Congrats on your new home!

Most builders will come out and reseed any places that didn't come up. Depending on your contract with them, they may or may not legally be required to do it. However, seed is cheap and most good builders know that the tiny cost of seed is much lower than the potential cost of an unhappy customer.

Just a word of warning though. Most builders use a "Contractor Mix" for lawns. It is basically the cheapest seed you can get and contains older varieties of grasses. Some of the newer varieties are more drought tolerant, naturally darker green, and don't grow quite as fast (less mowing.) It may be a better value for you in the longrun to reseed with some of those after the summer heat breaks.

Thanks billl - I was going to reseed anyway but there several 3 sq yard patches that are just hard pan where if I toss seed on it it'll blow away LOL

Simple question. When I reseed - I just sprinkle seed onto the grass and water like I did in the beginning???

Its all in the contract.

Builders use the cheapest #$*% they can get. Just do it yourself at the proper time of year (autumn) and save your nitpicks for more serious stuff that may pop up with the house. This way you can use quality seed and have the appearnce you want not some contractor mix garbage crab grass millet annual rye grass bahia centipede

Congrats on the new home. We just moved into our new home also and here (in Europe) they don't TOUCH the yard. It is all up to the owner....and very $$. Good landscaping, granite etc all come at a pretty penny! If I were you I'd take Bill's advice and overseed with some nice premium seeds in the fall. I think in the long run you'll find the backyard nicer than the front because of it!!!! There are some great seeds out there these days--more drought tolerant, disease resistant and beautiful! I'm sure it will be great when it is finished. I know I have learned with our building project that patience is indeed a virtue and the outcome is WELL WORTH the wait! I'm glad all went smoothly for you. You COULD call the builder just to tell him about the situation (and perhaps ask him about his seed too). Since you had such a good experience with him maybe he will gladly come back out in the fall.

Hi,

Most builders use contractor seed as many posters have said. The reason why is that as well as been cheap it has the advantages of (1) sort of bullet proof in that it will come up and (2) it will come up fast.

The real concern for a builder and the town building inspector is not your nice lawn but the run off from your land due to all that top soil with nothing to hold it there. Grass is a very effective binding agent to hold the soil in place. No one wants a mud slide into the street or into the neighbour's yards. SIlt fencing will stop some run off, but not for a large amount of top soil.

Contractor seed therefore has a high percentage of annual seed, one year one shot only grass. This stuff establishes fast. It does have some other grass seed to so that over winter something will be there. However in general it does not give you a particularly nice lawn going forward.

Best, Mike.

contractor mix garbage crab grass millet annual rye grass bahia centipede

I'll third that remark. My builder--excellent in all other ways and one I recommend happily and enthusiastically--used the worst seed I have ever seen when doing the lawn.

Sprout was pretty good, but it's rather too bad that so much of it was weeds. I have no doubt that it was in the seed.

The cultivars weren't premium, either, and they're a constant struggle to keep looking nice. I'm getting ready to overseed/redo completely with the premium stuff.

Heck I'd pay extra for the builder to specifically NOT plant anything!

hahahaha You guys are nuts.

In addition to filling in the canyons and leveling, see if you can get him to clear out all the mess, too. Turn it over or do something to give you a good planting bed. Then plant seeds yourself. But you want to put him off until at least mid-August. If he does it now, you'll end up with the same mess. I say that under the assumption you need a cool season type grass, but I don't really have any idea where you are. Perhaps I missed it so tell us what state you live in. We can offer seed suggestions, planting methods, and tell how to care for the seeds to get them germinating and growing.

In addition, you might start digging and find a bunch of buried trash that subs left after the roll off was taken away. That's aways fun to dig up bricks and 2x4's.

That's aways fun to dig up bricks and 2x4's.

Think of it as a gift. If you get enough of it, you can build a doghouse!