Concrete retaining walls in Antioch CA - a wall built for your slope and drained right
Soil slumping onto your patio or a slope you can't use? We build a concrete wall designed for your site, with real drainage behind it.
- Licensed and fully insured.
- Free on-site estimates.
- Replies within 1 business day.
What does a concrete retaining wall do for a sloped yard in Antioch?
A concrete retaining wall in Antioch holds back the soil on a slope by standing up to its sideways push, so the bank stays put and you get level, usable ground below it. Some walls also have to handle groundwater, earthquake shaking or the weight of cars and buildings close by, and the design has to account for that.
Most people call us when a bank keeps creeping onto their patio or walkway, or when they want to turn a sloped yard into something they can use. The price moves with how tall and long the wall is, how involved the design gets, how much drainage goes behind it and how easy it is to get concrete to the spot. The schedule mostly turns on settling the design and whatever the city or county needs before we dig. I'll walk your site and send you a written estimate with the numbers for your wall.
How can you tell a slope needs a retaining wall?
Dirt sliding onto the patio
After every rain you're sweeping mud off the patio or walkway at the foot of a bank. That usually means the slope is moving a little at a time, and the longer it goes, the closer it creeps to your slab, fence or house.
Old wall leaning out
A wall that tips forward at the top or bulges in the middle is losing to the soil behind it. Waiting usually turns a planned rebuild into a bigger tear-out once it lets go, sometimes taking a fence or part of the yard with it.
Water seeping through the face
Wet streaks, white crust or puddles along the bottom of a wall mean water is building up behind it with nowhere to go. A leak like that is often the first step toward a wall that starts to lean.
How we build concrete retaining walls
Height alone doesn't tell me how to build a wall, so we work from a design for your site. That design sets the footing, the wide base the wall stands on, along with the rebar, the steel bars inside that keep the concrete from bending when the soil pushes, and the drainage. Two walls the same height can need very different footings, so tell us about any driveway or fill you're planning near the wall, because that changes the design. Once it's set, our crew digs out and packs the footing, sets the forms and steel, and pours. Behind the wall we put real effort into the drainage the design calls for, with gravel, a filter layer to keep dirt out of it and a perforated pipe that carries water out to the outlets, and then we grade the top so rain runs off instead of soaking in.
A retaining wall is often what makes room for the next project. If you're cutting into a slope to fit a concrete pool deck, or leveling ground for a shed or workshop that needs concrete floor installation, we plan the wall and the slab together so water off one doesn't end up under the other.
Poured concrete wall
A poured wall is one solid piece tied into its footing with steel. It suits walls that hold back a lot of ground or sit near a driveway or the house, and it leaves a clean, solid face.
Segmental block wall
Interlocking concrete blocks suit lower walls and yards where a stepped, textured look fits. One block wall installation guide says organic and expansive soils make poor ground under this kind of wall, so what's under the wall is part of choosing between block and poured.
Get a written estimate for your retaining wall
Send the form and we'll get back to you within one business day. I'll come out to walk and measure the wall site, then send a written estimate. It's free, and there's no pressure to book.
Call (925) 503-1201- Based in
- Antioch, CA 94509
- Hours
- Mon–Sun: 6 AM–11 PM
What happens after you call about a retaining wall in Antioch?
Here's how a retaining wall job runs from your first call to the final walk-through, and what you'll have in hand before you decide anything.
Call or send the form
Call (925) 503-1201 or use the form on this page, and we'll set a time for me to come out. If you can be home for the visit, it helps to walk the slope together.
I walk and measure the site
I come out myself and look at the slope, what's around it and how we'll get concrete to it. Then I send a written estimate that prices your wall as designed, so you know the number before anything gets dug.
We sort permits, then build
Once you say go, we take care of anything the city or county needs first. Then we dig, set forms and steel, pour and build the drainage behind the wall.
Walk the finished wall together
I walk the job with you before we leave, including where the water comes out at the drain outlets. You'll see exactly what was built and where.
Why Antioch homeowners call Excel Antioch Concrete Company for retaining walls
I measure your slope myself
I come out to look at the job and give the estimate, and my crew and I do the work. The person who measured your slope is the one on site when the footing goes in.
Taught the trade by my dad
I learned concrete working my dad's jobs and started this business in Antioch in 2023. He taught me the ground and the layout come first, because you can't fix them once the concrete is down.
Licensed and insured, ask to see it
We're licensed and fully insured. California's contractor licensing board requires a license for concrete work that needs a permit of any kind or uses hired workers, even on jobs under $1,000, so ask anyone you're considering.
A wall is only as good as the design and drainage behind it, so request an estimate or call (925) 503-1201 and I'll come take a look.
Retaining walls and the work around them in Antioch
In Antioch, the city's Building Services Division issues building permits and inspects the work, and its list of permit-exempt projects includes retaining walls three feet or less in height. When a permit applies, the city's building permit requirements ask for the wall's location and size and how far it sits from every property line, along with your house, decks, patios and driveways, so where the wall goes on your lot matters from the start. If the job reaches the street, like a curb cut or a change to your driveway, that takes a separate encroachment permit from the city's Engineering Division. Before we start, we check with the office that handles your address, and if a permit is needed, we apply for it as your contractor or help you file it yourself.
We're based in Antioch, and most of the walls we build here hold up backyards that step down a slope, line driveways cut into a bank or fit into side yards where getting concrete in takes some planning. We see the same kinds of lots on jobs in Concord and Brentwood.
Questions about retaining walls in Antioch
Call (925) 503-1201Retaining wall construction in the Bay Area usually runs about $50 to $65 per square foot, and that's the going range in the area, not our price. Your own number comes from the written estimate I send after walking your site.
Water trapped behind a wall can add a lot of pressure to it and cause leaks, so the drainage matters as much as the concrete. Once the wall is built, your part is keeping the drain outlets clear so the water keeps getting out.
Usually, yes, because segmental block walls are stacked without mortar and most of the blocks are small enough for one person to set. Speed is only one part of it, so ask how each choice fits your yard and your schedule, and I'll tell you straight which way I'd go.
One lecture on wall failures found that a large majority came from poor communication on the project team and from not managing water. Ask any contractor who designs the wall, who builds it and how they share the plans.
Most concrete walls get some fine cracks, because concrete shrinks as it cures and hardens. We build joints into the wall to give those cracks a planned place to land, and the steel inside keeps them tight. A hairline crack is a different thing from a wall that's leaning or leaking.
Know roughly how tall the wall needs to be, where it goes on your lot and what sits above and below it, like a slope, patio or fence. If you know where your property lines are, that helps too, since the city asks how far the wall sits from them.
Related concrete work around a new wall
Concrete pool decks
If your wall is cutting a flat spot out of a sloped backyard for a pool, the deck around it needs the same care with grade and drainage.
Concrete floor installation
Ground leveled by a wall often becomes a shed, workshop or room addition, and those buildings need a flat, well-prepared concrete floor poured on a packed base.
Service areas for our retaining wall work
Excel Antioch Concrete Company is based in Antioch, CA, and builds retaining walls in the 12 cities listed below, including Pittsburg and Oakley. These are the cities with their own page, not the only places we work, so call if yours isn't on the list.
Antioch, CA
Get your retaining wall estimate started
I don't quote concrete off a phone call, and a visit with a tape measure tells you more about your wall than any guess, so call or send the form.