On a drier occasion I would add soil to the bed where there is the lowest elevation. You can improve the drainage of the area by making it level throughout. I agree with digging a trench around the area of the garden to redirect the flow of the water. In my garden, I shovel the dirt from the trench to the left and right so that the rows have "drainage" between them and it sort of helps to raise to bed out of standing water.

I’ve acted as GC on my last few renovation projects, one which involved three bathroom gut remodels and a brand new kitchen with all new appliances and cabinets, new hardwood floors, doors, and moving walls. Subs I had: (1) paint/general construction/drywall, (2) plumber, (3) tile, (4) floor guy. I did the bulk of this in about a month and a half, with just little aesthetic touch ups later. I saved both money and time. Time, because I found that GCs will schedule one thing after another, not wanting people to work around each other, but because I was on a really tight timeframe that my son and I wouldn’t have a place to live, I scheduled a lot of folks to work at the same time around each other. They grumbled a bit more, but I was there every day to smooth things over, help, and just be a charming friendly person who brought cookies and snacks :). That said, to echo a lot of what folks said, it’s important to (1) be there on site every day to catch things early that are not aesthetically what you’d like, before it becomes more difficult to fix later, (2) have great people skills to motivate folks and work through issues, (3) have great organizational and project management skills (4) make decisions quickly and easily (being willing to do your own research) (5) be efficient about ordering supplies and materials on your own, which really saves time and money. And maybe most importantly (6) have the energy to deal with this all — it takes a lot of energy. I was exhausted. The reason I undertook it is that some GCs I talked to gave me a 4 month estimate on the work, and I just didn’t have that kind of time. All the sub folks were referred by my broker, so they were really responsive and professional and above par. I’ve continued to use them on other renovation projects, and they’ve always been really responsive and great. I may be lucky, because I’ve heard of nightmare stories as well, but it’s just to say that if you get good referrals, I‘ve found it’s not always the case that you can’t get subs to show up or have leverage compared to a GC. In fact, on a current project I have, all my same subs agreed to take on the work for me, right away, when my GC couldn’t get his subs for weeks out. I respectfully don’t agree with the comment that if you can’t tell about running an electrical line you can’t be a GC. If you trust your subs to be good at what they do, they’ll guide you through everything and help you make the best decisions. That’s what they’re there for. I‘ve done several remodels now, and haven’t had any issues later on (I lived in that particular house for 5 years). Anyway, I know it’s been 6 years since this post, but since I always get value from older comments and advice, I thought I’d still share my own experiences for others with this same question.

JAN MOYER wrote: "For great contact on induction, the pan must contain a ferrous metal. ....or it will slide" I think the reaction force between the hob coil's field and the reaction field induced in the pan steel or cast iron is too slight to add meaningful downward force. But this raises an amusing if not entirely relevant point. Aluminum is diamagnetic, so an aluminum pan would react to an induction field by pushing away from it, but the induction cooktops can sense when the field is reacting with such a material and not operate the hob, just as the hob won't operate with no pan present. Hence there is no likelihood of having an aluminum pan drifting off the cooktop as it and the induction coil overheat.

the guy has no clue how to do a herringone pattern. at all. I've done many of these layouts and it takes a minute to plan the layout. there is a trick to doing it so that symmetry is on both sides. you have to snap two chalk lines and measure out the corner of the brick/tile to know where to start on you chalk lines (it's hard to explain in writing) This involves using a speed sqaure so that you get a perfect 45 angle. I was doing this on my shower wall but spent an hour outside laying it out so that the math would all work out for the design. People who don't know anything about a herringbone layout think you just take the point of the tile and start in the middle. wrong. I mean, the bottom row is just horrible. The sides are off. I bet this isn't even level. (obviously it's not because the bottom cuts are all different) no way I'd pay for this in any case, if he didn't know how to do it, he should have said something.He should have done a dry layout, plain and simple.) I know those bricks are expensive. he ruined them, he pays for them. these are all perfectly cut and perfectly symmetrical.