Scenic Rim Retaining Wall Builders000
What a retaining wall costs, and why the quotes are thousands apart

Cost

Published Australian rates by material, and seven things to check on any quote.
Cost

What a retaining wall costs, and why the quotes are thousands apart

Read this first

Retaining walls are priced per square metre of wall face, not per metre of length. A 20 metre wall at 1 metre high is 20 square metres. The same 20 metre wall at 2 metres high is 40 square metres, and more than twice the job once the deeper footings and heavier posts are in.

Which is why how much per metre is a question nobody can answer honestly over the phone, and why what goes into the wall matters more than what it's faced with.

Published rates

From Australian Retaining Walls’ published price guide, with the low end of treated pine from Canstar’s 2024 cost guide. Excluding GST. Published guides assume reasonable access and a minimum job size, and the notes on the right are ours.

Wall systemPer square metre of faceNote
Treated pine and log$250 to $450Shortest life in wet clay
Hardwood sleeper$400 to $500Warm look, needs upkeep
Flush face concrete block$360 to $460Plain finish
Concrete sleeper$480 to $680Steel reinforced
Composite sleeper$450 to $650
Besser block$650 to $850Engineered, filled and reinforced
Sandstone and boulder$350 to $550Access dependent
Stone masonry$500 to $700

A range is only a range. Jake measures your wall and gives you a price for it, locked for 30 days.

What sits on top

These are industry estimates from a Brisbane retaining wall cost guide, which doesn't say where its figures come from, so treat them as a rough guide. Canstar puts engineering lower, from about $300.

Drainage

$30 to $80 per lineal metre

Ag pipe, aggregate, geofabric and an outlet. The cheapest line to leave out, and the most expensive to retrofit.

Difficult access

Adds 30 to 50 per cent

Hand barrowing, a smaller machine, more days. Common on hinterland and acreage blocks.

Reactive clay

Adds 15 to 25 per cent

Most of this region. Changes the footing and what the wall holds through a wet season.

Engineering

$500 to $1,500

Where the wall needs a certified design.

Fence on top

$80 to $200 per lineal metre

Colorbond above the wall, colour matched.

Seven things to check

Ask every builder all seven, including us. The quotes usually stop being thousands apart once they’re describing the same job. Ours list what’s in them, down to the sleeper design.

  • Is the drainage listed item by item, or is it only the word "drainage"?
  • How deep are the posts going, and into what?
  • Has rock been allowed for, or will it be a variation the day they hit it?
  • Is the space behind the wall backfilled with drainage gravel, or with the soil that came out of the hole?
  • Where the wall needs engineering, is it allowed for, or is it left for you to find out later?
  • Is the price locked, or is it subject to site conditions?
  • Who removes and disposes of the old wall?

Our position

We're not the cheapest quote, and we'd rather say so now than have you find out at the end. The drainage is in the quote, the price is locked for 30 days, and it only changes if you ask for extra work and approve it first. The wall is built by Jake, who quoted it.

If price is the only thing that matters on your job, there are builders who'll beat us, and we'll tell you so.

Keep reading

Questions

Not answered here? Call us on 0488 844 741.

The questions we get asked most

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.

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.

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

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

The price is locked for 30 days

The price you accept is the price you pay. 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 first.

One price, locked

Removal and disposal are in the quote, and the price is locked for 30 days. It only changes if you ask for extra work and approve it 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 builds it, on site from about 6:30, with no crew you've never met.

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.

Step 1 of 6 / You

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