Best retaining wall builders in Stirling & Scarborough (2026)
Table of Contents
These are the best-rated retaining wall builders working Stirling and Scarborough, from the coastal strip at Scarborough, North Beach and Trigg, through Karrinyup, Doubleview and Innaloo, and into the established brick-and-tile suburbs of Balcatta, Balga, Westminster, Nollamara, Osborne Park and Tuart Hill. They’re ranked on real Google reviews, not on who paid us. A word on the market here first: this is a smaller, more focused list than some of our other trade pages. Only three genuinely local, review-bearing retaining wall operators cleared our quality bar in this cluster, and none of them is a pure retaining-wall-only specialist, one is a fencing and retaining contractor, one is a concrete contractor who builds retaining walls, and one is a well-known landscaping firm that builds retaining as part of a broader job. We’d rather tell you that plainly than pad the list with names from other suburbs or trades. What follows is what a retaining wall actually costs in WA in 2026, why drainage behind the wall matters more than the wall face itself, when you need council approval and an engineer’s design, the warning signs of a dodgy job, and a checklist to run before you pay a deposit.
Featured retaining wall builders
These spots are for Stirling and Scarborough retaining wall builders who want to stand out on this page. None are taken yet, so the full review-ranked list is right below. That ranking is earned off Google reviews and never for sale. Are you a retaining wall builder working Stirling or Scarborough? Featured spots start at $50 a year.
Get a Featured spot ▸How we ranked these
- Google reviews do the ranking. We start with every builder’s live Google star rating and the number of reviews behind it, pulled fresh from Google Maps.
- Rating, weighted by volume. A perfect score off a handful of jobs isn’t proof yet, so we weight the score by review count. That’s why Bedrock Fencing and Retaining, with 44 reviews at 4.9, edges out the two names below it despite Tim Davies Landscaping having the deepest record on the page at 93 reviews.
- Genuinely a small market. We ran four separate Maps searches across this cluster and only three operators cleared a 4.3 rating with a real review base. We haven’t padded the list to hit a round number, three is the honest count for this part of Perth right now. Several strong-looking retaining and limestone specialists turned up in the search results but were based in neighbouring clusters, Joondalup’s Wangara industrial estate, the Bayswater/Morley corridor, or south of the river toward Canning and Belmont, and we’ve left them off this page and, where relevant, saved them for the correct cluster.
- Specialists are flagged, not hidden. None of the three names below is a dedicated retaining-wall-only business. Bedrock Fencing and Retaining does both trades. Terrastone is registered on Google as a concrete contractor. Tim Davies Landscaping is a landscaping design-build firm. We’ve told you plainly what each one specialises in so you can weigh that up.
- Genuine local operators, not suppliers. We leave out limestone and retaining-wall suppliers, and anything sitting below a real rating and review bar.
- Paid spots are labelled, and never jump the queue. When a business pays for a “Featured” spot it’s marked as such. The review-based order below does not change to favour a payer. Right now, no spots are sold.
Bedrock Fencing and Retaining
A 4.9 across 44 reviews puts Bedrock on top of this cluster’s list. They run both fencing and retaining as combined trades, which is genuinely useful around Karrinyup and Gwelup where a lot of jobs involve a new fence sitting on top of a retaining wall, one crew doing both means one less handover to get wrong. A strong, well-tested record and the closest thing this cluster has to a specialist retaining builder.
View listing & contact ▸Terrastone
A 4.6 across 47 reviews, the biggest review base of the three. Terrastone is registered on Google as a concrete contractor, so retaining is part of a wider concreting business rather than a standalone specialty, worth knowing if you’re comparing them against a dedicated retaining builder. That background is a genuine plus for a besser-block or reinforced concrete retaining wall, since it’s the same skill set as their core concreting work. Ask to see a recent retaining job specifically, not just their driveways and slabs.
View listing & contact ▸Tim Davies Landscaping
A 4.4 across 93 reviews is the deepest record in this cluster by some margin. Tim Davies Landscaping is a well-known Perth landscape design-build firm, so retaining walls here usually come as part of a bigger backyard or front-garden project rather than a standalone job. That’s the right fit if your retaining wall is one piece of a larger landscaping makeover; if you just want a stand-alone wall quoted and built, Bedrock or Terrastone above are worth calling first.
View listing & contact ▸A note on the order: we weight the star rating by the number of reviews, so a proven record from a deeper base can edge out a perfect score from a handful, and it’s also why a business with 93 reviews (Tim Davies Landscaping) can still sit third when its rating is a little lower than the other two. None of the three is a dedicated retaining-wall-only business, match the builder to the job: Bedrock for combined fencing and retaining, Terrastone for a concrete or besser-block wall, Tim Davies for a wall that’s part of a bigger landscaping project. As always, get two or three quotes on the same scope before you commit.
What a retaining wall actually costs in Perth (2026)
Nobody likes ringing a builder blind on price. These are honest WA ballpark ranges for the common retaining wall jobs, GST included. They’re a guide to keep you from being overcharged, not a quote, retaining wall prices move with height, material, ground conditions and access, so the spread on each line is wide for a reason. Most jobs are priced per square metre of wall face once the builder has seen the site and the height needed. Stirling and Scarborough sit on the same sandy coastal soils as the rest of Perth’s northern half, so the same rule applies: a wall built without proper compacted backfill and drainage behind it can bulge, lean or collapse within a couple of wet winters, however good the wall face looks on day one. A fair amount of the work here is also replacing older limestone and sleeper walls on the established 1960s-80s blocks through Balcatta, Balga, Westminster and Nollamara, many of which were built decades ago without much drainage thought at all.
| Job | Typical WA range | What pushes it up |
|---|---|---|
| Limestone block wall, dry-stacked, under 600mm (per m²) | $250-$400 / m² | Height, access, whether backfill/drainage is included, site clean-up |
| Limestone block wall, mortared & engineered, over 600mm (per m²) | $400-$650 / m² | Height, engineering and permit costs, reinforcement, drainage complexity |
| Besser block, reinforced & rendered (per m²) | $350-$550 / m² | Reinforcement, render finish, height, engineering for taller walls |
| Precast concrete post-and-panel (per m²) | $300-$500 / m² | Post depth/spacing, panel finish, height, crane or machine access |
| Treated pine sleeper wall (per m²) | $200-$350 / m² | Post spacing and depth, timber grade, height, drainage behind sleepers |
| Engineer’s design & certification (required over 500mm) | $500-$1,500 | Wall height and length, soil report if required, site access, complexity |
| Council/building permit lodgement | $200-$600 | Council, wall height, whether a boundary or neighbour notice is needed |
| Drainage retrofit behind an existing failing wall (per m run) | $60-$150 / m | Access to dig behind the wall, ag-drain length, backfill material, disposal |
| Removal & disposal of an old failing wall (per m run) | $40-$90 / m | Wall material, height, access, tip fees |
A lot of the retaining work through Balcatta, Balga, Westminster and Nollamara is replacing walls built in the 1960s through 1980s that are now leaning or bulging, usually because the original build had little or no drainage provision behind it. Closer to the coast at Scarborough, North Beach and Trigg, salt air shortens the life of untreated timber sleepers and unsealed steel fixings, so factor that into material choice. Whatever the job, don’t let the wall face distract you from the drainage question, ask specifically what’s going in behind the wall, not just what it’s faced with.
Don’t get ripped off: red flags
- No drainage behind the wall. This is the single most common cause of retaining wall failure in Perth. A wall backfilled with plain excavated sand or clay, with no agricultural drain and no free-draining material like scoria behind it, will trap water and eventually bulge, lean or collapse. Ask exactly what’s going in behind the wall, not just what the face is made of.
- No engineer’s certification on a wall over 500mm. In WA, retaining walls above roughly 500mm generally need council or building approval and an engineer-certified design. A builder who shrugs this off is either wrong or hoping you won’t check. Ask to see the engineering.
- Ignoring the boundary and the neighbour. A retaining wall built on or near a boundary can affect your neighbour’s land, drainage and fence line. A builder who won’t discuss the true boundary can land you in a dispute.
- No soil or site assessment. Sandy coastal soil behaves very differently to the clay found further inland. A builder who quotes a wall height and system without looking at your actual ground is guessing at a structure that has to hold back tonnes of earth.
- Cash-only, no ABN, no insurance. Retaining wall building is not a licensed trade in WA, but a genuine operator still carries an ABN and public liability insurance. No ABN, no insurance and a cash-only push is a red flag for accountability if the wall fails or someone is hurt.
- The quote is well under everyone else’s. On retaining walls the lowball is almost always missing drainage, engineering or proper footings, the exact things you can’t see once the wall is backfilled. Compare quotes on identical height, material, drainage provision and whether engineering is included.
- No plan for stormwater. Water running off a roof or a neighbouring block onto the top of a new retaining wall needs somewhere to go. A builder who hasn’t thought about where surface water ends up is setting the wall up to fail early.
- A big deposit up front. Materials for a retaining wall don’t justify a huge deposit before work starts. A modest deposit with the balance on completion, or staged for a bigger job, is normal.
Before you hire: quick checklist
- ABN and public liability insurance. Confirm the builder has a current ABN and public liability cover before any work starts. Retaining wall building isn’t licensed in WA, so this is your main protection.
- Engineering for walls over 500mm. If your wall is taller than about 500mm, confirm an engineer will design and certify it, and that council approval is sorted before work starts, not after.
- Drainage spelled out in writing. Get the backfill material, the agricultural drain and where the water actually goes written into the quote. This is the part that decides whether the wall lasts.
- Boundary and neighbour sorted. If the wall sits on or near a boundary, confirm the true boundary line and, where the wall affects your neighbour’s land or drainage, that they’re aware of the work.
- Right operator for your job. A combined fencing-and-retaining crew, a concreter and a landscaper each bring a slightly different strength. Ask to see a recent finished job like yours.
- Written quote with the detail. Height, material, drainage, engineering (if required), and the price, all in writing before you pay a deposit. Vague quotes are where disputes start.
- Recent, specific reviews and references. Look for recent reviews that mention an actual wall, and ask for a local job you can look at, ideally one that’s been through a wet winter.
Frequently asked
How did you rank these retaining wall builders?
By their live Google star rating and the number of reviews behind it, pulled from Google Maps. We weight the rating by review volume so a proven score isn’t automatically leapfrogged by a perfect score from a handful of jobs. We checked the map location of every operator and kept the list to builders genuinely based in and working the Stirling and Scarborough catchment.
Why is this list shorter than other suburbs?
Because it’s genuinely a smaller market. We ran four separate Maps searches covering Scarborough, Karrinyup, Balcatta, Osborne Park and Innaloo and only three operators cleared a 4.3 rating with a real review base and a location genuinely in this catchment. Rather than pad the list with names that actually belong to neighbouring clusters, like Joondalup’s Wangara industrial estate or the Bayswater/Morley corridor, we’ve kept this page honest at three and pointed strong out-of-area names to their correct cluster page instead.
Which areas does this cover?
Stirling and Scarborough. That runs across Scarborough, Doubleview, Innaloo, Woodlands, Churchlands, Wembley Downs, Karrinyup, Gwelup, North Beach, Trigg, Balcatta, Balga, Westminster, Nollamara, Osborne Park, Tuart Hill and Herdsman.
Are these paid placements?
No. This list is ordered on Google review data. Businesses can pay for a “Featured” spot at the top, which is clearly labelled, but paying never changes the review-based order below. As of this update, no spots are sold.
Do I need council approval for a retaining wall in WA?
Generally, yes, once the wall is above roughly 500mm high, and always where it involves a boundary or affects a neighbour’s land. Rules vary a little by council, so confirm with your builder or the City of Stirling before work starts. This is general information, not legal advice.
Do I need an engineer for my retaining wall?
For anything above roughly 500mm, yes, WA generally requires an engineer-certified design before council will approve it. Below that height, many councils don’t require certification, but a good builder will still get the drainage and backfill right regardless of height.
Why does drainage matter so much for a retaining wall?
Because water trapped behind a retaining wall creates hydrostatic pressure that the wall isn’t designed to hold back, on top of the soil itself. Without a compacted free-draining backfill and an agricultural drain to carry water away from the wall base, even a well-built wall face can bulge, lean or fail within a few wet winters. It’s the single biggest factor in whether a retaining wall lasts twenty years or two.
How long does a retaining wall take to build?
A straightforward wall under 10 metres and under 600mm high is often a two to four day job once materials are on site. Taller engineered walls, or anything needing council approval first, take longer, the approval process alone can add weeks before work even starts.
How often is this page updated?
Monthly. Ratings and review counts move, new builders earn their spot, and we re-pull the data so the list stays honest and current.
Are you a retaining wall builder in Stirling or Scarborough?
Get in front of homeowners planning a retaining wall, from a small garden edge to a full boundary rebuild. Claim your free listing, or ask about a Featured spot on this page.
Get featured ▸ Claim your free listingRankings based on Google review data collected 30 July 2026. Ratings change, we re-check monthly. Blue Collar Business · Western Australia’s Trades & Home Services Directory.