Update: the home inspector told me my grading was backwards, so I fixed it in a weekend
When we bought our place in Red Deer last year, the inspector pointed at the slope by the foundation and said "water's running toward the house, not away from it." I thought he was nitpicking until he showed me the water stain line in the basement. So I rented a mini tiller and regraded about 12 feet of the yard to give it a 6 inch drop over 10 feet. It took two full days and a lot of wheelbarrow trips, but we got through the spring melt with a dry basement for the first time. Has anyone else had to redo their grading, and did you bother putting in a swale or just slope it straight out?