I want to do seeding

I hired a professional to clear my lot in my backyard, put fence up, irrigation and sod. He rough grated the lot as you see in the picture and put the fence up. Since it has rained it has flooded my back yard is that normal? He says once I put sod or seeding it won't happen? I don't know how much of that is true. Plus there are roots and twigs still, is that normal. I just feel like your suppose to mulch or get rid of everything and level it more before doing anything. I just don't want to waste my money on putting in sod or seeding( which we prefer since it will save us a lot of money, we are already stripping out our savings account for this project) please help me find out if the professional is correct or he just trying to do a short cut with what his doing? Also I know you can not tell by the picture but there is a big down slop from the front of the cement to about 6 feet. I am thinking we need dirt but we do not have the money, my husband is a golf lover so maybe I can incorporate something to save cost? Also we do not have a means to get loads of dirt back there unless I think we will borrow it in. Our backyard neighbors will not let us go through there property to get to ours.

my email is annie_mcallister@yahoo.com

ANSWER

Hi Annie,
From the photos you sent, it appears that your yard has not been prepared well for either seed or sod. You are correct in a lot of your observations. The earth should be fairly smooth. Yours is full of lumps and bumps! Any twigs or other brush should be removed. The property should be graded at a 2% slope or 1/4 inch per foot in an acceptable direction. If is,(relatively,)that water might be there as puddles are forming due to the improper leveling of the land.

As far as the slope goes, that is one way of grading and ok as long as the rest of the land continues the slope as mentioned above. If you don't like the look, you could add fill to smooth it out. Sometimes you can get fill for free if there is excavation going on in nearby areas. Actually, sometimes people are looking to get rid of it.

There should also be a couple of inches on nice topsoil on top of the graded land. Seed is fine to save money.

I hope this helped.
Susan