Starting from scratch

Where do I start? We are building a new house and want to start preparing very hard clay soil for landscaping . Took a tractor with brushmower to blackberries etc. What next? One neighbor has cows and one has horses! Live in the PNW, zone 7.

starting a house.. the constuction of the house will cause serious compaction of the soil around the house. I would limit the construction traffic and storage of materials to areas that you don't plan on growing stuff as much as possible.

If you have areas that won't be disturbed by constuction you could start topdressing them with compost.

Anything else should probably wait until after the construction is finished - else you may end up doing it in vain....

After the house is built I would probably core aerate everything and topdress with compost.

And make GOOD friends with those neighbors.

I would scrape the topsoil off the building area and store it where it won't get stuff in it. I think then you can clean up the subsoil after the house is done and then return the topsoil and rototill or whatever the material in to help with interface and airation. Then I would develope the soils as you wish to become a total garden of perfect soil.

Thanks for your responses. I realize we won't be able to prepare the soil around the building site. The area I'm talking about is away from the building site. Joepyeweed, core aerate and top dress is a great idea. Soferding, that is a really good idea about the top soil. I'll have to tell DH about that. Brigidlily, DH has met the neighbors. I'm sure it won't be long before he makes friends. . .LOL! He is very good at that. So, tell me what to do with all the horse and cow. I'm a city girl and have always bought it in bags. Now I have a lot of land and will need a lot of compost. Thanks again for your help and please keep the ideas coming. Remember, I'm starting from scratch and don't have any idea what I'm doing. The picture is taken looking toward where the house will be built. The area I want to prepare is behind me.