gotten any water in our basement and I have not seen standing water in our yard. I do see when we have heavy rain that the dirt area seems washed out and or it's settling from removing all the trees. Some stumps and roots that were not that deep have come to the surface I think the builder did do a good job at all. Some houses have bigger hills then me.

i had a landscaper I know look at the yard a few months ago and he did seem to say the water had a path to be diverted around the house, but he said I would need about three truck loads of top soil for the back and maybe sides. He quoted me 5k for topsoil till and grading and then killing the lawn and reseeding.

Landscaping. You talking walls, ponds, raised planter beds? In regard to the lawn. Are you interested in DIY or just interested in hiring it out and becoming informed as to what to watch for? A lawn only DIY is some work (pushing a spreader, raking and some spraying three or four times a year) and watering and mowing, but definitely cheaper than a hire and you have control.

It my ideal world I'm doing everything myself. However, I'm just one man and I don't know about grading and bring in truck loads of top soil not to mention the mess they made with the beds around the house burying landscape rock. I work full time, etc... it would take a long time for me to get some of these major things going. So I've be thinking about just getting a pro to get started then I'll maintain and build on that.

Not judging, just getting a feel for the "lay of the land." Develop an over all plan so that it can be done in cost efficient stages. If it's going to be tilled: get a soil test early so that you can get any needed amendments (lime, P, K etc) incorporated during tilling. Inquire as to how the roots and rocks, etc. brought to the surface are going to be handled. Ensure that the extra soil will enhance drainage. Make sure that they use a quality seed 0% weed and 0% "other crop"--it's worth the extra expense. Make sure you get a copy of the seed bag label so you can match seed in future years (and to make sure you are getting the premium seed you requested and paid for). Find out who is responsible for a re-seed/overseed if areas fail.

I know your not judging lol. I didn't mean to imply that. I attempted fix some things my self and it took all spring and summer. I had stumps ground multiple times and they still didn't go deep enough. I cleaned up the massive piles each time. I also shoveled up a lot of dirt and stone myself. The big issue was getting rid of all the material.

as far as the stumps I'm going to have them ground again by someone else the right way.... I'd grind them myself, but the only place that rents machines is Home Depot and I don't think that can handle these stumps. Some of these trees were huge.

overall though it's as you said. I'd just like an efficient plan that I can work towards and get some things looking better next year. Right now everything is a total mess.Money is limited. we have been fixing many things with this house...

Hire your landscaper to do it all - in stages.

I know all pricing is regional, but does 5k sound like a lot for the work stated above?

I took some better pictures this weekend. You can see it's a low spot in the middle of the back yard. In some pictures it looks like there are swales? The front yard seems to have them on my side but not the whole length of the yard. I don't know if these are intended or that's just how the land was. You can also see where the pool was that had a stone perimeter and around the deck that was mulched over i Dug it out and tried to fill in the crater with extra dirt from around the trees.

http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l2/gto171/AA9FAD40-553A-4D00-B0E2-D1ACA24E2F5B_zpsd86vx9yo.jpg

http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l2/gto171/0B0AF749-ED44-480E-A81B-5C558283DA8B_zps1gs9ap15.jpg

http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l2/gto171/884267D0-7D80-45D7-8CE0-6A2659D91937_zpsft6amzwy.jpg

Wow, I'm very impressed you can see all that in the pictures! Its hard for me to see it. The landscaper who looked at the yard said the same thing about the path around the house. He didn't mention all the neighbors yards draining into my yard.... I hope removing all the trees. Back there won't make anything worse. I havn't noticed any wet spots or standing water accept for around the pool crater a few times, but that needs to be filled in a bit and smoothed out.

The street is definetely on a hill and it starts to level off at our property. To the left of us in the picture below the nieghbors back yard was being washed out and they had beds with stacked stone boarders to their left and back to stop the water from washing out the grass.

will that drainage path effect me having a nice lawn back there? I've also debated a fence and making beds along that back fence. My plans were for fruit trees, garden, nice landscaping in the back. Also below is a pic when we bought the house.

http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l2/gto171/76E408F8-4884-42FC-9EAB-77CBB6807171_zpspdeltpig.jpg

http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l2/gto171/AAD89040-FD47-4049-933A-DBBB209561A4_zpszoikb23q.jpg

Plant anything you like, just don't plant it so it changes the grading. If you want to plant a tree or create a flower bed put it on the high spots.

Thanks, So a huge bed spanning the length of the back property is out :-(. I'll figure something out I wanted to fix the beds around the house and get the lawn going first. I did want to ask about the drain spot. I never noticed that until you pointed it out and I see it in the pic. It sort of dumps the water up hill. Those wood things are just railroad ties for bed boarders. I don't think they are there for water or I hope not. The house does have french drains in the basement. Is that what you meant? Or should I run a drain around the house and straight out the front of further down the side?

"So a huge bed spanning the length of the back property is out"

Instead of making on huge bed make several smaller ones, positions so that water will run between them. Multiple smaller bed are nicer any way as you can walk through them.

"The house does have french drains in the basement. Is that what you meant? "

In some way you have to control the water coming from that downspout. So you could use one french drain moving the water to the front of the house, or buried plastic corrugate. You can disguise the opening to the pipe so that it is not apparent.

Please understand I am guessing about the slope in that area, so you need to determine exactly where the water will naturally run.

Thanks! I guess I'll have to see how it things start shaping up with the beds back there. I want To get around the house going first. I'd plant some fruit trees now, but I wanted to get the lawn going first incase there are issues with that.

The downspout makes sense. When we bought the house the down spots just dumped against the house. The previous owners didn't seem to care. i am wondering a little if they put those rail ties there for a reason though. That is the only spot with them. My plan was to get the beds redone then hopefully some day border them with block pavers. I havn't noticed water pooling up there, but I can't say I've looked during heavy rain that closely. Since the back is mostly dirt is usually looks bad when is rains anyway.

im asssuming this has to do with settling and such since the house was built it was total woods back there. I cut down all of my trees and the neighbor behind me removed a lot too. In the channel where the water is directed I feel like it's washed out a bit since covered over stumps and roots are coming up. Do you think getting grass and topsoil is something that needs to be done ASAP? To prevent water coming towards th house? It might take me a year or two to get all this done.