Ben:
Yes. (And boy did the realtor squawk)
I personally want to see a minimum of 6" in our central midwest area due to rain. I stick to my guns on this one, particularly with the masonite or other 'cardboard and glue sidings. We seldom get more than that height of snow, it is the bouncing waterdrops that do the damage in this area.
And another war story:
Entire back yard with negative ground slope to full basement: me hubby required regrading, they dug a ditch 10 feet out to redirect water. Then they put 10-12 bags of soil next to (on) the wood siding, then they... and it went on and on...
After about 10 or 12 finals (we didn't charge the homeowner for all of them cause it was entirely realtor driven ...) the homeowner wound up getting a new HVAC courtesy of the lender: who waived that called for inspection, AND the properly regraded back yard required in the original report.