# Top dressing - DIY or hire out?



## passabledave (Apr 19, 2021)

There's a local company that will top dress my tiny lawn for $400. Not sure I can do it myself for cheaper the first time - need a leveling rake, wheelbarrow and shovel - but would definitely save in the long run if this was something I wanted to do regularly. There's also the whole "make a mess of your driveway for a while" thing too. On the flip side, the people you pay to do it surely don't care about your lawn as much as you do and it's not exactly rocket science.

Any of you willing to share your experiences with this subject to push me one way or the other?


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## jimmythegreek (Aug 7, 2020)

What are you looking to accomplish overall? Some pics of what you have and square footage would help


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## corneliani (Apr 2, 2019)

Considering 2-3cy of material alone would run you approx $150-200, delivered, $400 does not sound like a bad deal. Just make sure you understand the level of service they provide... they may just be spreading sand/compost and calling it a day and depending on why you're looking to top dress, that may be enough. Or not.

EDIT: Btw, spreading any material, evenly, on 3"+ turf is a PITA if not utterly impossible without a machine.


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## passabledave (Apr 19, 2021)

jimmythegreek said:


> What are you looking to accomplish overall? Some pics of what you have and square footage would help


About 2,500 sq ft including areas that technically are common.

I've got a bunch of small ruts and depressions that I'd like evened out, including a chickweed infested spot where a tree used to be. Nothing major, but at 1/4-1/2" a shot will probably take a number of applications (years) to accomplish. Long term I'd like an obsessively smooth lawn before I start thinking about buying a reel mower. The big dip in the front (3rd pic near the nitrogen burn  ) I'll probably just flatten this fall when I overseed.


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## johnklein25 (Apr 22, 2021)

$400 seems like a great deal, especially if you are time crunched or have any physical concerns (back, knees, shoulder, etc). The biggest concern I would have is the kind of material they are planning to use, and you much. I got a bargain deal similar to that last fall and the "top soil" I received had some rocks (1/2 or smaller) and was mostly clay. I also had some new weed varieties pop up this spring.

If time isn't a concern, and your back, knees and shoulders can take it, I would go visit a local garden center and "inspect" their bulk top dressing materials and see it is OK to use or not, and then see about getting a truckload. You may have to rent a pick up truck from Lowes and go get a load yourself if they won't deliver. Anything stored outdoors in open air is going to have some weed seeds in it. I'm not sure what the best material is to level but I would not go with sand until you are rut free and already pretty smooth. I think sand is best used when you're already pretty smooth and going for "perfection".

I'm doing some spot aeration and top dressing in trouble spots today, probably just 250 sq ft or so. I'm pretty excited about this bagged stuff https://fertilomesoils.com/natural-guard-100-organic-garden-soil/ I don't remember what I payed for it but it's 12 to $20 per cubic ft depending on the retailer per google search. IIf it works well, I might splurge and get a pallet or half pallet delivered to by driveway this fall. The main ingredient in this bag is peat moss, but fortified with kelp and worm castings so I'm not sure its OK for leveling. Buying bagged is more expensive but it should be weed free, high quality, less messy and would be more storage friendly so you could take delivery and do the work over the course of a few days or weeks.

Check out this guy's lawn leveling video... https://youtu.be/YdT5tBz2o8M not a famous youtuber but I like his technique a lot.


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## SanDiegoLawn (Dec 29, 2020)

I would love to be able to hire a skilled leveler for $400 to level my lawn with top soil! (Landscapers\yard workers are so in demand where I live that they won't even return my calls)


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## Deadlawn (Sep 8, 2020)

For $400, I can't imagine the layer of topdressing will be very much or use a quality top dressing. If your lawn is really "tiny", I would find a good bulk compost supplier and do it myself.


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## JDgreen18 (Jun 14, 2018)

passabledave said:


> There's a local company that will top dress my tiny lawn for $400.


Are they supplying the material? I would want a breakdown of material cost vs labor. Also where are they getting the material, what are they using topsoil, compost, etc.


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## Deadlawn (Sep 8, 2020)

JDgreen18 said:


> Are they supplying the material? I would want a breakdown of material cost vs labor. Also where are they getting the material, *what are they using topsoil, compost, etc.*


Exactly what I would want to know. As I have said in before in these forums, there is no universal definition of "topsoil" other than it can be anything that came from the top of the ground which could be worse than what you already have in your yard, not to mention it can be full of viable weed seeds.

Pure finished compost is a much better option with an emphasis on "finished" which means the microbes have heated it up to the point where most weed seeds are dead.


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## creediddy2021 (Mar 27, 2021)

Hey Deadlawn...we are going to "assume" that the landscapers *passabledave *hires will have a very good supplier choice with good quality that they use for topsoil, compost, etc...

Even the bagged stuff we buy in the big box stores can be suspect.


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## Deadlawn (Sep 8, 2020)

creediddy2021 said:


> Hey Deadlawn...we are going to "assume" that the landscapers *passabledave *hires will have a very good supplier choice with good quality that they use for topsoil, compost, etc...
> 
> Even the bagged stuff we buy in the big box stores can be suspect.


Regardless of the source, I trust a bag with the label "compost" on it far more than a bag with the label "topsoil". If someone expects me to pay $$ for topsoil, I want to see a detailed soil test on it.


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