Scenic Rim Retaining Wall Builders000
Turning a slope into ground you can use, in steps rather than one tall wall.
Terrace

Terraced retaining walls

Terrace

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

  • Flat ground you can use
  • Water gets out at every level
  • Up to 1 metre retained per wall
A long timber look concrete sleeper wall with steps, running along a slope

Talk to us about your wall

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

Step 1 of 6 / You

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

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What it is

Turning a slope into ground you can stand on. Two or three low walls stepping up a bank usually look better than one tall one, and the water has somewhere to go at every level rather than all of it arriving at the bottom. Check with your local council about approvals before you settle on a design.

What decides this job

Why steps

Two or three low walls stepping up a bank usually look better than one tall one, and the water has somewhere to go at every level rather than all of it arriving at the bottom.

How close they sit

How close the tiers sit is worked out at the site visit. Check with your local council about approvals before you settle on a design.

How high we build

Up to 1 metre retained per wall. Past that it takes a higher licence grade, bigger machines and a crew, which is a different business from the one we’ve chosen.

What goes in

Galvanised steel posts in pier holes drilled with the right auger for the job, 450 mm on some walls and 300 mm on others, concreted with 32 MPa concrete from the plant. Then steel reinforced concrete sleepers, with 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 an estimate over the phone.

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

The thing people tell us most is that they can’t believe it’s only the two of us. After that, it’s how fast Jake works, 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

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

Every level drains

Geofabric behind each wall, a 100 mm socked ag pipe and 20 mm recycled drainage gravel, so water doesn't sit against the wall.

The spacing is worked out before you commit

How close the tiers sit is worked out at the site visit, before you commit to anything.

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.

Footings go to depth

Drilled holes, with bays between 1.6 and 2.4 metres depending on the wall. We use the right auger for the job: 450 mm on some walls, 300 mm on others. No hand digging, no hand mixed concrete, no rapid set.

Two to three days for a normal wall

A big tiered job takes five to ten. Weather, deliveries and rock can move it, and we tell you when they do.

Quoted by the square metre of face

Terracing is priced on what the walls hold, so you can compare it line for line with anyone else's.

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 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 is disposed of. Then Jake sets out, runs string lines for the heights and lengths, marks every post and drills the holes with the right auger for the job: 450 millimetres on some walls, 300 millimetres on others.

    A drilled hole gets to depth and gives the post the footing it needs. Hand dug holes often don't.

  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. We don't use seconds, or sleepers light on reinforcing bar.

    The bar inside the sleeper is the one part of the wall you'll never see, and the part you're really 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. Soil backfill holds water against the wall until the pressure pushes it over, which is why ours is gravel.

Jake measures it on a Saturday, and the quote you accept is locked for 30 days.

The other three

Method

Not answered here? Call us on 0488 844 741.

What people ask about how it’s built

We use the right auger for the job: 450 millimetres on some walls, 300 millimetres on others. The posts are concreted with 32 MPa concrete from the plant, and how deep they go depends on the wall and the ground, which Jake works out on site.

We never hand dig, hand mix or use rapid set. Those are where many failed walls went wrong, and none of it shows the day the wall is 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.

Soil 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 drain away. It's one of the cheapest things to leave out and one of the most expensive to put right later.

Why walls fail

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

If you know there's rock, tell Brittany when you call. It's 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.

Yes. Fence brackets fix to the wall's steel posts and the fence stands on those. The brackets go on before the top two sleepers, so tell us when you ask for the quote, not once the wall is up.

We fit the brackets as part of the wall. The fence itself is a fencer's job, and we can put you in touch with one we trust.

Fence brackets, in order

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.

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.

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.

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

Talk to us about your wall

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

Step 1 of 6 / You

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

*Mandatory field

Speak to us0488 844 741Talk to us