Leveling backyard-Retaining wall?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would pursue it. It will transform your yard and make it useful. Ship around. It’s not as bleak as some are making it fir you here. You will be happy in the end.

This would made sense if you already live in the home. But if you are looking to buy, you will probably be better off just buying a different house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:While I cannot say what it would cost-I do similar projects like this often. It can transform the entire living experience. If house hitting all the rest of your needs-call someone like me-landscape designer. The above posts are fear based.

And take this one with a grain of salt since they financially benefit from this work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are doing this. It will be $20k. It is worth it to us. We’re excited about getting the new space.

We also just done this and pricing was a bit less, but in the same ballpark. Smaller yard or less drop I guess. Very much worth it to us as kids now have a small soccer field.

[Anonymous]

i did this myself and it was not hard at all. i used an interlocking block that looks great for the neighbors, i never see it so i let them pick it out. dug a trench and built the footers, had the block and gravel delivered and saved $$$$$$$$$$$$$$

took 2 weekends because I had to have the county inspect the trench before laying the blocks. My wall is 6 feet tall and 50 feet long.

Total cost $3500

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:i did this myself and it was not hard at all. i used an interlocking block that looks great for the neighbors, i never see it so i let them pick it out. dug a trench and built the footers, had the block and gravel delivered and saved $$$$$$$$$$$$$$

took 2 weekends because I had to have the county inspect the trench before laying the blocks. My wall is 6 feet tall and 50 feet long.

Total cost $3500

No. Your materials cost that. Getting someone to do the labor plus materials plus mark up is a lot more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:i did this myself and it was not hard at all. i used an interlocking block that looks great for the neighbors, i never see it so i let them pick it out. dug a trench and built the footers, had the block and gravel delivered and saved $$$$$$$$$$$$$$

took 2 weekends because I had to have the county inspect the trench before laying the blocks. My wall is 6 feet tall and 50 feet long.

Total cost $3500

You may have done it properly but just anecdotally at least half the DIYers I see do these walls end up with water/erosion problems very quickly and need to call professionals to come in and fix.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:100k to dump soil and build a short brick wall is ridiculous. Definitely a DMV ignorance tax built in there

lol. Either DCUM folks love getting ripped off or they love talking out of their ass.

OP, that job should be in the 10-20k range. I wouldn't worry about water issues. There are a lot of ways you can build drainage systems around that (we had a similar backyard).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i did this myself and it was not hard at all. i used an interlocking block that looks great for the neighbors, i never see it so i let them pick it out. dug a trench and built the footers, had the block and gravel delivered and saved $$$$$$$$$$$$$$

took 2 weekends because I had to have the county inspect the trench before laying the blocks. My wall is 6 feet tall and 50 feet long.

Total cost $3500

No. Your materials cost that. Getting someone to do the labor plus materials plus mark up is a lot more.

I did the work myself. No drainage issues, no run off etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:i did this myself and it was not hard at all. i used an interlocking block that looks great for the neighbors, i never see it so i let them pick it out. dug a trench and built the footers, had the block and gravel delivered and saved $$$$$$$$$$$$$$

took 2 weekends because I had to have the county inspect the trench before laying the blocks. My wall is 6 feet tall and 50 feet long.

Total cost $3500

jeezus that sounds back breaking

[Anonymous]

I like it's really pretty, and I love that area. It's considered a prestigious area for sure. And if you joined the Chevy Chase Club, that would be pretty sweet.

I just wish it had a pool!

Love that detached home office.

[Anonymous]

We walked from a house with a failing retaining wall on a steep lot. My expert told me 100k, pus the cost to remove old growth trees (2500-5000 per).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hard no, that place has to have water issues. I would pass.

Y'all need to stop with this nonsense. If the house has been around for a while, potential water issues have likely been mitigated. Our backyard is steeply sloped (as are others in our neighborhood) , but we have not had any water issues - even during the massive rains several years ago. Our house was built in the 1970s.

OP, one concern I would have is that any changes you make to the yard could actually disrupt whatever mitigation was put in place before. A landscape company could probably provide advice.

[Anonymous]

Totally doable. Get estimates.

[Anonymous]

The retaining wall for the house we bought was crumbling.
To replace it with the stones that were there it would be about $50,000.
We paid about $20,000 to use timber. It is 4 feet high. Wehad to level the yard a little but it looked level - you wouldn't believe how much dirt you need to level a yard that looks level but isn't.

We then had to put up a fence because this created a bit of a cliff. Oh and then $5,000 in landscaping.

[Anonymous]

Our neighbors did this on .3 acres. Transformed the yard. It was $20k but in Bethesda and long ago.