First one got it! Indeed. The level of the wood cladding is beliw the doorsteps. That means the pavement can never meet the thresholds at a proper level or the wood will be below the water line.
No French drains, but a whole lot of soil got moved to make sure levels are such that water drains away from the house. Crane guy moved at least twentyfive tons that day, and I did another ton the next day.
Today, in the p1ssing rain I dug out the wadi I had crane guy make a bit more and it works beautifully.
Here we’ve skipped ahead, to the point where we were done carrying the white sand in. Reiterating my points on how and why the level should be as it should and not as is proper (both the crane driver and Bertrand had some strong opinions on proper levels for pavement)
Bert working his magic. It’s deceptively simple, but to get it just right takes a lot of effort. Or, if you’re an experienced artist, you just plop 'em down and it all ends up just right.
It is turning out nice. Client is very happy with the work so far. I am not in these pix, because I was doing the far less glorious work of building drainpipes.
with 55 in Milky Way stars 
