I don’t care who you are, nobody wants to build a beautiful retaining wall, and have it simply collapse after a big rain or a exceptionally hard winter. This will definitely take a major toll on your pocket book, not to mention what its going to do to your ego. Lets also admit that the majority of most homeowner built, and I am sorry to say that a large amount of “Professional’’ built retaining walls may hold up to the elements for a number of years, but its just a fact of life, that due to inexperience there is a very high probability that these walls will settle a lot over the years, and start to lean over, due to a wide range of problems, leading back to the main culprit “INNEXPERIENCE”!!
As with any improvement you make to your home: You will hopefully raise the value of home, or you could also lower its value. You could build a very beautiful, and structural, wall that will add a great deal of benefit to you, and your family for years to come. So it is a very important decision you make, weather to build the wall yourself, or hire a contractor.
If you build the wall yourself, be honest with yourself as to your experience, and knowledge in building a well designed, attractive, and functional retaining wall. I strongly blame the DIY shows, and information out their for the vast majority of screwed up walls, in most peoples yards. Those shows make it look easy, but if you miss one critical part of the job, you will pay a very big price for your mistake. I don’t see why a person with some construction history, can’t build a simple low one foot or less non structural cosmetic retaining wall “not a large earth retaining wall”. And have good long term success with their wall.
But the simple facts are you need to have many many years of experience to; design, understand drainage, footings, frost depths, and proper wall construction to build a wall that will look great, but most importantly stand the test of time.
The same way any project gets done right you need to follow these common sense guidelines to get your project done right, and on budget.
- First I highly recommend finding other retaining wall jobs that you personally like, in your neighborhood, in books, magazines, or the internet.
- Now that you know what you like, its time to hire a contractor.
Here are a list of things you should look for when you hire a contractor:
- How many years of experience does he have?
- Does he have good personal, and business references, to back up his experience.
- Can he show you a wide range of before and after pictures of the work he has completed.
- Can he show you local testimonials from people who have hired him to build walls for them.
- He should be easy to get in touch with, and on time to for a FREE estimate.
- He should be extremely knowledgeable, and quick to give you recommendations about:
- Footing depth and thickness of plate compacted footing.
- How he will handle drainage.
- A detailed blueprint of job.
- A start date, and a completion date.
- A fixed price to do work, and a warranty on his work.
If you go to the trouble to get all of the above, you will be rewarded with a very professionally built wall.
Here at Ace Landscaping we take a great deal of pride in every custom retaining wall we build.
We specialize in the design and instillation of a variety of retaining walls constructed from timber, boulders, flagstone, or modular concrete. Our walls are also very affordable, because our experienced crew can get your wall constructed much faster than others, which will simply save you a lot of money on your completed job.
There are a lot of people out there who build walls, but very few who go to the trouble and expense to build a wall correctly
I have been building walls for well over 20 years. I have taken my job more than just a few steps above and beyond what the DIY shows, or the books will tell you.
If you want a quality wall built, that I will personally warranty, and stand behind, please call me today for your free estimate. We look forward to earning your business for years to come.