Engineered block, boulder and natural rock walls. Built with the drainage behind them that stops walls failing in the first place.
Send a photo of the slope — we'll tell you what it needs.
Everything Earth builds engineered block and natural rock retaining walls across Salmon Arm, Blind Bay, Eagle Bay, Sicamous and the wider Shuswap. Anywhere in this region, a wall over 1.2 m (4 ft) needs a building permit and a design by a registered professional. We handle that, build to the stamped drawings, and back every wall with a limited 500-day workmanship warranty.
Nine times out of ten, a failed retaining wall isn't a stone problem — it's a water problem. Here's what we do differently.
Every wall gets a clean drainage plane — free-draining gravel, filter fabric, and perforated pipe daylighted out. Water gets out before it can push.
We dig to undisturbed soil and compact in lifts. The base is buried and invisible, which is exactly why it's the first thing people cut.
Anything over 1.2 m (4 ft) gets stamped drawings and geogrid reinforcement. Not optional, not negotiable — it's what the building bylaw requires and what your insurer will ask for.
Yes — almost always. Both building bylaws that cover this region require a building permit to build or structurally repair a retaining wall, and require a registered professional to design any wall over 1.2 m (about 4 ft) measured from the lower of natural or finished grade. Walls under 1.2 m are generally exempt. Which office you apply to depends on which side of the city boundary you're on.
The City of Salmon Arm's building bylaw applies and the permit comes from the City. A registered professional must design the wall and its drainage, then carry out field reviews — drainage is explicitly part of the engineer's scope, not an afterthought.
These sit outside any municipality, in the Columbia Shuswap Regional District. Part 11 of CSRD Building Bylaw No. 660-3 states plainly that no one may construct or structurally repair a retaining wall without a building permit. Building inspection covers Electoral Areas B, C, E, G and part of F.
Splitting one tall wall into two short ones does not dodge the rule. If a sequence of walls is spaced closer than two horizontal to one vertical, both bylaws treat them as a single wall — so two 1 m terraces set close together are a 2 m wall on paper, permit and engineer included.
We build to whichever authority your lot falls under, pull the permit as part of the job, and hand you the stamped drawings at the end. If you're not sure which one you're in, send us the address — we'll tell you.
Bylaws change. Confirm current requirements with the authority for your property before you build — or ask us and we'll confirm it with them.
Every wall we build comes with a limited 500-day workmanship warranty. If it settles or shifts on us, we come back and put it right. We build them to outlast that by decades.
Retaining walls set into a slope, finished with a flagstone patio and custom lighting.
Local stone placed by hand to lock and hold — the kind of rockwork that looks like it grew there.
Most residential walls land between $8,000 and $40,000 depending on height, length, access and what's behind them. We give you a written number after walking the site — not a guess over the phone.
Yes, over 1.2 m (about 4 ft). Both the City of Salmon Arm bylaw and CSRD Building Bylaw No. 660-3 require a registered professional to design the wall and its drainage above that height, and a building permit either way. We handle both and build to the stamped drawings.
Yes. A bulge means water pressure is building behind it and the wall is losing. Call us — we'll come look and tell you straight whether it can be saved.
A typical residential wall is a couple of weeks on site, depending on size and access.
Yes — a limited 500-day workmanship warranty on every wall we build.
We'll tell you what it needs, what it costs, and when we could start.
