Retaining Wall Contractor in Spokane, WA: Poured Concrete & Block Walls
Poured concrete and block retaining walls in Spokane, built with the drainage and footings that keep them standing. Raven Buildings excavates, forms, pours and backfills retaining walls for hillside yards, driveway cuts and shop pads across the City of Spokane, from the South Hill and Five Mile to north Spokane, and in the surrounding county.
Retaining walls we build
- Reinforced poured concrete walls: for driveway cuts, parking, shop pads and anything carrying a load above it
- Modular block walls: for terraced yards and garden walls
- Walls next to slabs and buildings: stem walls and retaining walls tied into the flatwork or foundation we pour
- The site work around it: excavation, drain rock, perforated drain pipe and the patio, driveway or pad on top
When the City of Spokane requires a permit
The City's earth-retaining structures guidesheet (BUILD-08) requires a building permit and plan review, with plans sealed by a Washington-licensed professional, unless the wall fits one of three exceptions:
- Reinforced concrete walls up to 3 feet above grade, with the footing buried at least as deep as the wall is tall above grade, level backfill and no surcharge
- Any retaining wall up to 4 feet from the bottom of the footing to the top, at least 15 feet from every property line
- Modular block walls up to 4 feet from the bottom of the footing to the top, built to the manufacturer's guidelines, backfilled with clean gravel or crushed rock, with no surcharge or sloping backfill
Two things catch people out. The 4 feet is measured from the bottom of the buried footing, not from the ground. And a driveway, parking pad, building or slope above the wall is a surcharge, which takes the wall out of the exception even when it's short.
Outside city limits, Spokane County's permit exemption list covers walls up to 4 feet from the bottom of the footing to the top unless they support a surcharge, and Spokane Valley uses the IRC exemption language.
Built for Spokane winters
The joint City of Spokane and Spokane County frost-depth policy puts footings at least 24 inches below finished grade. Water trapped behind a wall freezes and pushes on it, so every wall we build gets:
- Free-draining backfill of clean gravel or crushed rock
- A perforated drain pipe at the base with a real outlet
- Filter fabric between the native soil and the drain rock
- Weep holes or drain board on poured concrete walls
What a retaining wall costs
HomeGuide's 2026 installed ranges, priced per square foot of wall face (length times exposed height):
- Modular block: $15 to $35 per sq ft
- Poured reinforced concrete: $20 to $45 per sq ft
- CMU (cinder block): $20 to $35 per sq ft
- Boulder or natural stone: $25 to $50 per sq ft
A 40-foot wall that's 3 feet tall is 120 sq ft of face, or about $2,400 to $5,400 in poured concrete at those rates. Taller walls cost more per square foot because excavation, drain rock, engineering and equipment access all grow with height. For a side-by-side of materials, read our block vs. poured concrete vs. boulder retaining wall guide.
Why Spokane homeowners call Raven
- One crew for the wall and the concrete on top, so the driveway, patio or shop pad is planned with the wall, not after it
- Code-first planning: we measure from the footing, check property-line distances and flag surcharges before you pay for anything
- Local work: we build slabs, foundations and steel and pole buildings across Spokane County, so a wall for a future shop pad gets sized for the building that's coming
Get a retaining wall quote
Call 509-350-2016 or request a free quote. Tell us the wall's length, how tall it needs to be, what sits above it and how close it is to the property line. See our concrete services, or our concrete contractor page for Airway Heights if you're west of town.
Sources
Request a Free Quote
Ready to Build?
Raven Buildings LLC is Eastern Washington's trusted construction contractor. Get your free estimate today.