Concrete Retaining Walls in Cambridge MA - a wall that drains and holds your slope
Soil creeping onto your walk or a wall leaning out? We plan the drainage first and build a wall that holds the slope.
- Fully licensed and insured.
- Free on-site estimates.
- Replies within 1 business day.
When does a sloped Cambridge yard need a retaining wall?
A concrete retaining wall holds back the soil where your Cambridge yard drops off. The slope stops creeping onto your walk, patio or driveway, and the ground behind the wall stays where you want it.
Most people call us when a slope keeps washing onto a walk or patio, or when an old wall has started to lean, and they want to know which kind of wall fits and what it'll cost. The price mostly follows the wall's height and length, whether it's poured or block, how much soil has to come out, whether an old wall comes out first and how much drainage goes in behind it. The schedule turns on whether the wall needs a permit and on a stretch of weather good enough to pour in. Your estimate lists the work that's included and anything that isn't, so you have your own figure in writing before we start.
How can you tell a slope or an old wall needs work?
Wall leaning out at the top
If the top of an old wall is tipping toward you, the soil and water behind it are pushing harder than the wall was built to hold. It usually keeps going, and the longer you wait, the more soil comes down with it when it gives.
Soil washing onto your walk
After a heavy rain you find soil and mulch on the walk, patio or driveway below a slope, which usually means the slope needs a wall to hold it. Every storm carries a little more of the yard down and wears at the edges of whatever's below.
Cracks or a bulging face
An old poured wall that's cracking or bowing out in the middle usually has water trapped behind it with no way out. Winter freezes widen those cracks each year, so a repair that might work now can turn into a full rebuild later.
Concrete retaining walls, built from the drainage up
Drainage decides how a wall holds up, so it's the first thing I plan. Before we dig, I work out where the water comes from and where it can go, because water that builds up behind a wall adds pressure the wall wasn't built for. Then we mark the line, dig out to firm ground and pack the base. We set drainage stone and a pipe behind the wall to carry the water off, and either form and pour the wall or set the blocks. A poured wall has to cure, the wait while the concrete gains strength, before soil goes back against it. After that we backfill, grade the top so rain runs away from the wall, and clean up. If the budget gets tight, I'd rather keep the money in the base and drainage than in a fancier face. Nobody sees those once the wall is backfilled, but a plain wall that drains well usually outlasts a good-looking one that doesn't.
A new wall often changes what you can do with the rest of the property. The level ground it leaves is a natural spot for one of our concrete pool decks, and when the job includes work inside the house, our crew also handles concrete floor installation for basements and other rooms.
Poured concrete wall
A poured wall is one solid piece of concrete standing on a footing, the wider base under the wall. It suits a homeowner who wants a clean, permanent look, but it can't flex to let off pressure, so it only lasts if the footing and drainage are done right.
Segmental block wall
A block wall is built from separate blocks stacked on a packed gravel pad instead of a footing, so it can adjust as the ground moves with the seasons. It suits a slope where you'd rather have the forgiving choice, though it doesn't read as one solid piece the way a poured wall does.
Get a free estimate for your retaining wall
Send the form and we'll get back to you within one business day to set a time. I come out to look at the slope for free, and the estimate lists what's included and what isn't, with no obligation.
(617) 613-6953- Based in
- Cambridge, MA 02139
- Hours
- Mon–Fri: 7 AM–9 PM, Sat–Sun: 6 AM–9 PM
What happens when you call about a retaining wall in Cambridge?
Here's how a retaining wall job runs once you get in touch, from the first look at your slope to the last of the cleanup.
Call or send a message
You call (617) 613-6953 or send the form, and we set a time for me to come see the slope. Tell us if there's an old wall coming out, since taking it down changes the plan.
I measure and write it up
I come out, measure, see where the water runs and ask what you need the wall to do. The estimate lists the work that's included and anything that isn't, so you know what you're paying for before we start.
Permits and a pour date
Once you're ready, we take care of any permit the wall needs and plan the pour around the weather. We'd rather wait out a heat wave or a hard rain than pour into one, because either can leave a weaker wall.
We build, with me there
I'm on site with our crew while the wall goes in. Cambridge allows residential construction Monday to Friday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday or holiday work needs a special permit from the Police Department, so we plan our days inside those hours.
Why Cambridge homeowners call M&K Cambridge Concrete Company for retaining walls
The owner at every estimate
I come out for every estimate, and I'm on site with our crew while the wall gets built. The person who measured your slope is the one checking the drainage stone and the forms before the pour.
Running our own jobs since 2023
I opened this business in 2023, after learning the trade on a small crew setting forms and pushing wheelbarrows until I could finish slabs myself. The person pricing your wall has done every part of the work, from the digging to the finish.
Fully licensed and insured
We're fully licensed and insured. That matters here because Cambridge issues building permits to construction supervisors licensed by the city or the state, and Massachusetts requires contractors who work on owner-occupied homes with one to four units to be registered as Home Improvement Contractors.
If part of your yard is sliding or an old wall has started to lean, send us a message and I'll come take a look.
Retaining wall permits and frost in Cambridge
In Cambridge, the city's Inspectional Services Department issues building permits, through its building inspectors, to anyone building, altering or tearing down a structure, and the permit has to be in hand before work starts. That's the city's general rule, so I check with the building office whether your wall needs one rather than guess, and when a permit applies, we take it out ourselves as your contractor.
Frost is the other thing a wall here has to stand up to. One guide advises setting a poured wall's spread footing, the wider base under it, deep enough below the ground that frost can't lift it and crack it, so footing depth is something I go over with you at the estimate. A lot of yards here are tight, with the slope running right up to the house or a neighbor's fence, so we work out the digging and where the drainage pipe will empty before anyone picks up a shovel. We see the same tight, sloped lots on jobs in Somerville and Belmont.
Questions about retaining walls in Cambridge
How much does a concrete retaining wall cost in the Boston area?
Concrete retaining walls in the Boston area usually cost about $35 to $95 per square foot, and that's the going range in the market, not our price. Where your wall falls depends on the wall itself, and the estimate I write for your yard lists the work that's included and anything that isn't.
How long does a poured concrete retaining wall last?
One guide says a poured concrete wall built correctly lasts the better part of a century, but built wrong it's the type of wall most likely to crack. A rigid wall can't flex to let off pressure, so the footing and the drainage decide whether it gets that long life, and that's where we put our time.
Who should pull the building permit for a retaining wall in Cambridge?
Your licensed contractor usually should, and the city encourages it. Homeowners can pull the permit themselves for a one or two unit home they live in, but they may then be liable for the contractors on the property and lose protection under the state's Homeowners Improvement Contractor Law. When a permit applies, we take it out as your contractor and keep it posted where it's easy to see at the job site, as the city requires.
Does work near Fresh Pond or the Charles River need a separate filing in Cambridge?
Yes, in Cambridge any construction or landscaping within 100 feet of an area overseen by the Conservation Commission needs a permit filing. Those areas include Fresh Pond, the Charles River, Alewife Brook, Blair Pond, Jerry's Pond and the land around them. If your yard is close to one, tell us at the estimate so we can plan the wall around that filing.
What is the best way to compare retaining wall bids?
Ask each contractor how their plan handles drainage, because poor drainage is by far the most common reason retaining walls perform badly. A bid that says where the water behind the wall goes and how it gets out tells you more than one that only gives a height and a price.
How long does it take to build a concrete retaining wall?
Most of the schedule goes into the permit, the digging and drainage, and the cure, not the pour day itself. Weather can move the pour date, and your estimate lists the work so you can see each part of the job before we start.
Other concrete work that goes with a new wall
Concrete pool decks
When a new wall levels part of your yard, that flat ground often becomes a pool deck, poured to shed water away from the house.
Concrete floor installation
Work outside often leads to work inside, and a new basement or utility room floor gets the same dug-out, packed base we put under a wall's footing.
Retaining wall service areas around Cambridge
M&K Cambridge Concrete Company is based in Cambridge, MA, and builds retaining walls across the cities around it. The 12 cities below each have their own page, including Medford and Waltham, and they aren't the only places we work.
Cambridge, MA
Send us photos of your slope
A few photos along with the wall's location and a rough length and height let me see how the ground falls before I visit, so we can spend that visit on the details.