Drain around foundation .

About a year ago we had a big flood in our courtyard when the auto filler (not used now) was stuck open on the water feature. the water overflowed and filled the courtyard on the low side. The low side is the foundation of the house and we had lots of water in the basement and had to have new floors installed.  We have been talking about preventing that from ever happening again.  It could be water from another source up hill we are not using the auto fill now.  Husband had decided to install a drain around the foundation, but after injuring his back in March we decided to contract it out and today and tomorrow are the days the contractors will be here.