Tierline Retaining Walls What a retaining wall costs, and why we put the price on screen.
A retaining wall is one of the most mis-quoted jobs a homeowner deals with, because the cheap quote prices it as if height does not change the structure and drainage is optional. So instead of making you wait for a site visit to learn a single number, we put an honest by-the-face-metre range on the screen first. Here is roughly where the numbers sit, what moves them, and how we keep our quote something you can actually compare.
An honest by-the-face-metre range, in under a minute.
Tell us the material, the length and the height, the drainage and the access, and see a real supplied-and-installed band. It is a guide range, not a quote: the free site assessment pins your exact number on the slope, and it never folds the drainage, the footing or the over-a-metre engineering into a round figure.
Price my wall
An honest by-the-face-metre range in under a minute, supplied and installed, with the footing, the drainage and the engineering named. Every wall is quoted exactly after a free site assessment, not over the phone.
Your estimate appears here.
Step through the questions on the left. As soon as you answer the last one, we point you to the honest scope and a realistic range for a job your size.
Supplied and installed, by the face-metre, 2026.
| Cheap quote (block on a shallow pad, no drainage, no breakdown) | $150 to $220/m² |
| Timber sleeper (treated pine to hardwood, concrete-set posts) | $200 to $400/m² |
| Concrete sleeper (reinforced sleepers, galvanised posts, drained) | $250 to $500/m² |
| Link-block and gabion (segmental block or rock cage, geogrid and drainage) | $300 to $600/m² |
| Besser and natural stone (core-filled masonry or feature stone, engineered footing) | $450 to $800/m² |
Six things that decide where your quote lands.
Most of them are under the ground or named on the page, not in the finished look. All of them decide what you pay, and whether the wall is still dead straight in twenty years.
Six levers. One honest range.
Material and height
The two biggest levers. Timber sleeper sits at the bottom, then concrete sleeper, link-block and gabion, with core-filled besser and natural stone at the top. And a taller wall costs more per face-metre because the footing, the reinforcement and the drainage all step up with the height.
Face-metres (length by height)
Cost tracks the face area, so a long boundary and a short garden step are not the same job. We price by the face-metre after a site assessment, because the run and the drop together are the single biggest number on the quote.
The footing and the soil
Reactive clay, fill and sloping ground all mean a deeper or wider footing and more concrete or steel to hold the wall. The footing is sized to the wall and the soil, and it is the part a cheap quote quietly skips.
The drainage
A full ag-line behind the wall, the aggregate backfill, the weep holes and the geofabric are real work, and they are the cheapest insurance against the wall bulging. A wall without drainage is the one you pay to rebuild.
Engineering and council over 1m
A wall retaining over a metre needs a structural engineer design and council development approval in South Australia. We itemise the design fee and the development approval, so the over-a-metre line is a number you can see, not folded in.
Excavation and access
A steep or tight block adds excavation and machine-access cost, and the spoil has to be carted away. Both are itemised and confirmed on the site assessment, never sprung on you at the end.
Every retaining wall quote splits into the same lines.
So the figure you are comparing is tied to a material, a height, a footing and a drainage spec you can read, not a single round number with nothing behind it.
Seven lines. Every one in writing.
- 01Face-metres, height and material
- 02The footing and reinforcement
- 03The drainage, as its own line
- 04The engineering and council line
- 05Excavation and access
- 06The boundary-cost note
- 07Warranty and compliance
“$4,500 the house” by text → seven lines, priced.
- 1 Face-metres, height and material. The price broken down by face-metres and the wall height, with the material named: concrete sleeper, core-filled besser, timber, link-block or stone. Not one round number for "a retaining wall".
- 2 The footing and reinforcement. The footing sized to the wall and the soil: a reinforced concrete footing for besser, concrete-set posts dug to depth for sleeper walls, with the reinforcement named. This is the line cowboys skip.
- 3 The drainage, as its own line. The ag-pipe (subsoil drain) along the base, the free-draining aggregate backfill, the weep holes and the geofabric. Trapped water is the number one reason walls fail, so the drainage is on the quote, not left off.
- 4 The engineering and council line. If the wall retains over a metre, the structural engineer design and certification and the council development approval, itemised, with a realistic approval timeline, not folded into a round number.
- 5 Excavation and access. The cut, the machine access on a steep or tight block, the spoil carted away and the tip fees, each a line, never sprung on you at the end.
- 6 The boundary-cost note. If the wall holds up a neighbour boundary, a plain-English note on how the cost usually falls (the benefit / whose-land-is-retained rule), so you can have the conversation. General guidance, not legal advice.
- 7 Warranty and compliance. The 10-year structural workmanship and drainage warranty in writing, and the AS 4678 / NCC compliance with the engineer design where the height needs it.
What you get from us
- ✓Footing sized to the wall and the soil
- ✓Full ag-line, aggregate and weep holes
- ✓Engineer design and council over 1m
- ✓Core-fill and reinforcement named
- ✓Excavation and access itemised
- ✓10-year structural and drainage warranty
Cowboy tells
- ✕Block stacked on a shallow pad
- ✕No drainage, off the page entirely
- ✕"She will be right" over a metre
- ✕One round number, no breakdown
- ✕Spoil and access sprung at the end
- ✕Cash job, no warranty in writing
A fixed, itemised quote. No surprises mid-build.
Every quote lists exactly what you get, line by line, before you commit to anything.
- Priced by the face-metreThe wall measured on the slope, priced by face-metre and height, never estimated off a photo.
- Material and footing namedThe material and the footing size on the page, never "or equivalent" or a shallow pad.
- Drainage and engineeringThe ag-line and aggregate, and the engineer design and council approval over a metre, each itemised in writing.
- Excavation and a fixed priceExcavation, access and spoil as their own line, then a single price locked before work starts.
Anything outside this scope, extra rock in the excavation, a retaining height the engineer lifts, surcharge loads we did not see, is quoted separately, in writing, before it happens.
Fixed price
Locked before work starts
A low garden terrace, a boundary wall, or the over-a-metre engineered job. We will tell you the smaller wall if that is the honest answer.
A low garden terrace (under 1m)
A low step or garden terrace retaining under a metre: timber or concrete sleeper on concrete-set posts, drained properly, with no council approval needed at that height.
Wrong when: the drop is over a metre, or a driveway or building sits above it.
A boundary or sloped-block wall
The job we do most on the Hills: a full boundary or sloped-block wall in concrete sleeper, link-block or besser, on a footing sized to the soil, drained the full length, raked to the contour.
Wrong when: a single low step, or a tall wall that clearly needs engineering.
A tall engineered wall, over 1m
A wall retaining over a metre, or under a surcharge, where we bring the structural design, the engineer certification and the council development approval, itemised, then build it to AS 4678.
Wrong when: a low garden terrace that does not cross the approval line.
A feature stone or gabion wall
Natural sandstone or rock-filled gabion for the look and the free drainage, the feature-grade top of the range, engineered and certified where the height needs it.
Wrong when: budget is the driver and a sleeper wall would do the job for less.
What people ask before they book.
How much does a retaining wall cost per metre?
Why are two retaining wall quotes for the same job so far apart?
Do you give a fixed price, or an estimate?
Is the cheapest quote ever the right one?
Priced your wall? Book the free site assessment and we will pin the exact number on the slope.
Tell us what you need. We’ll book a walkthrough and send a quote with the work itemised, not just a number.