Retaining Walls Built To Last
A retaining wall does one job: hold back soil that wants to move. Sounds simple. Most of the failed walls we replace across the Capital Region failed because the original installer skipped the parts that make the wall actually retain — geogrid, drainage stone, base depth, batter, footing below frost line.
We build retaining walls from Versa-Lok, Unilock, natural stone, and poured concrete. Garden walls under 4 feet, structural walls up to 12+ feet, multi-tier wall systems with terraced plantings, and walls integrated with stairs, lighting, and seat-wall caps.
Why Capital Region Walls Fail
If you've ever seen a retaining wall with a bow in the middle, blocks tipping forward, or a wall that's sliding away from the slope, you're looking at one or more of these mistakes:
Footing above frost line
The Capital Region frost line is 48 inches. A wall footing above that depth heaves with every freeze, shifts, and eventually fails. Our wall footings go below 48 inches every time, no exceptions.
No drainage stone behind the wall
Water behind a retaining wall is the second-leading cause of failure. We install 12 inches of 3/4-inch clean drainage stone the full height of the wall, with a 4-inch perforated pipe at the base wrapped in geotextile, daylighted to the side or front.
No geogrid for taller walls
Above 4 feet, gravity alone can't hold the wall back. We install Versa-Lok-approved geogrid layers every 16–24 inches of wall height, extended into the soil mass behind the wall. This turns the wall + soil into one engineered mass.
Wrong base depth and compaction
Base needs to be 6 inches of compacted 3/4-inch minus, compacted in lifts, with the first course buried below grade. Skip any of that and the wall starts settling unevenly.
Pricing
Capital Region retaining walls typically run $50–$150 per square foot of face installed, depending on block system, total height, drainage complexity, and access. Garden walls (under 4 feet) average $50–$80/sf. Structural walls 4–8 feet with geogrid run $80–$120/sf. Walls over 8 feet with engineered drainage, geogrid, and special backfill run $120–$150/sf.
A typical 60-foot-long, 4-foot-tall Versa-Lok garden wall with a planting cap typically lands in the $14,000–$22,000 range.
Free on-site assessment. Written estimate. Engineered drawings for walls over 4 feet.
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