Scenic Rim Retaining Wall Builders000
Long runs that have to stay dead straight, usually with a fence going on top.
Boundary

Boundary retaining walls

4.5 Excellent
Based on 16 Google reviews
Boundary

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

  • Dead straight through ground that isn't
  • Fence brackets set for the fencing contractor
  • Approvals and the neighbour stay yours
What it is

The longest runs we build, and the least forgiving. A boundary wall is looked at from both sides for the next fifty years, so the line has to be dead straight through ground that is not. Often there's a fence going on top. We don't build fences any more, but we'll put you onto the fencing contractor we work with. Talk to your neighbour before we start: we don't approach neighbours ourselves, and only need to if we have to get in through their place.

What decides this job
Where it sits

Most councils want the wall stepped in from the boundary line, and the property that needs the wall is the one responsible for it. Anything over 1 metre high, or on the boundary line, needs council approval, and approvals are yours to arrange.

Your neighbour

Talk to them before we start. We don’t approach neighbours ourselves, and we’d only need to if we have to get in through their place to build it.

The fence above it

We don’t build fences any more, we stopped because of disputes with neighbours, and we’ll put you onto the fencing contractor we work with.

What goes in

450 mm pier holes, galvanised steel posts concreted with 32 MPa concrete from the plant, steel reinforced concrete sleepers, then geofabric, a 100 mm socked ag pipe and 20 mm drainage gravel behind the wall.

Know roughly how long and how high? Brittany can give you a price on the phone.

Reviews
4.5 Excellent
Based on 16 Google reviews

16 people have written about what it was like, and they all write about the same things.

The thing people say to us most is that they can’t believe it’s just the two of us. After that, it’s how fast Jake is, how clean he leaves the site, and the quality of the wall.

Reviews published on Google. Names as the reviewers gave them.

Why people trust us with this

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

The line holds

Set out with string lines, 450 mm pier holes and galvanised posts concreted with 32 MPa from the plant. A boundary wall is looked at from both sides for fifty years.

The fence sits right on top of it

We don't build fences any more, but we leave the wall straight and the levels right, and we'll put you onto the fencing contractor we work with.

Nobody knocks on your neighbour's door but you

We don't approach neighbours. We'd only need to go through their place if that's the only way in, and you'd know before we started.

The price is locked for 30 days

What you accept is what you pay. No builder variations. The only change is work you ask for during the build, agreed on site and re-quoted first.

Warranty on the wall and on the sleeper

A 6 year 6 month workmanship warranty from us, and 50 years on the sleeper from our supplier.

Jake builds it

The person who quotes your wall is the person who turns up to build it, from about 6:30, with no crew you've never met.

Walls we've built

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

How a wall gets built

Most of the work is finished before a single sleeper is visible.

This is how Jake builds a knock down and rebuild, which is most of what we do. Three of the four stages are hidden the day the job's finished, which is exactly why two quotes can look the same and be thousands apart.

  1. 01

    Old wall out, set out, holes dug

    The old wall comes down and gets disposed of. Then Jake sets out, runs string lines for the heights and lengths, marks every post and drills the holes with a 450 millimetre auger.

    A lot of cheap quotes hand dig, and hand dug holes rarely get to depth or get the footing a wall needs.

  2. 02

    Posts concreted, then left to set

    Galvanised steel posts go in and get concreted with 32 MPa concrete from the plant. Never hand mixed and never rapid set. Then the concrete's left to set before a sleeper goes anywhere near it.

    Bays run 1.6 to 2.4 metres depending on the wall.

  3. 03

    Sleepers in

    Steel reinforced concrete sleepers from a supplier who warrants them for 50 years. Not seconds, not the hardware store sleepers, and not the brands that skimp on the reinforcing bar inside.

    The bar inside the sleeper is the one part of the wall you'll never see, and the part you're actually paying for.

  4. 04

    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 use 100 millimetre socked ag pipe, the size engineered walls are drawn with, even on walls that don't need engineering. Cheap quotes backfill with dirt, which holds water against the wall until the pressure pushes it over.

Jake measures it on a Saturday. The price you accept is the price you pay.

The other three
Method

Not answered here? Ring us on 0480 501 886.

What people ask about how it’s built

Every post hole is drilled with a 450 millimetre auger, and the posts are concreted with 32 MPa concrete from the plant. How deep they go depends on the wall and the ground, which Jake works out on site.

What we never do is hand dig, hand mix or use rapid set. That's where a lot of cheap walls go wrong, and none of it shows the day the wall's finished.

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

We use 100 millimetre socked ag pipe, the size engineered walls are drawn with, even on walls that don't need engineering.

Because a lot of cheap quotes backfill with dirt. Dirt holds water against the back of the wall, and that water pressure is what pushes walls over.

Gravel lets the water drop to the ag pipe and get away. It's one of the cheapest things to skip and one of the most expensive to put right later.

Why walls fail

Yes. The post holes still have to get to depth, so rock means rock breaking, and that adds time and cost.

If you know there's rock, tell Brittany when you ring. It'll be priced into your quote, and once you've accepted it the price is locked.

Because a post that's loaded before its concrete has set can move, and a wall is only as straight as its posts. So the posts get concreted, the concrete's left to set, and the sleepers go in after.

It's part of why a normal wall takes two to three days rather than one.

No. Concrete sleeper retaining walls only.

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

1100 millimetres. That's the width our 1.7 tonne machine needs to get through.

If there's no way to get it to the wall, we don't take the job. Tighter access can still work, but it adds machine and operator time, and if Jake has to put the sleepers in by hand, that's in the price too.

Next

Tell us about the block

Six short questions, about two minutes. Brittany rings you back, then Jake comes out and measures it. Quotes are locked for 30 days, with no builder variations.

A long timber look concrete sleeper wall with steps, running along a slope

Request a quote

Six short questions, about two minutes. Your details first, so if anything cuts out halfway we can still ring you back.

Step 1 of 6 / You

Your name and number are saved when you press Next, so we can ring you back if you don't finish. Sending this agrees to our privacy policy, including the overseas handling it describes.

*Mandatory field

Speak to us0480 501 886Request a quote