Retaining walls
Block, boulder and engineered walls on the steep granite lots that make up most of this market.
- Price
- Quoted per site Projects from about $2,500
- Season
- May–Sep
- Status
- Next season
Ground-disturbing work closes at elevation each winter, so a wall quoted now is built at the spring thaw. Design and permits happen over the winter.
What's different about this job
On most hillside parcels, the wall comes before anything else. Generally, walls over four feet, or carrying a surcharge, need engineering and a permit — and a wall built without drainage behind it will fail in the first hard freeze-thaw cycle.
What is included
- Segmental block, boulder and natural stone
- Geogrid reinforcement where the height or surcharge calls for it
- Drain rock, filter fabric and a daylighted drain line behind every wall
- Engineering and permit coordination above four feet
- Backfill, compaction and finish grading
Drainage is the wall
A retaining wall holds back soil. Water in that soil is what pushes the wall over. Every wall we build gets drain rock, filter fabric and a perforated line that daylights somewhere useful — not a pipe that ends in the backfill.
When you need engineering
Generally over four feet measured from the bottom of the footing, or at any height if there is a surcharge above it — a driveway, a slope, a structure. We flag that before quoting so the permit timeline is in the schedule rather than a surprise in July.
Questions we hear
Do I need a permit?
Generally once you pass four feet measured from the bottom of the footing, or any height carrying a surcharge like a driveway or slope above it. We check against the current City of Big Bear Lake or County standard before quoting.
Block or boulder?
Boulder walls look native and suit short runs. Segmental block is more predictable above four feet and is what engineers will actually stamp.
Where we do most of this work
Recent hardscape work
See the gallery
Retaining wall & paver patio
Single-family · Mountain
Illustrative placeholder — not a photograph of a completed project
HOA common-area hardscape refresh
HOA / commercial · Inland Empire
Illustrative placeholder — not a photograph of a completed project
Condo patio paver install
Condo / townhome · Desert
Illustrative placeholder — not a photograph of a completed projectHave a slope that is moving?
We check height, drainage and permit path before we quote.