I worked through college doing landscaping for new construction in the Midwest. I don't know about all the rest of the stuff here, but we spent most of our work to put a 2' plastic barrier all around the house. In some situations we'd put in a French drain around the house, too. Later on, I figured out that we needed to cover the gap from the backfill so that the water would at least start it's journey moving away from the house. We'd also mound up the dirt next to the house because it would settle.
I see the new cheap "nationwide" builders now will sod right up to the house and in talking with the homeowners, they all have an active sump and worry about finishing off the basement for that one time that the sump doesn't keep up.
