Gary , glad you mentioned that. It does seem to me that I have heard that before. The grading is going to start here in a couple of days, so I will talk to the contractor about that. From prior talking with him, I would bet he has already figured it into his equasions. He seems to be a very sharp guy. I have seen some other work he has done and it is impressive. He was also the most expensive, but I really liked what I saw that he had done. One of the other people didn't even want to show me anything they had done. Crossed him right off the list. The other guy was cheaper, but he had just begun in this field, so I didn't want to chance him. I do know, from building my pool and patio that to keep concrete from cracking, it helps if you keep the exterior parts of it wet. If it drys too quickly from the outside in, it will crack. best process is drying from the inside out. Thanks Gary and msmith, I appreciate your thoughts and help.