My wife and I have a back garden with terrible drainage, with the result that the lawn we laid last year is now just a mudbath. We have decided to put block paving down, and have had 2 conflicting opinions from the companies we have had quotes from. One is talking about installing channel drainage. The other says that, as we live halfway down a hill (our garden is unfortunately level), channel drainage is not necessary as the paving can be laid with a run-off to ensure that the rain continues on it's journey down the hill rather than settling in our garden. As you can imagine, the quote from the latter fellow is significantly lower. Much as I would love to save some money, I am concerned that, if we don't install the drainage, it will come back to haunt us later.
Both of the companies concerned seem very professional and come with good references so I am at a bit of a deadend here. Any advice would be much appreciated!