Quality of Craftsmanship

Retaining wall craftsmanship is the art and skill level of the Allan Block installer building your retaining wall.

As you can imagine the skills, training, and experience vary greatly between contractors you may choose to work with.

One of the most difficult decisions a client has to make is how do I know the differences between contractors I am talking to?

If I told you the most expensive quote you get from a RW builder will be the best built retaining wall you would probably think, not necessarily. And you would be correct. An expensive retaining wall has no impact on how well it’s built.

A low-cost retaining wall project does limit an installer from building a high-quality product as time and material resources are almost non-existent.

While money does play an important role as a resource, ultimately one cannot determine the cost of a retaining wall simply by looking at how its built.

What Are the Real Factors Fhat Influence the Quality of Craftmanship of Your Retaining Wall?

Training

Allan Block training (certified Allan Block wall Installer)

Allan Block Experienced installer (record of RW projects submitted to Allan Block)

Segmented Retaining wall Installer (CMHA- Concrete Masonry & Hardscape Association)

Segmented Retaining Wall Inspector (CMHA)

Integrity

Knowing how to do something is one thing, actually doing so when no one is watching you is an entirely different thing. As a customer all you see is the front and top of a retaining wall. Yes, you can see if its level, and straight, but that’s really about it.

You don’t know what’s under or behind your retaining wall, and this is where the critical structural components are. This is also the costliest part of your build. The blocks and caps are cheap compared to excavating enough soil, and correctly importing the drainage gravel.

Equipment

Some clients could not care less what equipment a contractor uses to build their retaining wall.

This is a little naive as the equipment not only does an important job it also reflects on the health of the company.

A retaining wall built to spec requires a lot of soil removal, and gravel to replace it. Doing this by hand is not practical nor efficient. Even a small retaining wall requires a few dump trucks loads of soil and gravel to be moved.

If you know anything about contractors it’s that most like tools and equipment. If a contractor doesn’t own something it’s not because they don’t want or need it!

We are fortunate to own an excavator for digging, 2 track dumpers for moving the soil to the road, and a track loader for loading our company dump truck. Please don’t tell my wife, but we don’t need any other piece of equipment, or tool to build your retaining wall!

Understanding what equipment a company uses, and owns can give you an insight on how long they have been in business, and how invested they are to staying in business.

If a company you are thinking of working with cannot manage their own money, they shouldn’t be playing with yours.

Here at Back 40 Landscaping, we are a debt free company. Every tool and machine is paid for in full. We also pay for material when we order it, so no supplier can file a lien on your property.

Fit and Finish

The fit and finish of your Allan Block retaining wall refers to the cosmetic aspect of your project. None of what we will discuss here effects your wall’s ability to retain.

Material

Allan Blocks are a concrete product, and as such no two blocks or caps are exactly the same size. Even with tight quality control procedures by block manufactures, block and cap sizes vary.

The blocks and caps are made in molds, and as the molds wear out, they get bigger. Over time this mold gets so big that its making blocks that are too large for sale. This is called the tolerance. Allan Block tolerances are 1/8”. Meaning a block can be 1/8” smaller or 1/8” larger than normal. If these blocks or caps are placed next to each other there would be a 1/4” height difference.

Most of the time this minor height difference is not a problem, but special attention must be paid to this issue. Ensuring stairs are consistent and safe, and caps fit tight will really elevate your project.

Because of the way they are manufactured, and handled onsite blocks and caps can have small chips on the face or top. This is completely normal, and in reality, unavoidable. Usually, a little extra product is ordered, and the worse blocks and caps are substituted.

Contractor Skill

The skill of your contractor ultimately comes down to personality (attention to detail), experience, and tools and equipment available. Even if your contractor wants to build a high-quality retaining wall your budget will ultimately determine if they have the time to do so.

Personality (Attention to Detail)

If a contractor does not have an eye for detail or patience, they will struggle to produce high quality work. It’s more of a core character trait rather than something you can learn. Integrity, and pride in a job well done needs to be the driving belief system.

Experience

A contractor simply doesn’t know what they don’t know. After every project we complete we submit photos and project details to Allan Block. This generates feedback from Allan Block showing us what we can do differently and, in some cases, better.

Knowing every design option, and what natural forces effect retaining walls allows us to design and build stronger better looking retaining walls.

Every Spring we go back to look at last year’s projects, and see how they made it through their first winter. Generally speaking, if anything were to ever happen it occurs during its first Winter.

On our “Check ins” we get to look at the project with a well-rested set of eyes. I critique my work, and ask myself if I built this again what would I change. This mindset along with our customers feedback has added invaluable experience.

On my Spring check in, I look at:

Is this retaining wall in the best location?

Is it perfectly straight, and/or smoothly curved?

Are there any loose caps? If so, I reglue them.

Are there any gaps between the blocks and/or caps?

When we had to cut a block and/or cap did, we do a good job?

Is the first row of blocks still embedded (buried sufficiently to stop the R/W from sliding) correctly?

Is the Soil/Gravel/Lawn above the wall still higher or flush with the caps to allow water to flow over the wall instead of behind it?

What is the overall appearance / quality of our project?

If I built this retaining wall again, what would I change?

Has the client noticed anything I should know?

If the client did this project again, what would they do/want done differently?

Once I complete this check in, I take the most important next step which is implementing this into our future projects. Knowing what to do means nothing unless you have the integrity to actually get better.

Tools Available

High quality craftsmanship includes using the right tools for the job. Fortunately for you, we own every tool and machine we need and want.

There are dozens of examples I could go into, but I’ll pick 2 most commonly omitted RW construction techniques due to lack of tools.

Compaction

Starting at row 2, every row of Allan Block needs to be compacted by running a compactor directly on the blocks and gravel behind the retaining wall. This is in the technical installation manual, and unfortunately, I have never seen another contractor actually do it. It makes a big difference in how uniform and level the finished retaining wall is. Compacting the blocks also makes the wall about 30% stronger. The steel plate compactor that is required to do this is too small to do much else with, so contractors don’t buy it. Instead, they by a larger one that is more of a jack of all trades, but also too big to use on retaining walls.

Cutting Blocks and Caps

Cutting blocks requires the use of a gas-powered portable saw. There really aren’t any other or better tools available to cut the blocks.

The caps can be cut with the same saw, or can be cut with a table mounted brick saw. Because this would require the purchase of a second saw, and generator to run it most contractors just use the same saw that is used for the block.

The downside of using a freehand saw is cut quality. It’s impossible to make perfectly straight, and plumb cuts by hand.

Most contractors shy away from building curved retaining walls due to the number of caps that need to be cut to finish the wall. Cutting these caps by hand is very frustrating and time consuming, and no matter how much time you spend on them, you cannot get a good freehand cut.

Our approach is a little different. We understand that curved retaining walls are stronger, and in most cases look better. So, we invested in building them well by buying a portable table mounted brick saw. This saw is a dry dustless saw that quickly makes perfect cuts.

*Silica dust is released when cutting concrete, and this dust is the most common hazard on a worksite. This dust can cause Silicosis and lung cancer. The IQMS362 saw we use is OSHA compliant and ensures a safe working environment. It’s dust vacuum captures 99.9% of all dust created while cutting.

The Client (you!)

The quality of craftmanship on your project ultimately depends on you.

The more mature and informed you are the better decision you will make. We get calls all the time (monthly) from people just like you who have hired other contractors and their Allan Block retaining wall is either half done, or built completely wrong.

In Abbotsford last year (2023) a $190,000.00 retaining wall was left abandoned by the contractor 80% complete. The work the contractor did do was completely wrong. To this day the client has no money to redo the work, and the project remains unfinished, and unsafe.

In Abbotsford Last year (2023) a $217,000.00 backyard retaining wall project was left about 10% completed, and unpaid materials with the supplier. The client actually had to go around town to pay for the materials from the supplier on top of the $217,000.00.

These are 2 examples from last year, there are many more (about 5-10/ year that we hear about). When choosing a retaining wall contractor for your own sake, due your homework!

We invite you to read our education articles on our website, where you will learn more about your options, and get to know us better.

Read our Google reviews from our past clients, on what we are like to work with.

Social proof us by looking at our Facebook, YouTube, and Google My Business pages.

If you want a high-quality retaining wall from a local company that will give you everything they can, let us to ownership of your retaining wall build.