Question
Due to lack of time, I hired a Scotslawn firm to do my lawn.  They want to put down crab grass retardant on most of our lawn and not seed till the fall.  Looking at it though it looks dead. All spring and summer it will look terrible if nothing at all grows. It probably got scorched too much in the summer and in the sunny sunny areas it's just loose dirt and dead crabgrass.  I would think I should rake it up and put down new topsoil and seed and water like crazy before it gets too hot.  We live in the northeast in rocky soil.  We have a goodly mixture of lome and clay but tons of rocks below 8 inches.  

Answer
You can use a starter fertilizer with crabgrass prevention which would allow you to seed the lawn in spring.

Scott's started to create this type of fertilizer a few years ago. Normally, you can not put down crabgrass control products and seed at the same time as the crabgrass control product kills the grass seeds, too. However, a for many years a product has been available: tupersan (sidueron) which works on crabgrass but allows lawn grasses to germinate. Scott's created a "Scott's turfbuilder starter fertilizer w/halts" which is a starter fertilizer with the crabgrass preventer, but the crabgrass preventer is based on tupersan and this is what you should use.

I strongly recommend seeding now because leaving the soil bare through summer will erode your topsoil and make it hard and compact.

It may still be necerssary to re-seed bare spots + overseed (thicken up an existing lawn) in fall because this IS the ideal time to seed, but I would still go ahead and seed this spring.

A professional lawn care company should have access to tupersan (siderun). In fact, they may not even need the combination product (fertilizer w/halts). They can buy and apply the liquid tupersan directly if they are a licensed company. In my mind, they should know this !!

I think you should rake out dead grass now. Fertilize w/crabgrass preventer (but only if you can get tupersan products) now otherwise skip. Then sow grass seeds in another 30-45 days.

Keep seedbed moist all times (water daily for 10-15 minutes at a time) never allowing the seedbed to dry out. Once new grass is 2-3" tall, gradually increase amount of water you apply and time between watering. After 30-45 days you should be watering infrequently and deeply (such as once per week for 2 hours instead of several times per day for 10 minutes). The frequent/shallow applications should be used until grass seeds sprout. Once young grass is growing, you need to change to the recommended pattern for a mature lawn (infrequently and deeply).

Even so, make sure you do not let the grass go into draught dormancy during hot dry summers. water 1-2 times per week in hot summers, and water deeply (1-2 hours per time).

In early fall (SEPT) spread grass seeds on bare spots and all over the lawn (overseeding to thicken up lawn) and keep the lawn moist (frequent/shallow waterings) for atleast 30-45 days until new grass is up again.

Fertilize your lawn in late spring, early fall and late fall. Do not fertilize your lawn during hot summer months. If you use crabgrass preventer, then use same in early spring (march/april).