Daedalus Contracting
Resources

Hardscaping Knowledge Base

Install guides and free tools — so you know what to expect before you hire anyone.

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Tools

Free Tool

Retaining Wall Permit Checker

Enter your city, wall height, terracing, and what sits above the wall — get your municipality's actual permit and engineering rules, plus design moves that keep you under the thresholds.

Check your wall →
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Explainers

Animated

Where the water actually goes

A retaining wall holds back soil, not water — and wet soil is the load. Follow the rain from the surface to the drain rock, into the perforated pipe sitting in the base, and out to daylight.

Watch it →Animated

Where a French drain ends

A drain is only as good as its outlet. The pipe turns solid at the low end so it carries instead of leaking, then ends in a spreader that is dead level — which is what turns a stream back into a thin sheet.

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Blogs

Illustration: a rock-lined drainage swale running downhill beside a sloped gravel driveway, with low check dams set across it holding a small pool of water behind each one.
How-To6 min read

Rock swale with check dams along a driveway: how we build it and when it fits

Heavy runoff along a sloped driveway? Here's how we build a rock swale with check dams, when it fits, and the rules in Mission, BC.

Oct 7, 2026Read More →
Illustration: a rural gravel driveway in Mission, BC climbing a forested hill, freshly graded with a crown shedding water to shaped shoulders on both sides, under heavy overcast rain.
How-To7 min read

Rebuilding a sloped gravel driveway: the base under every drainage option

Potholes on a sloped gravel driveway are a water problem. Here's how we rebuild the surface, what decides the details on your property, and which Mission rules apply.

Oct 7, 2026Read More →
Terraced Allan Block retaining wall built on a compacted gravel base
How-To10 min read

How to Build an Allan Block Retaining Wall (BC Homeowner's Guide)

The same process our crews follow: trench dimensions, base material, compaction in lifts, wall rock, and drainage — plus the tool list and the height where DIY legally ends in your city.

Jul 17, 2026Read More →
A finished interlocking paver walkway laid in a herringbone pattern on a Daedalus job, running from the street up to the house with a soldier-course border and trimmed lawn either side.
How-To9 min read

How to Install a Paver Patio That Doesn't Sink (BC Guide)

Every sunken patio failed underground. Here's the full process — excavation depth, base lifts, compaction, edge restraint set first, bedding sand, and polymeric sand — the way installation crews actually do it.

Jul 17, 2026Read More →