Sloped yards, changing elevations, drainage, and outdoor access can all shape how a project should be planned. Our local crew brings 25+ years of hands-on experience helping Chesterfield homeowners coordinate retaining walls, patios, grading, drainage, and landscaping around the property as a whole.
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A steep, overgrown hillside was taking up much of this Chesterfield backyard, making the slope difficult to access, maintain, and use. Rather than trying to flatten the property, the project needed a retaining-wall layout that could work with the existing grade and create more defined levels across the hillside.
Excel Landscaping cleared and rebuilt the slope with multiple segmental retaining-wall tiers, integrated steps, drainage aggregate, and mulched planting beds. The tiered layout breaks the elevation change into more manageable sections, while the steps provide a clearer route through the slope and the planting areas give the finished hillside a more organized landscape.
The project reflects the same retaining-wall construction standards Excel Landscaping carries across St. Louis-area properties, with installations backed by a 3-year workmanship warranty.
Working with retaining walls and changing grades has shown us that the visible slope is rarely the only thing that matters. How homeowners access the yard, where water moves, what sits above and below the grade change, and what they eventually want to do with the space can all affect the plan.
A steep grade can occupy a large part of a backyard without giving homeowners much space they can comfortably use or maintain. Retaining walls can sometimes reorganize that elevation into more defined areas rather than trying to eliminate the slope entirely.
Once a grade is divided by retaining walls, homeowners still need practical access through the yard. Steps, landings, walkways, and transitions need to be considered alongside the wall itself.
Slopes naturally influence where water travels. Drainage behind and around a retaining wall therefore needs to be considered as part of the system rather than after construction is finished.
A retaining wall often creates new planting areas, edges, and transitions. Planning for how those spaces will eventually be landscaped helps the wall feel like part of the property instead of a structure placed in isolation.
Our experience extends beyond traditional retaining walls. Over the years, our crews have worked in diverse conditions and on complex projects, including tiered slopes, integrated steps, integrated drainage, landscape transitions, and outdoor spaces where the wall must coordinate with patios, decks, or walkways.
We look beyond the finished block and account for the critical parts of the installation that affect how the wall performs:
The terrain and project goals change from property to property, which is why nearby work can be useful when planning a project of your own. Across western St. Louis County, our crews have worked on retaining-wall replacements, grade transitions, paver surfaces, walkways, decks, drainage, and other outdoor improvements.
Excel Landscaping installs segmental block retaining walls, tiered walls, retaining walls systems with integrated steps, and walls incorporated into larger landscape or hardscape projects. The wall layout is planned around the slope, drainage, access, surrounding grade, and how the homeowner wants to use the property.
Drainage is planned as part of the retaining-wall installation. Our crews account for water moving through the slope, drainage aggregate, grading, runoff paths, and where collected water needs to go before the wall is completed. When the property has a larger water problem, the wall can also be coordinated with underground drainage or other drainage solutions.
Retaining walls in Chesterfield require Municipal Zoning Approval from the City. The current application calls for a plot plan showing the proposed wall, easements, existing structures, and wall elevations, including the base and top elevations and the highest point of the wall. Additional review may apply depending on the project, so requirements should be confirmed before construction begins.
A tiered retaining-wall system can make sense when one steep slope needs to be divided into more manageable levels instead of being held back by one large wall. Tiering can create space for steps, planting beds, easier access, and cleaner grade transitions while working with the existing elevation rather than trying to flatten the entire hillside.
For many of our retaining-wall installations, around two working days is a common build time, and our featured Chesterfield tiered-wall project was completed on that timeline. Our crews are experienced working through excavation, base preparation, drainage, wall construction, steps, and surrounding landscape work efficiently without cutting corners.
Larger walls, multiple tiers, difficult access, extensive grading, or broader outdoor improvements can require additional time. The project scope and property conditions ultimately determine the schedule. Contact us for a site assessment
