Most retaining wall failures don’t happen the day the wall goes up; they happen a year or two later, once the fill behind it has been quietly holding water with nowhere to drain. By then, fixing it is far more disruptive than doing it right the first time.
We backfill retaining walls across residential and commercial properties and garden terracing with structural walls on sloped sites. The approach changes with the wall type. What doesn’t change is how seriously we treat drainage and compaction, because that’s where most problems originate.
Why Choose Us
- We account for Lateral Pressure: Fill that retains moisture adds load to a wall over time. We factor this into material selection from the start; it’s about managing what the wall carries long-term, not just filling the space behind it.
- Drainage Built In, Not Added On: Ag pipe, gravel layer, and weep holes for most retaining walls; these aren’t optional. We include them as part of the backfill, not as an afterthought once the fill is already placed.
- Method Adjusted to the Wall Type: Timber sleepers flex differently from concrete blocks. Stone has different tolerances to poured concrete. We adjust fill and compaction technique to suit what’s actually in front of us.
- We Stop When Something Looks Wrong: wall deflection, unexpected soil movement, drainage not performing as expected; we flag it before continuing.
How It Works
- Give us the wall details upfront: Type, height, slope behind it, and any existing drainage issues or signs of movement. That context shapes how we plan before we even arrive on site.
- We visit and assess: The wall condition, ground saturation, and what’s sitting above the retained area; we take a look at it all. After assessing, we will give a reliable and reasonable figure.
- Drainage first, fill second: The drainage layer goes in before any compaction starts. Fill is then placed at controlled lift heights, compacted at each stage, and finished to suit whatever follows above: turf, paving, or landscaping.
