Elsewhere, someone asked for a before/during album: http://imgur.com/a/FBSNA
Storytime: We put down sod after moving into the new house in 2012. That same Summer we had one of the worst droughts in West Michigan had seen in years. Our house, essentially built on a sand dune a few miles from Lake Michigan, did not have irrigation that Summer and our entire sod lawn burnt up as I desperately attempted to keep up moving sprinklers around the house. That Autumn I had several landscapers come in and give estimates for tearing out the sod, hydro-seeding, and installing irrigation with the patio we asked for come in from $18,000 to $33,000. Median estimate was about $24k, and I simply could not justify putting the cost of a new car purchase into a lawn and patio.
The Spring following I rented a tractor and tiller with almost zero known how, and a lot of confidence. After a weekend of manual grading and many weekends of hand raking I started my lawn and patio over with high quality seed and a never ending driveway full of materials. Total project costs were as follows:
Underground Irrigation with Well ~ $4,000 Six zone with 30 heads. I had both the well and underground sprinkling contracted out, but had to get the brand new Rachio IRO controller since I'm an IT nerd. My feeling is that if I do it and bury it, I will eff it up. My more Dutch neighbors installed their own irrigation. Given the time and effort along with their cost, I feel good about having this one done and warrantied.
Tractor Rental, Sod Disposal, Top Soil & Premium Seed - $1,200 Rented the tractor, tiller, and a box grader for the weekend. Picked a Michigan State University Extension approved combination of pure bluegrass seed from seedsuperstore.com.
Retaining Wall & Patio materials (including base & tool rental) $3,500 All delivered in from Menards.
Plants/Garden $1,500 (Full lawn) Trees and garden items from a local nursery. Most items pictured are weathered over a full Winter.
Furniture $1,500 Ohana Deep Seating with Sunbrella fabric and pillows from Amazon.