What are some simple ways to measure the grade of my patio?

Without ranting and raving, I contract with a quality reputation
company to put it in and they subcontracted it to a fly-by-night
contractor who appears to use day laborers. I want the measurements
in hand when I go after them.

One constraint is my wife will have to do all the bending because
I have two slugs of concrete holding my spine together. Since
she is not mechanically inclined, it needs to be as simple as
possible and sill be accurate.

I did try the string method, but we had communication problems.
Maybe I just need a neighbor to help me do it.

Constructive suggestions are always valued.

Dick

P.S.: alt.home.repairs is one of the ten best newsgroups on USENET.
I like to believe misc.taxes.moderated (which I moderate) is
in the same league.