Concrete retaining walls in Goleta CA - a wall that holds the slope and lets water out
Dirt slumping onto your yard or driveway? We build a poured or block wall sized to the slope, the load above and the water.
- Licensed and fully insured.
- Free estimates at your property.
- We respond within 1 business day.
What does a concrete retaining wall do for a sloped yard?
A concrete retaining wall holds a slope in place against the sideways push of the soil behind it, so your yard, driveway or house isn't fighting the hill. We build them in Goleta and the cities around it along the South Coast and beyond.
Most calls start the same way. A bank is creeping toward the driveway, a hillside yard has no flat ground, or an old wall has started to lean. What moves the price is the size of the wall face, whether it's poured or block, how steep the slope is, what sits above it and how hard it is to dig and get a truck in. The schedule turns mostly on whether the wall needs a design and a permit, and how much dirt has to come out. I'll tell you where your job lands when I write up your estimate.
Is a concrete retaining wall right for your yard?
Driveway beside a bank
A bank beside parked cars carries extra load, and a concrete wall is built to take it.
Hillside yard, no flat ground
Holding the cut back with a wall gives you level ground for a patio or lawn.
Old wall leaning or wet
A tilt or a wet, bulging face usually points to water trapped behind it with nowhere to go.
Slope washing toward the house
When rain washes a slope toward your house, a drained wall holds the dirt back.
How we build concrete retaining walls
I size a wall by the slope behind it, anything parked or built above it and where the water will go, not just by how tall it is. Then we dig out for the footing, the wide concrete base that keeps the wall from tipping or sliding, and set the rebar, the steel bars that tie the footing and the wall together. We form and pour the wall or lay the block, build the drainage in behind it, and backfill once the concrete has cured, which is the wait while it gains strength before it takes the weight of the dirt.
A wall usually makes room for the next project. Level ground held by a wall is a natural spot for a concrete pool deck or a patio, and a studio or workshop up there will need concrete floor installation. If a fence, a pergola or a small building is going near the top, we plan concrete footings for it along with the wall so its weight is part of the design.
Poured concrete wall
The wall and its rebar go in as one solid piece, so it usually suits taller walls, curved runs and spots with a driveway or building above. It takes more forming and costs more per square foot of wall face.
Reinforced block wall
Cinder block on a poured footing, with rebar set upright in the hollow cores, and it's priced lower per square foot of wall face. If you'd like to compare, I'll price poured and block side by side.
What happens when you call about a retaining wall in Goleta?
Call or send the form
Call (805) 285-4985 or send the form, and we'll get back to you to set a time for me to come out. We answer the phone seven days a week, early mornings through late evenings.
I walk the slope with you
I look at the slope and ask what the wall has to carry and where the water goes. Then I write up an estimate you can look over on your own time.
We line up the inspections
When the wall has a permit, we set up the inspections it needs. The city books them through its Inspection Request Line at (805) 961-7553 at least one business day ahead, so we plan the forming and the pour around those dates.
We build, clean up, walk it
I run the job on site from forming to finishing, so the person who measured your slope is the one checking that the drainage goes in right. At the end we clean up and walk the finished wall with you.
Where your retaining wall money should go
Behind the wall, not on its face.
The part of a retaining wall that matters most is the part you never see. Water piling up behind a wall can greatly add to the load and cause leaks, so national retaining wall guides build drain outlets into the design. That drainage is buried on day one, which is why it's the first thing people want to cut.
I'd rather keep the face plain than skimp on the drainage, because a plain face can be dressed up later and drainage can't be fixed without digging the wall back out. Once we're done, keep the outlets clear, since the guides put that on the owner and a plugged outlet lets the pressure build again.
Examples of concrete work
Take a look through these examples of concrete work, from walls and steps to driveways and patios, to get a feel for finishes and shapes.
Get a retaining wall estimate based on your slope
Note the wall's rough height, the slope and any driveway near the top. We respond within 1 business day to set a time for me to come out, and the estimate is free, with no pressure to book.
Why Goleta homeowners call Goleta Concrete for retaining walls
I walk every wall myself
I come out to look at every job, write the estimate myself and run the crew on site through the pour and the finish. The person who sized your wall is the one making sure it's built that way.
In business since 2013
I've run this business since 2013, after summers on a crew learning from people who'd finished concrete for decades. The first thing they taught me was to get everything set before the truck shows up, because poured concrete gets no do-over.
Licensed and fully insured
Ask for proof before anyone starts digging, and we'll show you. On a wall job the crew works on a slope right beside your house, so coverage is worth checking.
We check who covers your address
Around Goleta an address can fall under a city, the county or the campus, and I check which office covers yours before I price the wall. Call (805) 285-4985 or send the form to get on the schedule.
Retaining wall questions we hear
How much does a concrete retaining wall cost near Goleta?
A concrete retaining wall, poured or block, usually costs about $20 to $50 per square foot of wall face in the Santa Barbara area. That's the going rate around here, not our price, and where yours falls turns on the height, slope, load and drainage I covered at the top. Satisfaction guaranteed on every job.
Does wall height alone decide how a retaining wall is built?
No, height alone isn't enough to size a retaining wall. National design guides say the footing, the rebar, the drainage and the soil assumptions come from the project's design or the code. They also say you'll get more useful quotes by describing the slope and any nearby driveway, not just how tall the wall is.
What license does a concrete contractor hold in California?
A concrete contractor in California holds a C-8 Concrete license from the Contractors State License Board, which covers forming, pouring, placing, finishing and installing concrete. To get that license a C-8 contractor has to show proof of workers' compensation insurance even with no employees, so it's fair to ask any contractor to show you theirs.
What causes a retaining wall to start leaning?
Usually it's water or weight the wall wasn't built for. National guides warn that changing the backfill, the fill behind the wall, adding a driveway near it or letting water build up can undo the design's assumptions, even when the concrete is strong. If you're planning a parking spot or a shed up top, tell me before we size the wall.
How do I find out what drainage is behind my retaining wall?
Ask the contractor which parts the design uses, because a wall's drainage can include drainage gravel, filter fabric, perforated drain outlets and weeps, small holes that let water out. On our walls I'll show you which ones yours gets and where the outlets come out, so you know what to keep clear.
Will a new concrete retaining wall crack?
It may get some fine cracks, and that's usually normal, because concrete shrinks a little as it dries. The rebar holds the pieces together, and on a poured wall we set control joints, planned weak lines, so those shrink cracks land where we chose. A crack that keeps opening or a wall that starts to lean is a different thing, and it usually traces back to water or load.
Got a slope you're worried about?
Call or send the form and I'll come out, walk the slope with you and write up your estimate.
Work that often goes with a wall
Building concrete retaining walls in Goleta
Whether your wall needs a building permit is the city's call, so check with the city's building permit line at (805) 961-7552 about your wall, and when it does, we handle the application. Digging matters here too, because hauling 50 cubic yards or more of dirt or concrete in Goleta takes a Haul Permit, and any work in the public right of way, the strip of public land along the street, needs an Encroachment Permit before it starts. On a wall near the sidewalk, I plan the dig and the forms with both in mind.
Walls here also have to handle shaking, and California's EQ Zapp map shows whether your address sits in a mapped earthquake hazard zone or an area the state hasn't evaluated yet, so it's worth a look before we design. We size walls the same way on jobs in Santa Barbara and Montecito, where plenty of homes sit on hillside lots with driveways cut into the slope.