Retaining Walls Gold Coast to Byron Bay
"Built right. Even the parts you'll never see."
Tony Steenson
WHAT IS RETAINING WALLS?
What holds the land holds everything above it.
Beneath every level terrace, every stable driveway, every home on a hillside — there’s engineered concrete and steel doing its job quietly. A well-built retaining wall holds the ground in place so everything above it can perform.
Tony Steenson builds retaining walls from Gold Coast to Byron Bay and across Tweed – everything from low garden retaining walls to multi-level structural walls holding back as many metres of ground on steep sites.
Retaining walls are often used in hard landscaping: shaping residential blocks, creating level terraces, tidying up sloping sites. However, retaining walls are also commonly used as structural walls to make a site flat and ready for expansion.
When it comes to building retaining walls, blocks are Tony Steenson’s material of choice. Unlike older brick retaining walls where the masonry sat passively on its footing, modern block work is tied to the concrete footing with steel running through every cavity meaning the wall and the footing become a single reinforced unit.
OUR APPROACH
Tony makes sure you know the whole picture.
Most of Tony’s retaining wall work comes through builders, project managers and site supervisors who have come to know the quality that he can deliver time and time again. They call him because his walls don’t lean, his costs match his quotes, and he runs a clean and tidy site. But the Steenson Brick and Block team also work readily with private clients such as homeowners with a sloping block, a failing garden wall, or an ambitious landscaping project.
If you call Tony for a quote, the process is direct. He’ll walk a site, understand what’s being retained and at what height, and give a clear number. He’ll also flag the costs that consistently catch people off guard, like footings. Many clients — especially those new to building — haven’t considered what a retaining wall sits on: a concrete footing with steel cages sized to the wall height and the volume of ground behind it. On a significant wall, the footing can cost as much as the wall itself. Tony always shares this detail upfront.
He’ll also tell you when a cheaper option genuinely suits — a sleeper wall or interlocking garden blocks— even if it may not be work he does himself. Work with Tony and you will quickly learn that integrity is a non-negotiable on any site.
THE CRAFT (OUR PHILOSOPHY)
Walls that taper with the land.
What a lot of people don’t notice – until Tony points it out – is the feeling when a retaining wall meets the slope it’s holding back.
The most common approach is to step the walls: build in flat sections, staggered down the hillside like stairs. It’s quicker. It doesn’t require as much thought. However, visually it fights the land rather than working with it.
Tony’s approach is different. He cuts the wall to follow the natural gradient – so that at the highest point of the run, the block sits just above the soil line, and at the lowest end, it tapers cleanly away. Planted out, you can barely see the wall at all. The end result holds works in harmony with the site, while still providing a great surface.
Across the Northern Rivers and Gold Coast hinterland – where sites slope, the rainfall is heavy, and retaining walls are everywhere – these little details make the difference of a retaining wall that nestles into the landscape respectfully.
Planning for a rainy day.
Tony has seen enough walls fail to know what causes it. It’s usually not the wall itself, not the block work, not even the footing – but water building up in the soil behind the wall with nowhere to go.
Drainage has to be part of the plan from the start: ag-pipe on smaller jobs, engineered drainage systems on larger ones. If drainage is not attended to with diligence from the start even a well-built retaining wall is working against time.
CONSIDERATIONS
Things worth knowing before you hire a blocklayer.
Types of Retaining Walls: Block Work, Sleepers, or Interlocking Blocks
The right wall type depends on height, load, and budget. For walls up to one metre, timber / concrete sleepers or interlocking garden wall blocks are a practical and cost-effective choice — no deep footing required, and they look clean in a landscaping setting. Above one metre, Tony recommends block work. The soil pressure on a retaining wall increases significantly with height.
Height, Engineering, and Retaining Walls ‘Near Me’
Different wall heights trigger different engineering requirements. Below one metre, the structural rules are relatively relaxed. Above one metre — and particularly above 1.5m — walls are typically engineer-designed, with specific steel spacing, footing dimensions, and concrete strength all specified. Your project may require development approval and your certifier will need to sight those drawings. Consider and factor for any engineering fees in your budget from the start.
Finish Options
The most common finish is plain grey blockwork — painted, or just left as is. It’s clean, durable, and often disappears behind planting. If the wall is close to a rendered house, matching the render colour is a natural choice that ties the site together well. Stone cladding gives the appearance of a dry-stone wall without the structural complexity.
Who supplies the materials?
Tony prefers to supply the blocks and manage the order. This ensures that the right size blocks are ordered for the specific walls in build. It means less waste and a more efficient schedule.
Types of Retaining Walls: Block Work, Sleepers, or Interlocking Blocks
The right wall type depends on height, load, and budget. For walls up to one metre, timber / concrete sleepers or interlocking garden wall blocks are a practical and cost-effective choice — no deep footing required, and they look clean in a landscaping setting. Above one metre, Tony recommends block work. The soil pressure on a retaining wall increases significantly with height.
Height, Engineering, and Retaining Walls ‘Near Me’
Different wall heights trigger different engineering requirements. Below one metre, the structural rules are relatively relaxed. Above one metre — and particularly above 1.5m — walls are typically engineer-designed, with specific steel spacing, footing dimensions, and concrete strength all specified. Your project may require development approval and your certifier will need to sight those drawings. Consider and factor for any engineering fees in your budget from the start.
Finish Options
The most common finish is plain grey blockwork — painted, or just left as is. It’s clean, durable, and often disappears behind planting. If the wall is close to a rendered house, matching the render colour is a natural choice that ties the site together well. Stone cladding gives the appearance of a dry-stone wall without the structural complexity.
Blocklaying near me — who supplies the materials?
Tony prefers to supply the blocks and manage the order. This ensures that the right size blocks are ordered for the specific walls in build. It means less waste and a more efficient schedule.
WHY STEENSON?
The work that goes underground matters just as much as what you can see.
There’s a version of this industry where clients are told what they want to hear and the full costs appear later. Tony doesn’t operate that way. If a job has complications — a footing that’s going to be larger than the initial estimate, a cheaper alternative that would honestly suit the site better — he says so in the first conversation.
Builders keep coming back because Steenson walls don’t fail, his numbers are what he said they’d be, and he has the kind of site-reading that takes decades to develop. If you’re working on a sloping block and you want someone who’ll tell you the truth about what it will take, get in touch.