Retaining wall builders, contractors and specialists

Retaining wall builders in Auckland.

SRW builds retaining walls across the Auckland region: the straightforward ones, and the ones that turn out to need an engineer, a consent and a proper build sequence. You do not need to work out which yours is before you call.

Call 027 426 5090 Tell us about your project See the work

Monday to Saturday, 7am to 5pm. Every wall starts the same way: a look at the property, the ground, and what sits above the wall. What it needs follows from that.

A worker in hearing protection lifting a timber rail into place along a pole retaining wall, with a house and the sea behind

★★★★★

“Needed help with a failing retaining wall which had caused a minor slip…”

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Who builds it

Part of the Parrot Landscaping group. Parrot Landscaping Limited manages and builds every SRW wall, with independent engineers where the wall needs one.

Where and when

We work across the Auckland region. Monday to Saturday, 7am to 5pm. Call 027 426 5090

The work

Timber and block, coastal and bush, garden walls and structures.

Most Auckland retaining work is decided by the ground rather than the material. These are the conditions the walls get built in.

Row of timber poles set along a levelled bench on a coastal Auckland section, with a compact excavator working beside a house — Poles set along a cut bench on a coastal section. The line goes in before anything is visible above ground, and it is what everything after it is squared off.

A tall timber pole retaining wall seen from below on a bush section, with an excavator on the ground above and two workers at its base — A run of poles seen from below on a bush section. Height is the thing people underestimate: what you see from above is usually the smaller half.

Two workers laying scoria drainage aggregate and flexible subsoil pipe behind a wall beside a house, with the sea behind them — Scoria and a subsoil drain going in behind a lined wall. This is the part that decides how a wall ages, and the part nobody sees again.

Tall timber pole retaining wall with horizontal lagging, running the length of a narrow bench beside an Auckland house — Timber poles with horizontal lagging along a narrow bench beside a house. Tight access is normal on Auckland sections and it shapes what can be built.

A dry-stack concrete block retaining wall holding ground beneath a timber-clad house, surrounded by tree ferns, with a wet excavated access below — A dry-stack block wall holding ground beneath a house among tree ferns. Block and timber are both ordinary choices; the ground decides more than the material does.

Timber steps rising from a levelled terrace to a house, with a low timber retaining wall running along the boundary — Timber steps between two levels once the ground is held. The point of most of this work is the flat part, not the wall.

Where we work

Across the Auckland region.

We go to the property rather than quoting from photographs, so the first step is always a visit. If you are not sure whether you are inside the area, call and ask.

North ShoreTakapuna, Devonport, Milford, Albany, Birkenhead, Glenfield
Central AucklandRemuera, Epsom, Mount Eden, Grey Lynn, Ponsonby, Parnell
East AucklandHowick, Bucklands Beach, Pakuranga, Half Moon Bay, Botany
West AucklandTitirangi, Henderson, Te Atatū, New Lynn, Green Bay, Swanson
South AucklandManukau, Papakura, Papatoetoe, Manurewa, Takanini
Rodney and FranklinOrewa, Silverdale, Warkworth, Pukekohe, Waiuku

Call 027 426 5090 Hours and contact details

01 / What SRW does

SRW builds retaining walls across Auckland, straightforward and complicated alike.

Plenty of retaining walls are exactly what they look like: a garden wall holding a modest change in level, built well and finished tidily. SRW builds those, and there is no minimum complexity before it is worth calling.

The difference shows up on the projects that turn out to be more than they looked. Where a wall carries a driveway, sits on poor or unknown ground, or crosses the consent threshold, SRW runs the engineering and consent route as part of the same project rather than handing it back to you.

Either way it is one project lead from the address to the finished wall, rather than a builder, an engineer and a consent consultant who each hold a piece of it and none of whom own the gaps between.

02 / What engineered means

What an engineered retaining wall actually involves.

Engineered describes how a wall was designed, not what it is made of. A timber pole wall can be engineered, and a concrete block wall can be built on a guess.

An engineered wall has a design behind it: the loads established, a system selected to carry them, and the members, embedment, reinforcement and drainage specified. Independent qualified engineers produce that design, and SRW works it through with them.

The parts that decide whether a wall is still straight in fifteen years are mostly invisible once it is finished. Embedment depth, the free-draining zone behind the face, the geotextile that stops it blinding, and the subsoil drain with somewhere approved to discharge to.

03 / How a project runs

How a retaining wall project runs from enquiry to handover.

It starts with the property rather than a price. The first visit establishes retained height, what sits above the wall, slope, access for plant, where water goes, and what the ground is being asked to do.

Where the wall needs structural or geotechnical input, SRW engages and briefs the engineer. Where consent applies, SRW prepares and lodges the application, deals with Council correspondence and books the inspections.

Construction follows the design rather than the other way round. Drainage, embedment and backfill are built to what was specified, and the inspections that a consent requires happen when they are supposed to rather than retrospectively.

04 / Responsibility

Who is responsible for what on the project.

SRW is the project lead and the principal-contractor pathway. It runs the sequence, holds the programme and is the party you deal with.

Independent qualified engineers own the engineering advice, the design and the producer statements that go with them. SRW engages and manages engineers, and does not present itself as the engineer.

Auckland Council retains every regulatory decision, including whether consent is required and whether an application is granted.

Start with the property, not a wall type.

Share the address and what is happening. We establish what the wall has to do, engage the engineer where one is needed, and deal with Council. If you would rather just talk it through, call 027 426 5090.

Call 027 426 5090 Tell us about your project

05 / COMMON QUESTIONS

Questions we get asked most.

Do I need to find an engineer before contacting you?

No. Where a project needs structural or geotechnical input, SRW engages and briefs the engineer as part of the project, so you are not coordinating separate parties yourself.

Do you build walls that do not need consent?

Yes. Plenty of Auckland walls sit inside the exemption. Exemption from consent is not exemption from building it properly, so the drainage, embedment and backfill still get built to the same standard.

How do I know whether my wall needs consent?

Retained height and surcharge are what decide it, and a wall well under 1.5 metres can still need consent if a driveway, vehicle, pool or building loads the ground above it. SRW works out which consents apply and lodges the application. Auckland Council makes the regulatory decision.

Can you take on a wall someone else started?

Often, yes. It depends on what was built, what was assumed and whether the work done so far can be verified. That is a site conversation rather than a phone one.

What do you need from me to get started?

The address, some idea of what is happening and what you want, and photographs if you have them. You do not need to work out the consent pathway or the wall system first.

Curved dry-stack concrete block retaining wall holding a lawn above a levelled strip beside an Auckland house — A dry-stack concrete block wall on a flatter suburban site, curved to follow the shape of the ground it is holding.

Level terrace of topsoil enclosed by low timber retaining walls and timber steps, beside a white Auckland house — The same kind of ground once it is held: a level terrace, timber steps between levels, and usable garden beside the house.

A treated timber pole slung from a long-reach excavator above a part-built retaining wall on a bush-clad Auckland slope — A pole being placed by long-reach excavator. The plant a wall needs is a fair signal of the loads it is being built for.

A clear place to start

Start with the property, not a guess about the wall.

Share the address, the situation and a short description. You do not need to know the wall system, consent pathway or engineering requirements.

Tell us about your project Call 027 426 5090

Two short steps. We reply by email or phone.