Replacing an Overgrown Hillside with Retaining Walls
This Chesterfield homeowner had a steep, overgrown hillside that took up a large portion of the backyard without providing much usable value. They wanted to clean up the slope, give the yard a more modern appearance, and create defined areas where they could add landscaping and plantings.
Excel Landscaping reshaped the hillside with a tiered retaining wall system that turned the slope into a structured part of the backyard while creating new planting areas.
The Backyard Needed a Better Solution for the Slope
The existing hillside was heavily overgrown and visually dominated the backyard. The slope made the area difficult to maintain and left the homeowner with little opportunity to landscape it intentionally.
Rather than simply clearing the vegetation and leaving the same difficult slope behind, the goal was to create a permanent structure that would make the hillside easier to manage and much better to look at.
That made a tiered retaining wall a natural solution.
Planning the New Hillside
We planned the retaining walls around the existing grade so the hillside could be divided into defined levels instead of remaining one continuous slope.
The tiered layout also gave the homeowner something the original hillside didn’t provide: dedicated beds that could be planted and maintained without losing the natural elevation of the property.
With the layout established, we could rebuild the hillside around a cleaner and more intentional structure.
Building the Tiered Retaining Walls
The overgrown areas were cleared and the hillside was prepared for the new retaining wall system.
Multiple wall sections were constructed at different elevations to follow the grade of the property. Steps were incorporated into the layout to provide access between levels, while capped wall blocks give the finished installation a clean, consistent appearance.
The open areas behind the walls were then finished as planting beds, giving the homeowner room to add plants and customize the landscape over time.
A Chesterfield Retaining Wall Built Around the Property
What had been an overgrown, difficult-to-use hillside is now a defined series of retaining walls and planting beds that make the backyard feel cleaner and more intentional.
The homeowner gained a more modern-looking landscape, easier access through the hillside, and usable planting areas without eliminating the natural grade of the property.