Pics of before and after.
I had wanted to fix my sloping gravel driveway to prevent it from continuing to slide into my neighbors yard, and to level it out a bit. We landed on a natural boulder wall after talking to the landscaping company. Total cost with new top layer of limestone was ~$10k in the suburban Midwest.
Am I being too critical in saying that I’m unhappy with the results? If this were you, what might you change to make it look a little more refined? I’ve asked the to come back out to review it with me to see what can be done and I’d like to have all the information I need to advocate for myself better.
by ObviousObserver420
16 Comments
5 tons large river rock, 10-tons of riprap 12-20″ rock and 3-5 tons crushed gravel (<$1300 by me delivered). Also, thats not a wall, just a riprap’d slope. If that wasnt explained to you – yeah, be unhappy. If they explained that, you got what you paid for.
That ain’t a wall that’s just lazy and you overpaid. Did you sign anything?
[Boulder Wall](https://www.facebook.com/share/17ETTa2kJp/?mibextid=wwXIfr) This is a boulder wall that’s done correctly.
For $10k? I’d be pissed.
Wow I would be livid. That’s all going to slide, and instead of gravel sliding down the bank you’ll have full on boulders rolling down the slope.. I don’t even know what this companies plan was, hope you know nothing, question nothing, and just pay? This looks bad on all contractors..
Yeah, this is not a good job. A boulder retaining wall should be dry stacked or mortared in. It should be more vertical than this.
This is fine. If you infill that with smaller rock (jagged, not smooth) it will lock the big rocks in place and gravel won’t wash away. That’s like what, 1 foot of retaining soil? Not a big deal at all so I wouldn’t worry about “collapse”
Maybe you have to get used to it! Maybe some little plants for ground coverage between the rocks? Give it some color
The price is a bit steep for what I can see in the pics. But for $10k you’re not going to get a proper boulder retaining wall. A proper boulder retaining wall should be dry stacked or mortared in. Both would’ve cost a lot more as it takes a lot of cutting and chipping away to make the boulders fit together like a puzzle. I wish I could post pics of some boulder retaining walls I’ve done in the past.
I kinda like the look personally, but not for that price. If they told you it would be a wall, rather than a slope, I would be upset for sure. I think a properly built wall would have cost you significantly more than 10k though, so I wouldn’t expect much more.
You could have had a real cement driveway for $15k, or asphalt for like $8k. Did you only talk to one company before pulling the trigger?
I kind of like the look, but $10k seems high for that.
I like it lol but that’s just me
No more random lawnmower shrapnel.
Sounds expensive. For less than 10k, more like 6-7k, I had my old gravel drive blacktopped. It was maybe the single best thing I’ve done form my yard.
Looks like they had some leftover rocks from another job and were able to use them here rather than dump them.
I mean personally i love it, but i prefer subtle organic looking landscaping like this over harsh sharp walls and things.