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Yes, you can rent a rototiller for around $60 per day and do the work yourself, but it’s not recommended. Tilling is more of an art than a science, as tilling too deep can be detrimental to your soil structure and the organic matter that is beneficial to plants and shrubs, and tilling too shallow won’t properly introduce fertilizer or break up the soil for rooting plants. Additionally, tillers are powerful machines with sharp blades to cut through small roots and soil, so they are inherently dangerous to use. It’s usually worth it to hire a professional rototiller.

For minor unevenness, you don't necessarily need to remove grass before leveling. You can apply a topdressing mixture to fill in low areas and even out the surface. However, for more significant unevenness or deep depressions, it might be necessary to temporarily remove the grass to ensure proper leveling and soil compaction. After filling and leveling, you can replace the grass or consider reseeding the area.

Grading refers to the sloping of your yard away from your house’s foundation. It’s a landscaping term you probably know well if you’ve ever had to push your lawn mower up a steep slope.

Leveling is the solution to grading issues since it involves making your yard flat and smooth (and easy to push a lawn mower through).

Yard grading is a key component of proper drainage because runoff naturally moves with respect to gravity. If you have low spots in your yard, rain and snowmelt will settle there and oversaturate the soil, promoting root rot and fungal growth. If the low spots are near your home’s foundation, you could even end up with foundation leaks or structural damage due to poor yard grading.