It's a bit tricky to figure out exactly where to put a breakpoint to quickly check your final sql statement before execution. This is for 4.2 but may be similar in
//in /vendor/laravel/framework/src/Illuminate/Database/Query/Builder.php
/**
* Get the SQL representation of the query.
*
* @return string
*/
public function toSql()
{
//I add this line to make debugging easier (originally it's all one return statement)
//note:
$checkMysql = $this->grammar->compileSelect($this);
//I put breakpoint here
return $checkMysql;
}