Home / Services / Hardscape Design & Construction / Structural Retaining Walls

Structural Retaining Walls

Walls that hold a hillside

and look like they grew there.

Engineered, drained, and faced to read as natural stone outcroppings, not as infrastructure.

View the Portfolio

Home / Services / Hardscape Design & Construction / Structural Retaining Walls

Structural Retaining Walls

Walls that hold

a hillside

and look like they

grew there.

Engineered, drained, and faced to read as

natural stone outcroppings,

not as infrastructure.

View the Portfolio

Hardscape · Engineered Walls

Geogrid, drainage,
and the long view.

As a core part of our Hardscape Design & Construction practice, this discipline is where the craft becomes specific — the techniques, materials, and tolerances that separate generational work from passable work.

A retaining wall is a structural element first and a landscape feature second. Forget either responsibility and the project fails — sometimes spectacularly.

Our retaining walls are engineered to current IBC standards, drained to prevent hydrostatic failure, and faced in stone or board-formed concrete chosen to fit the architecture.

Anything over four feet gets stamped engineering. Below that, we still build to engineered standards: geogrid reinforcement, perforated drain at the base, gravel backfill, and proper batter.

The Craft

01

Engineered geogrid

Tied back into the slope every 16–24" of lift.

02

Drain rock & weep

Perforated pipe and gravel chimney prevent water build-up.

03

Stone or board-form face

Architectural finish over engineered structure.

Hardscape · Engineered Walls

Geogrid, drainage,
and the long view.

As a core part of our Hardscape Design & Construction practice, this discipline is where the craft becomes specific — the techniques, materials, and tolerances that separate generational work from passable work.

A retaining wall is a structural element first and a landscape feature second. Forget either responsibility and the project fails — sometimes spectacularly.

Our retaining walls are engineered to current IBC standards, drained to prevent hydrostatic failure, and faced in stone or board-formed concrete chosen to fit the architecture.

Anything over four feet gets stamped engineering. Below that, we still build to engineered standards: geogrid reinforcement, perforated drain at the base, gravel backfill, and proper batter.

The Craft

01

Engineered geogrid

Tied back into the slope every 16–24" of lift.

02

Drain rock & weep

Perforated pipe and gravel chimney prevent water build-up.

03

Stone or board-form face

Architectural finish over engineered structure.

Materials & Spec

The short list we trust.

Allan Block & Versa-Lok Segmental retaining systems

Boulder retaining 1–4 ton hand-set boulders

Mirafi geogrid Soil reinforcement

4" perforated drain Wrapped in filter fabric

The Process

Four steps. A clear vision.

01

Geotech & engineering

Soils review and stamped drawings where needed.

02

Excavate & footing

Cut bench, set leveling pad, place drain.

03

Build with geogrid

Course-by-course with reinforcement layers.

04

Cap & backfill

Capstone set, gravel chimney, topsoil restored.

Considerations

Questions worth asking.

California requires stamped engineering for any retaining wall over 4 feet from footing to top — and we recommend it on any wall holding a structure or driveway.

Not if it's built with geogrid and proper drainage. We've inspected our 25-year-old walls — still plumb.