Question
The home I am preparing to place a bid on is graded terribly.  In all four directions of the house, the land and in some cases, concrete driveway, pitches toward the house.  The current owners spend a lot of money installing a French drain in the basement and some other drainage devices and have solved their wet basement issues, but the land around the house puddles in at least a dozen directions and to add insult to injury, the main road is higher than the house.  For pictures - http://normaljoy.com/home.htm .  I want the home and I have a brother-in-law who is an experienced builder.  I want to grade the land and am not affraid of the work.  I just need advice on what to do about the fact that the road is higher than the house in the front yard and the driveway is higher than the front yard too.  Help?  Emailing me is fine too.  I also need to have an idea of what this will cost me to resolve.  Thanks in advnace...

Answer
Good Morning Scott:
First of all I am giving you some web sites that will help in the grading slopes etc. Consider a minimum slope from the house of 12 inches per 100 feet.
Copy and  paste to your browser and hit "go"

http://64.207.161.50/lawn-maintenance-care/preparing-your-soil-grading-and-edgin...

http://www.oldandsold.com/articles25/lawn-care-3.shtml

This site will give you grading contractors in your area. Most will give you a free estimate then you can use that estimate to do the job yourself and establish a cost.

http://64.207.161.50/green-pages/index.php

After observation of the pictures I have come to the conclusion that you will have other problems establishing a lawn even after you achieve the proper drainage.
There are many large trees that will cast shade over the lawn area. Turf grass will not grow well in these areas. You can see that the present turf (such as it is) is not in good shape. You will either have to thin out the branches to allow sunlight penetration or eliminate some of the trees altogether.
It appears that there is considerable basement exposure. You could build up the soil around the basement so that only about four to six inches of basement foundation exposure is maintained as a starting point for maximum grade height. Also after the grade is achieved make sure that the down spouts from the roof area have at least four foot extensions that direct the flow away from the sides of the house.
You may also consider making a small wall in the driveway area that will act as a diverter that channels the water to the side of the house. Keep in mind that if you do not take care of the shade problem the soil will easily wash away without sod or vegetative ground cover.
My son, who lives in Duluth Georgia has a similar problem. Eventually the city came out and raised the curb along the roadway which diverted much of the water away. From the looks of the area that your home would be in I would doubt if you could get a curb from the city. You may consider a drainage ditch with underground drain tile directing the water to the rear of the house.
These are my suggestions:
1. Call a local contractor (see web site) and ask if he would give you a free estimate on grade work. Explain to him the problem and ask that soil be placed up around the foundation.
2. Eliminate or severely prune the trees  on the south and west of the house.
3. After grade is achieved and trees are worked on place sod or seed with Kentucky Bluegrass only in the sunny areas.
4.  Use shade tolerant ground cover in the shade areas. Consult your local Cooperative Extension for varieties that will grow well in your area. Separate the grass areas and ground cover areas with edging to eliminate the ground cover from invading the grass.

I hope I have helped
Have a good lawn!
Floyd McMahon