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The average cost to have rototilling done on your property is around $250, and most homeowners pay between $100 and $350. The total for your rototilling project will depend on the area you need tilled, the quality of the soil, how many roots and shrubs are in the area, and the accessibility of the area. Anything that increases the time to till your soil—like hard clay soil, small entrances to the area that require the use of smaller tools, and roots running through the ground—will all increase your costs.

Yes, rototilling has many benefits. Rototilling is a great way to aerate the soil in your garden, introduce fertilizer, and remove weeds from your soil to prep it for planting, so it is very often a worthwhile expense. You can get by without rototilling if you’re willing to use manual tools, but the work will take much longer and is very labor-intensive. If you’re looking to prepare your garden for planting or your soil for new grass growth, rototilling is relatively inexpensive and almost always worth the money.

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.