Scenic Rim Retaining Wall Builders000
A finished concrete sleeper retaining wall
Ipswich

Ipswich City

Limestone and old coal measures sit close to the surface under the town centre, part of it is mapped over historic mine workings, and a fifth of it has been under the Bremer in living memory.

This is the one suburb on the list where nobody can tell you what a post hole will hit until it's open. Limestone, claystone and coal measures all sit within the same few streets, and there's no soil mapping fine enough to narrow it down. Part of the locality is also mapped over old workings. On top of that, a fifth of it is ground that goes under, so where the water leaves the wall is part of the design, not a detail.

We build steel reinforced concrete sleeper walls here, up to 1 metre retained, with the drainage in the quote and the price locked for 30 days.

The ground here
Ground

About 39% of the locality is Silkstone Formation, basalt with magnesian limestone and claystone, and 8.9% sits over mapped underground workings of the old Noblevale No.6 and City collieries.

Water

20.1% of the locality sat inside the council's 1974 flood line, and 13.5% inside the 2011 line.

Soil

No detailed soil survey covers Ipswich. The only mapping is at 1:2,000,000, far too coarse to tell you anything about a block.

Figures are area calculations against the published Queensland and council mapping, checked September 2026. They describe the suburb, not your block. Only a site visit tells you what your ground is doing.

Approvals

Check with your local council about approvals before you build.

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

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. On Ipswich ground in particular, limestone and old coal measures sit close to the surface under the town centre, part of it is mapped over historic mine workings, and a fifth of it has been under the Bremer in living memory.

  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.

Questions

Not answered here? Call us on 0488 844 741.

What people in Ipswich ask us

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

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

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
Nearby

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

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

Footings sized on site

The right auger for the job, 450 mm on some walls and 300 mm on others, and 32 MPa concrete from the plant. The depth is worked out on site rather than guessed in an office.

Soil in Ipswich

No detailed soil survey covers Ipswich. The only mapping is at 1:2,000,000, far too coarse to tell you anything about a block.

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.

Water in Ipswich

20.1% of the locality sat inside the council's 1974 flood line, and 13.5% inside the 2011 line.

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.

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.

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.

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