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What we build
• Timber retaining in H4, on concreted piles, drained behind.
• Railway sleeper walls, for level changes that want a heavier look.
• Macrocarpa sleeper walls and raised beds at working height.
• Buried retaining, which lets a deck or patio sit where you want it.
• Excavation, spoil removal and re-grading around the wall.
• Drainage — scoria, falls, and somewhere for the water to go.
• Timber balustrade above the wall where a fall height needs it.
How a timber wall goes together
Herne Bay is the clearest example: 25 m of retaining at 1.4 m high, in 200 x 50 H4 on 125 mm concreted piles, with scoria drainage behind the full run.
That wall was not engineered and did not need to be. Height, ground conditions and what sits above the wall are what decide whether an engineer is required — not the fact that it is a retaining wall. Plenty of walls around Auckland do not need one at all.
Drainage, and the wall you cannot see
What every wall needs is drainage. Water behind a retaining wall is the load nobody accounts for, and scoria with somewhere to drain is what decides whether you rebuild in eight years.
At Meadowbank the yard fell several metres and the pool surrounds had never connected. Resolving it took a fair amount of excavation and a wall that is completely invisible in the finished job, so the upper landing could be pushed back.
Sleepers, and holding a level
Sleepers suit a modest level change and a look that wants to be solid rather than fine.
At Morningside a low, uneven lawn flooded every winter. Railway sleepers let us raise it and turn it into a compacted hoggin courtyard over a GAP20 base that drains. Every sleeper is fixed to concreted piles with galvanised coach screws, which is what stops a sleeper wall bellying out over the years.
Consents and compliance
Some retaining needs an engineer and a consent, and plenty does not. Height is the obvious trigger, but so is what sits above the wall, what the ground is doing, and whether the work changes drainage.
Where a job needs an engineer we appoint and brief them, work to their drawings and hold the programme together. They certify their own work. Consented drainage goes to a specialist and is signed off by them. We resolve all of it before quoting.
Where we work
Auckland-wide. Recent retaining and level work in Herne Bay, Meadowbank, Morningside and Torbay, with wider landscape work across One Tree Hill.
Common questions
Do I need an engineer for my retaining wall?
It depends on the height, the ground, and what sits above it. Plenty of walls do not. We work it out before quoting, and where one is needed we appoint and brief them.
How high can a timber retaining wall go?
Higher than most expect, but the site sets the answer. Herne Bay runs 25 m at 1.4 m, no engineering.
What goes behind the wall?
Scoria, and a plan for where the water goes. Drainage decides how long a retaining wall lasts.
Timber or sleepers?
Timber for a finer finish where the wall is seen. Sleepers for a modest change.
Can you do the retaining and the deck together?
Usually. One set of piles, one crew, one mobilisation.