I moved into my house back in December of 2015. We still have a dirt yard and want to try and get something in before summer time.
I have had a few quotes that are a little out of budget for me so I was thinking about taking this project on myself and then anything I cannot do I save up for and have done professionally (possibly cement).
My yard has a slight grade at the retaining wall going towards the house. The front left of the house is where the draining areas are on the bricks. That is the direction that the yard is flowing towards.
My question:
Since the yard is pretty tough right now, with a few holes from the dogs digging, what would be the first recommendation in terms of leveling out the yard?
Do I need to till the yard to break up the hard dirt and then screed it out and make it level?
I will be adding in sod, rock and eventually a cement area for seating/fireplace.
I am just trying to figure out how to give myself a good starting area.
UPDATE
For those who care to see what I ended up doing, pics are below. Also added a citrus tree in the middle of the back wall (not pictured). Most difficult part of the process was getting the ground level for the bricks, the rest kinda fell into place. AZ dirt is a pain in the ass, especially for the trenching, the machine struggled :)