Saw a guy build a paver patio at the Tacoma home show and it changed my whole approach
I went to the Tacoma Home and Garden Show two weekends ago mostly to kill time, and there was this older guy doing a live demo on laying pavers. He used a rubber mallet and a level on every single stone instead of just eyeballing it, and he said "the ground doesn't care how fast you want to be done." Do you all check level on every paver or just spot check as you go?
Checking every single paver with a level sounds good in a demo but nobody actually works that way on a real job. You would be there for a week on a normal size patio. The trick is getting your base right and your first row dead on, then you can trust your lines and only spot check here and there as you go. The mallet tap is real, you do want each stone set tight, but a level on every piece is overkill if your prep was solid. That guy knows his stuff, he just also knows he is putting on a show and not trying to finish before the weekend is over.