Scenic Rim Retaining Wall Builders000
A long timber look concrete sleeper wall with steps, running along a slope on an acreage block

Ground held, from the footings up

4.7 Excellent29 Google reviews100% RecommendFacebook7 Facebook reviews
Scenic Rim / Logan / Ipswich / Gold Coast

Retaining walls

Scenic Rim Retaining Wall Builders is a family-owned business building steel reinforced concrete sleeper retaining walls, up to 1 metre retained, for homeowners across the Scenic Rim, Logan, Ipswich and the Gold Coast. Jake has more than 12 years in the industry, and he and Brittany started the business in 2023. No two sites are the same. Steep cuts, reactive clay, water running the wrong way and tight access all change how a wall has to be built, so Jake measures every site before he quotes it.

Galvanised posts concreted in along both sides of a front path, before the sleepers go in

Structure

Galvanised steel posts, set as deep as the ground calls for, with steel reinforced sleepers between them. We use the right auger for the job: 450 mm on some walls, 300 mm on others. None of it shows once the wall is finished, so the quote lists it.

What goes in
Ag line laid in the drainage trench behind a wall

Drainage

Geofabric, a 100 mm socked ag pipe and 20 mm drainage gravel go behind every wall, so water has somewhere to go. Water building up behind a wall with no drainage is what usually pushes it over.

Why walls fail
St Helena concrete sleeper finish, coarse charcoal aggregate

Finish

A range of finishes from dark charcoal to sandstone, in three lengths. You choose yours after you’ve accepted the quote.

The range
A long concrete sleeper wall at Woodhill
Feature sleeper retaining wall at Camira
Why quotes differ

Most quotes aren’t for a different wall. They’re for a different amount of the work you can’t see once it’s finished.

What moves the priceWhyEffect
Retained height

Walls are priced by the square metre of face, so height counts as much as length. A metre high wall has twice the face of a half metre one.

Biggest
Site access

Our 1.7-tonne machine needs about 1100 mm of clear access. Tight but workable access adds machine time, and hand labour if the sleepers go in by hand, which adds cost. If the machine can’t reach the wall, we can’t take the job, and we’ll tell you on the phone.

Adds time
Rock

If the pier holes hit rock, it has to be broken to get the holes to depth.

Adds time
What sits above

We don’t take on walls with a driveway, shed pad or slab within 1.5 metres above them, because those need engineering.

Can rule a wall out
Drainage

The line most often left out of a quote, and the most expensive thing to put right afterwards. It’s in every quote of ours.

Always included
Approvals

Council approvals and fees aren’t in our quote. Check with your local council about approvals before you build.

Separate to the quote
The full cost breakdown0488 844 741

In the quote

Every quote we send spells out what’s in it, so you can hold it next to anyone else’s and compare the same things.

Included
  • Removing and disposing of the old wall, where there is one
  • Set out, string lines and levels
  • Pier holes drilled with the right auger for the job, 450 mm on some walls and 300 mm on others, and galvanised steel posts
  • Posts concreted with 32 MPa concrete from the plant
  • Steel reinforced concrete sleepers, plain grey, or any Premium or Showcase design if you accept within 14 days
  • A 6 year 6 month workmanship warranty, and 50 years on the sleeper from our supplier
  • Geofabric, 100 mm socked ag pipe and 20 mm drainage gravel behind the wall
  • The machine, the labour and every material for the wall
Not included, and we say so up front
  • Fencing. We don’t build fences, and we can put you in touch with a fencing contractor we trust
  • The site cut, and backfilling with soil
  • Landscaping and landscaping preparation
  • Council approvals and fees, which are the owner’s to arrange
  • Engineering. We don’t build engineered walls

The quote covers the retaining wall. Anything else is only in it if it’s written in and priced. It’s the most common misunderstanding in this trade, so we say it here as well as on the quote.

The range

A retaining wall is the biggest surface in most back yards, and the sleepers carry a 50 year warranty from the supplier. Choose one you’ll like looking at.

Hamilton concrete sleeper finish
Hamilton
Moreton concrete sleeper finish
Moreton
St Helena concrete sleeper finish
St Helena
Stradbroke concrete sleeper finish
Stradbroke
Fraser concrete sleeper finish
Fraser
Whitsunday concrete sleeper finish
Whitsunday
Blakeview concrete sleeper finish
Blakeview
Bedrock Charcoal concrete sleeper finish
Bedrock Charcoal
Bedrock Sandstone concrete sleeper finish
Bedrock Sandstone
Heritage Charcoal concrete sleeper finish
Heritage Charcoal
Industrial Grey concrete sleeper finish
Industrial Grey
Industrial Charcoal concrete sleeper finish
Industrial Charcoal

Applications

Where the wall goes changes what it has to be.

Boundary
Boundary

Long runs that have to stay dead straight, often with a fence going on top.

Terrace
Terrace

Turning a slope into flat ground you can use, in steps rather than one tall wall.

Structural
Structural

Walls carrying something above them: a pergola, a shed pad, a driveway.

Rebuild
Rebuild

Knocking down a wall that's failed and building it again properly, with footings and drainage.

How it runs

Four stages, and you know where things stand at every one.

It's the two of us. Brittany takes your call and runs the office, and Jake measures your site, quotes your wall and builds it. No sales reps, and no crew you've never met.

  1. 01

    Tell us about the wall

    Answer six short questions online, or give us a call. Brittany calls you back the same day or the next business day. If you know roughly how long and how high the wall is, she'll give you an estimate over the phone, including GST, and she'll make clear it's an estimate and not a quote.

  2. 02

    Jake comes out on a Saturday

    If it's a wall we build, you go on the quote list for that Saturday and Brittany confirms your time on the Thursday or Friday. Jake measures it on site: the retained height, the access for the machine, what sits above the wall and where the water goes.

  3. 03

    A locked price

    Once you've accepted the quote, the price is locked for 30 days. It only changes if you ask for extra work during the build, and then Jake agrees it with you on site and you approve a new quote before it starts. A deposit holds your place in the schedule, and the rest is due when the wall is finished.

  4. 04

    Build and hand over

    Jake is on site from about 6:30. He needs full access to the site and street parking for deliveries. A normal wall takes two to three days, and a big tiered job five to ten. When he's finished he makes sure you're happy with it, or sends you photos if you're not home, and the final invoice comes the same day.

Recent work

Some of the walls we’ve built, and where they are.

ProjectWall typeFinishSuburb
Knock down and rebuild of a failing timber wallConcrete sleeperFernvale
Knock down and rebuild of old timber wallsConcrete sleeperDugandan
Concrete sleeper retaining wallConcrete sleeperPacific Pines
Side yard run, backfilledConcrete sleeperCharcoalScenic Rim
Sleeper wall and stairsConcrete sleeper with stepsCharcoalScenic Rim
Wall built to carry a pergolaConcrete sleeperCharcoalOxenford
The full register
What people say
4.7 Excellent29 Google reviews100% RecommendFacebook7 Facebook reviews

“He explained everything clearly so we could make confident financial decisions.”

Tanya Gwin, Google

Questions

Not answered here? Call us on 0488 844 741.

The questions we get asked most

Check with your local council about approvals before you build. It depends on the block, so they're the ones to ask.

Most quotes aren't for a different wall. They're for a different amount of the work you can't see once it's finished: the footings, the concrete and the drainage behind it.

Walls are priced by the square metre of face, so size moves the number most. After that it's access. Our 1.7-tonne machine needs about 1100 mm of clear access, and tight access adds machine time, and hand labour if Jake has to put the sleepers in by hand. Rock that needs breaking to get the holes to depth adds to it too.

What a wall costs and why

No, and it's the thing people most often assume. We're retaining wall builders, not landscapers. The quote is the wall: the materials, the machine, the labour, the drainage behind it, and taking the old wall away if there is one.

The site cut, backfilling with soil, and any landscaping or landscaping preparation aren't in it unless they're written into the quote and priced. We'd rather you read that here than find out on the day.

No. Approvals are yours to arrange, so check with your local council, and we don't do engineering or build engineered walls.

Where approval or engineering may be needed, we'll let you know up front, so you're not three quotes in before anyone mentions it. If you're not sure, ask Jake to take a look when he measures the site.

Walls are priced per square metre of wall face, not per metre of length. A 20 metre wall at half a metre high is 10 square metres. The same wall at 1 metre high is 20 square metres, and twice the job.

If you know roughly how long and how high your wall is, Brittany can give you an estimate over the phone, including GST. It's an estimate, not a quote. Things like rock breaking or tight access can change it, and the locked price comes after Jake has measured the site. Our walls start from $8,000.

Published rates by material

A normal sized wall takes two to three days on site. A big job, like a two tier wall, can take five to ten business days. Jake is on site from about 6:30 each morning.

Weather, deliveries, rock and other trades like the concrete plant can all stretch it, and they're out of our hands. So the time we give you is our honest estimate rather than a promise.

Water. Wet soil is heavier than dry soil and clay swells when it holds water, so a wall built to hold dry ground is holding something else entirely after a wet summer.

That's why our quotes list the drainage: geofabric, a 100 millimetre socked ag pipe and 20 millimetre drainage gravel behind the wall. If a quote you're holding only says "drainage", or doesn't mention it, ask what's going in.

Why walls fail

We only build concrete sleeper walls. Timber is cheaper on the day, but it rots, and in wet clay it doesn't last. If timber is what you're after, we're not the right builder for the job.

Concrete sleepers from our supplier carry a 50 year warranty on the sleeper, and the steel reinforcing inside them is the part you're really paying for.

The material

Retaining walls are not covered by Queensland's dividing fences legislation. That Act is about fences and trees, so retaining wall disputes are decided case by case on common law.

The thread through all of it is that responsibility follows the benefit. If you cut into your land, or you filled it, the wall is usually yours.

Boundary walls

No. We specialise in concrete sleeper retaining walls only.

We can put you in touch with a fencing contractor we trust, who can quote the fence for you. We leave the wall straight and the levels right, so they have a clean start. One of our reviews is from a customer thanking us for splitting the job between experts.

How we work

About 1100 millimetres. That's what our 1.7-tonne machine needs to get through, and it's worth measuring at your narrowest point before you call anyone.

Tight but workable access adds machine time, and hand labour if Jake has to put the sleepers in by hand, which adds cost. If the machine can't reach the wall, we can't take the job, and we'll tell you on the phone before booking a site visit.

Yes. Our retaining walls start from $8,000.

If your wall is likely to come in under that, we'll let you know on the phone, so you're not waiting on a site visit.

We build concrete sleeper retaining walls up to 1 metre retained height, and refer anything outside that. Past a metre it stops being the same job. It takes a higher licence grade, ten metre tippers, heavier-duty machinery, a crew of three or four and a great deal more engineering paperwork. That's a different business from the one we've chosen.

We'd rather be very good at the walls we do build. If yours is over a metre, we'll tell you on the call so you can go straight to a contractor set up for larger walls.

Jake keeps working until he can't, or waits on site until he can carry on. If it's heavy enough that the machine could get bogged or deliveries can't get in, he comes back the next day once the ground has dried out.

No. We build new walls and full replacements, and we don't repair walls built by other contractors.

Once we alter an existing wall, we may become responsible for work we didn't build, and what's behind the face is the part that decides whether a wall stands. If your wall is failing, we'll quote a knock down and rebuild.

No. We build concrete sleeper retaining walls only.

That means no turf, plants, garden beds, fencing, timber, rock or sandstone walls. We're retaining wall builders, not landscapers, and the quote covers the retaining wall.

Why people trust us

Jake has more than 12 years in the industry, and he and Brittany started the business in 2023.

Jake builds it

The person who quotes your wall is the person who builds it, on site from about 6:30, with no crew you've never met.

Licensed and insured

QBCC licensed for structural landscaping, with $20 million public liability behind the work.

Drainage behind the wall

Geofabric behind every wall, a 100 millimetre socked ag pipe, and the space behind the sleepers backfilled with 20 millimetre recycled drainage gravel.

We stop at a metre, and say so early

We build up to 1 metre retained and refer anything over that. You'll hear it on the phone, not three quotes later.

QBCC licence 15049372 (Jacob Spriggs)

Next

Tell us about the block

Six short questions, about two minutes. Brittany calls you back, then Jake comes out and measures the wall. Quotes are locked for 30 days, and the price only changes if you ask for extra work and approve it first.

Talk to us about your wall
0488 844 741
A long timber look concrete sleeper wall with steps, running along a slope

Talk to us about your wall

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