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Retaining wall cost calculator

Type the wall length and height. We price the blocks, caps, gravel, drain pipe and labor, with the source and date of every price. For block walls up to 4 ft.

Wall length ft

Exposed height ft Height above ground, not counting the buried course. Priced up to 4 ft. IRC R404.4 (2024), via the NC Office of State Fire Marshal interpretation.

State Labor index: BLS OEWS May 2025, landscaping workers (SOC 37-3011), state median over national median ($18.82/hr). Applied to labor only; materials have no state data. Block face, height × width in × in Versa-Lok Standard is 6 × 12 × 16 in (face 6 × 16). Check your block's face size. Block price $each Versa-Lok Standard solid $9.40 ($10.35 blended). Rock Hard Landscape Supply, MN, walls and pavers price sheet created Apr 2025. Low confidence: old, one region. Use your supplier's price. Cap price $each Caps $8.25 to $9.15 on the same Rock Hard sheet, Apr 2025. Low confidence: old, one region. Cap length in Our assumption: the same as the block width. Change it if your cap is different. Drainage rock $/yd³ #57 limestone, MK Landscape Supply, PA, price list updated Nov 3 2026. 12 in thick behind the wall (Allan Block basic installation guide, via search snippet; page not opened). Base gravel $/yd³ 2A limestone, MK Landscape Supply, PA, Nov 3 2026. Trench 18 in wide by 4 in deep under 4 ft, 24 in by 6 in at 4 ft (Allan Block guides, via search snippet). 20% compaction allowance is our arithmetic. Tons at 1.4 t/yd³, the estimate builder's default. Drain pipe $/ft 4 in perforated pipe with sock, $109.99 to $161.70 per 100 ft roll; $1.36/ft is our midpoint. Retail listings (R.P. Lumber, Home Depot), search snippets Nov 9 2026. Low confidence: not checked on a live page. Waste % Our rule of thumb for broken and cut blocks. Low confidence: no published source. Install speed ft²/person-hr Hand-set block walls, 6 to 8 ft² of face per labor hour, from the countbricks.com Akron trade guide, which calls it a rule of thumb. Low confidence: one source. Billable labor rate $/hr What a crew bills per person-hour. $75 to 100 is the most common band; $88 is our starting point. SynkedUp 2026 labor-rate benchmark, via our price list, Aug 2026. Your quote, if you have one $ We compare it with our range and the published ranges. Nothing is sent anywhere.

Published installed ranges disagree: HomeGuide $15 to $35 per ft² of face for segmental block (updated Jan 2026), Homewyse $9.76 to $12.94 per ft² for a block wall (May 2026), Angi an average of $6,077 per job. Counted over all the block laid (the buried course too), our defaults land inside HomeGuide's band; over the face you see they sit a little above it. Not included: dig-out haul-off, grading, geogrid, permit, engineer, drainage outlet work.

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Questions people ask

How much does a retaining wall cost per linear foot?

At our defaults (6 by 16 inch blocks, caps, gravel, drain pipe, national average labor) a 2 ft wall comes to about $84 per linear foot, a 3 ft wall about $114 and a 4 ft wall about $145. Labor is about 39% of it. These are our defaults, not quotes, and they cover a straight block wall on level ground with no dig-out haul-off, grading, permit or engineer. Published ranges run wider than ours: HomeGuide $15 to $35 per ft² of face, Homewyse $9.76 to $12.94.

When do I need an engineer or a permit?

IRC R404.4 sends walls that hold back more than 48 inches of unbalanced fill to an engineer, and sooner than that where there is a driveway, a building or a slope on top of the wall. Many towns want a permit from 3 or 4 ft up, and some for any wall. HomeGuide puts permits at $50 to $450 and an engineer at $500 to $2,000 or more. Rules vary, so call your building department before you dig. This calculator gives no price above 4 ft for that reason.

Why is there gravel behind the wall?

Water is what pushes walls over. A column of clean drainage rock about 12 inches thick behind the blocks, with a perforated pipe at the bottom leading out to daylight, lets water leave instead of building pressure. Allan Block's installation guide calls for the same 12 inches. The rock behind the wall is the biggest gravel line in the calculator.

How many blocks per square foot?

Divide 144 by the block face height times width in inches. A 6 by 16 inch block covers 0.67 ft², so you need 1.5 blocks per ft². The calculator also lays a buried first course (6 inches or 1 inch per foot of height, whichever is more) and adds your waste percentage.

Is this a fair quote?

Type the quote into the "Your quote" box. We show it against our range and against the published ranges. A quote far below ours often leaves out the drain pipe, caps or haul-off. One far above it is worth a second bid.

Is this the price I should charge?

Switch to "I'm the pro". It uses the same model as our sod calculator: materials and your labor cost, plus a markup for overhead and profit. The labor wage and markup start at the sod calculator's values. Set them to your own.

Does this store my numbers?

No. Everything is computed in your browser. Nothing is sent or saved, and there is no sign-in. The copy-link button puts your inputs in the address so you can send the estimate to somebody.

The plus or minus 15% band is our arithmetic, not a market survey. Prices change; check yours with a local supplier and get written quotes. Walls above 4 ft, walls with a load on top and walls on poor soil need an engineer.

Retaining wall cost calculator

A wall this tall needs an engineer and a permit

Questions people ask