Scenic Rim Retaining Wall Builders000
Walls holding something above them: a driveway, a shed pad, a slab.
Structural

Structural retaining walls

4.5 Excellent
Based on 16 Google reviews
Structural

Walls holding something above them: a driveway, a shed pad, a slab.

  • Driveways, shed pads and slabs
  • Within 1.5 metres has to be engineered
  • You'll know at the first phone call
Get your quote0480 501 886
What it is

A wall holding something above it: a pergola, a shed pad, a driveway, a slab. A load behind a wall changes what the wall has to be, and it can change whether it needs approval. A driveway or shed pad within 1.5 metres of the wall means it has to be engineered, and we don't build engineered walls, so we'll tell you at the start if yours looks like one.

What decides this job
The 1.5 metre rule

A driveway or shed pad within 1.5 metres of the wall has to be engineered. We don’t build engineered walls, so we’ll tell you at the start if that’s what yours is.

When we can build it

Where the load sits further back than that, and the wall is no more than 1 metre retained, it’s a wall we build.

Approvals

Council approvals and their fees are the owner’s to arrange and pay for. We don’t deal with councils.

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.

Get your quote0480 501 886
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

Walls holding something above them: a driveway, a shed pad, a slab.

The honest answer comes first

If the load sits within 1.5 metres of the wall it has to be engineered, whatever its height, and we don't build engineered walls. You'll hear that before you spend anything.

A load changes the wall, not just the number

A wall holding a driveway is doing a different job to a garden wall. It's priced and built as one.

Footings sized on the day

450 mm pier holes and 32 MPa concrete from the plant, with the depth worked out on site rather than guessed in an office.

Drainage under load

Geofabric, a 100 mm socked ag pipe and drainage gravel. Water behind a loaded wall is what takes it out.

Licensed and insured

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

Approvals stay in your hands, and we say what's needed

Council approvals and their fees are yours to arrange. We'll tell you when it looks like your wall needs one.

Get your quote0480 501 886
Walls we've built

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

Side yard run, backfilled, Scenic Rim
Scenic Rim

Side yard run, backfilled, Scenic Rim

Sleeper wall and stairs, Scenic Rim
Scenic Rim

Sleeper wall and stairs, Scenic Rim

Wall built to carry a pergola, Oxenford
Oxenford

Wall built to carry a pergola, Oxenford

Feature sleeper wall replacing timber, Chuwar
Chuwar

Feature sleeper wall replacing timber, Chuwar

Knock down and rebuild under Colorbond, Boonah
Boonah

Knock down and rebuild under Colorbond, Boonah

Knock down and rebuild, Springwood
Springwood

Knock down and rebuild, Springwood

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.

Get your quote0480 501 886
The other three
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 actually use, in steps rather than one tall wall.

Rebuild
Rebuild

Knocking down a wall that's failed and building one that won't.

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.

0480 501 886
A long timber look concrete sleeper wall with steps, running along a slope

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