[header] How to grade a site by hand [title] Choose your grade. [step] There are three ways to go here. Either cut straight back into the hillside, and use retaining walls behind the structure to hold the earth back. 
Or put retaining walls around the lower side of the site, and build up with fill. You will be ordering at least a truckload of dirt here (not that costly, under a $100), and once it's in, it will need a month or so to properly settle.