Before you build a retaining wall
Most of what goes wrong with a retaining wall was decided before anybody picked up a shovel: the approval question, the drainage, who owns the wall, and whether the quote in front of you includes the half you cannot see. These pages cover that ground, and each one points at the work it relates to.
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What a Retaining Wall Actually Costs to Build
Height matters more than length, access matters more than either, and the cheapest quote is usually missing the drainage.
Relates to concrete sleeper retaining walls
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Does a Retaining Wall Need Approval in Queensland?
Height is only one of the triggers. Load behind the wall is the one that catches people out.
Relates to engineered & certified retaining walls
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The Signs a Retaining Wall Is Failing
How to read what a wall is doing, because the pattern of the movement tells you the cause.
Relates to retaining wall repairs
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Retaining Wall Drainage, Explained
Why water is the load that actually matters, and what each part of a drainage layer is there to do.
Relates to retaining wall drainage
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Concrete or Timber Sleepers?
The comparison, including the part about termites and permanent moisture that decides it here more often than price does.
Relates to concrete sleeper retaining walls
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Retaining Walls on a Boundary
A retaining wall is not a fence, and the rules people assume apply to it mostly do not.
Relates to engineered & certified retaining walls
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What to Expect During a Retaining Wall Build
What actually happens on site, in order, including the days when nothing appears to be happening.
Relates to concrete sleeper retaining walls
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Why Retaining Walls Fail Here
Not one storm. Months of saturated ground, on walls detailed for a climate that drains between events.
Relates to retaining wall drainage
Ask the thing you cannot find
Set out the slope and whatever you are stuck on. We answer plainly, and plainly sometimes means telling you there is no job here.
- On site
- Monday to Friday 6.30am to 4pm, Saturday mornings
- Covering
- The western foothills, the estate suburbs, the northern beaches and south to Gordonvale
- Quotes
- Measured on the block, given in writing, no obligation
- We stand on the block before anybody talks about a number, because a slope cannot be priced from a description
- The quote states the height, the material, the footing, the drainage and where the spoil goes
- If engineering or approval is needed it is priced in, not added once the machine is already on site