How do I regrade the ground around my house?
I was given the same recommendation and decided it would be too much work for me to do myself. I was told to use a clay based soil to ensure that it doesn't wash away and to plant some type of ground cover (something like Pachysandra) to take root and hold onto the soil.

I'm far from a gardening expert but it seemed to be a tremendous amount of work to do without some kind of heavy lifting equipment and a few tons of dirt.