Soil spilling onto the patio or an old wall leaning out? We build retaining walls that drain well and hold the slope back.
Retaining wall construction in Santa Barbara means building a wall that holds back the soil behind it, called backfill, and anything resting on that soil, so a slope stays where it is and you get level ground you can use.
Most calls start with soil creeping onto a patio, a planting bed slumping down the hill or an older wall starting to lean. A retaining wall is part digging, part masonry and part plumbing for water, and the parts you never see once it's done do most of the holding.
The wall's height and length and how steep your ground is move the price most. The schedule usually turns on whether your wall needs an engineer or a city permit. I'll walk the slope with you and give you your own number on site.
Call (805) 456-2871 or use the form, and tell us roughly how tall the wall needs to be and how steep the yard is. We'll set a time for me to come out.
I look at the height, the soil, the slope and where water runs, then give you an estimate for the wall we talked through. You'll know the cost before you decide anything.
We sort out the permit side and have the underground lines marked before anyone digs, and I'll tell you up front how any city review fits the schedule. Our crew and I build the wall, then walk the finished job with you before we pack up.
We start with where the water goes. Water trapped behind a wall adds a lot of push, so drainage is in the plan from the first sketch, with drain rock behind the wall and a pipe at its base to carry water away. Then we dig out, pack a level base, build the wall course by course and backfill in layers, packing each one so the soil doesn't settle and lean on the wall later.
If your lot is in the city's Hillside Design District or slopes more than 20%, the city's hillside guidelines apply to your house, and they steer you toward stone or other native materials. They say a hillside wall should stay low and under 50 feet long, and that 8 feet may be acceptable in stone where 6 feet suits stucco better. We lay a lot of stone, from garden walls to fireplace installation work.
What a retaining wall job covers:
If an older wall has loose stones or tired mortar but still stands straight, repair usually makes sense, and masonry restoration can bring the face back. Once a wall leans, bulges or pushes water through its joints, the trouble is usually behind it, in the drainage or the base, and patching the face won't stop that push. That's when I'd take it down and rebuild it with the drainage done right.
Material makes the biggest difference, because prices around Santa Barbara vary a lot between boulders, cut stone, poured concrete and interlocking block, and stone laid by hand takes the most time. After that comes how much soil we dig out and haul away, how easy it is to get equipment into your yard and how much drain rock and pipe the wall needs. The finish you want on the face plays a part too.
I grew up on a family farm, where you fixed a cracked wall so it stayed fixed, and I still build that way. I come out for the estimate and I'm on the job with our crew, so the person who explained your wall is the one building it.
We keep the dig tidy, cover the paths and plants we work beside and clean up at the end of each day. If part of the job can wait, I'll tell you that too. Your satisfaction, guaranteed.
Calling before you plan the patio or plantings above it lets us size the wall and its drainage around them.
Tell us the planned wall height and slope, and add photos if you can. We reply within one business day, and the on-site estimate is free with no obligation.
Retaining wall construction in Santa Barbara usually costs about $20 to $55 per square foot of wall face, which is the area's going rate, not our quote. Wall face is the height times the length you see, and where your wall lands in that range comes down mostly to the material and how much digging it takes. I'll price your own wall when I come out.
In the city of Santa Barbara, a residential retaining wall no more than 4 feet from the bottom of its footing is exempt from a permit, unless it holds up extra weight like a driveway above it or sits on a slope of 20% or more. The footing is buried, so the wall you see is shorter than that, and other city divisions may still have a say, so it's worth asking the city which apply. We check which office covers your address before work starts, and when a permit is needed we handle the application and meet the inspector.
The local code rules decide what engineering your wall needs, which is why an industry installation guide says to learn them before starting a wall of any size. The final design may also need other professionals to look at water, soil strength, settling and compaction, earthquake shaking and the wall's overall stability. We're licensed and fully insured, and I'll tell you at the estimate what your wall looks like it needs.
When the drainage behind a wall stops working, water can rise in the soil, and the wall then has to hold back the full pressure of that water on top of the soil itself. That extra push is usually what tips an older wall forward or opens cracks in it, so on a leaning wall the drainage is the first thing I check.
Much of the wait usually comes before the build, while the build itself runs on the wall's size, its material and how easy your yard is to reach. The 8-1-1 Call Before You Dig service marks underground lines a few days ahead, so we leave time for that, and a wall that needs a permit also waits on the city's review. I'll lay out the schedule for your wall when I come out.
Choose by the wall's height, the slope and the look you want, since each material holds soil in its own way. Segmental walls use manufactured concrete units stacked dry with no mortar, and their own weight holds the backfill, which makes them a solid pick for many yards. On a hillside lot, the city's guidelines lean toward stone, as covered above.
We're based in Santa Barbara and build retaining walls in Goleta, Montecito and other nearby cities. Pick your area below, or call (805) 456-2871 if yours isn't listed.
