Retaining walls built with the drainage that keeps them standing.
Retaining walls in Doncaster from £150 per linear metre. Concrete block, brick or sleeper walls to hold level changes in sloping gardens, with concrete footings, weep holes and a land drain behind. Dug and built by one person.
A retaining wall is holding back ground and, more importantly, the water in the ground. Almost every failed garden wall I've been asked to look at failed because there was no drainage behind it: the soil got saturated, the weight doubled, and the wall leaned. Then it fell.
Mine are built on a concrete footing, wide enough for the height. Up to about 600mm I'll use a 215mm hollow block wall, reinforced and filled with concrete, or a brick wall with a block back. Above a metre you should have an engineer's detail, and I'll work to it. Behind every wall goes a perforated land drain in gravel, weep holes through the wall, and a membrane so the face doesn't stain. Finish it in render, facing brick, stone cladding, or leave the block if it's being planted over.
For lower walls and raised beds, oak or treated sleepers are cheaper and quicker, and I build a lot of them. But a sleeper wall holding back a metre of garden is a sleeper wall that will move, and I'll tell you when block is the right answer.
from £150 per linear metre
Typically 2–5 days on site
What moves the price:
- Height: the price roughly doubles from 400mm to 900mm because of the footing, reinforcement and fill
- Finish: rendered block is the £150 base; facing brick or stone cladding adds £60 to £150 per metre
- Where the water goes: a short drain to a soakaway is cheap, a long one to a gully isn't
- Access and spoil: retaining walls generate a lot of muck
Dig the footing
Excavator for the trench, typically 450 to 600mm wide, into firm ground. Concrete poured level.
Build
Hollow concrete blocks with rebar and concrete fill, or brick with a block back, to the height needed. Weep holes at every metre.
Drain and backfill
Membrane on the back of the wall, perforated pipe in gravel along the base run to an outfall, then clean stone before the soil goes back.
Face and cap
Render and paint, facing brick, stone cladding or porcelain, with a coping or capping on top so water doesn't run down the face.
How much is a retaining wall?
From £150 per linear metre for a rendered block wall up to about 500mm high with footing and drainage. The 7-metre wall in Bentley on this site, holding back 550mm, was about £2,400 of the £11,600 job. Higher walls, or facing brick, cost more per metre and I'll price them once I've seen the levels.
Do I need planning permission for a retaining wall?
In a back garden, not usually unless it's over 2m high. Next to a road or on a boundary the rules are tighter, and if it's holding up a neighbour's ground there's a party wall angle. I'll flag it if it applies.
Sleeper wall or block wall?
Sleepers for up to about 450mm and for raised beds. Block for anything higher, anything holding a patio or a drive, and anything you want to last more than fifteen years.
Can you fix a wall that's started to lean?
Depends how far. Sometimes you can dig behind it, add drainage and re-fill. Often it's cheaper to take it down and rebuild it properly. I'll look and tell you which.
One person accountable, start to finish.
I'm Jack. I price it, I'm on the tools for it, and it's my name on it. Twelve years on site, a first-class degree in construction management, SMSTS and First Aid, and I operate the excavator myself. Where a job wants more hands I bring in people I've worked with for years and I run them. I cover Doncaster and everywhere within about half an hour of it: Bessacarr, Bawtry, Tickhill, Armthorpe, Thorne, Sprotbrough, Mexborough and over into Rotherham. More about me.
- 5.0 stars on Google6 reviews from real customers
- Fully insuredPublic liability
- SMSTS and First AidLegally qualified to run a UK construction site under CDM
- BSc (Hons) Construction Project Management, First ClassSheffield Hallam University, degree apprenticeship
- CIOB Certificate of ExcellenceChartered Institute of Building
- Twelve years on siteUK and Australia, £10m+ delivered as project manager
- Three full back to brick house renovationsTwo in Scawsby, one in Sprotbrough
- All aspects of groundworksAnd I operate the plant myself
Want a price for retaining walls?
Send a few photos and your postcode. I'll usually come back the same day.