Auckland Besser Block Retaining Walls

Reinforced blockwork is the go-to when a wall genuinely has to work hard, and we build it to the engineering rather than to a rule of thumb. If your drawings call for 16mm bars at 400 centres, that's what goes in, and we're happy for it to be inspected.

We handle the whole build in-house, from the footing dig through to the final finish. That matters more on a reinforced wall than most, because the footing, the starter bars and the blockwork all have to line up exactly — and they don't when three different crews set them out.

We'll also tell you when you don't need it. Besser block costs more than a segmental or sleeper wall, and if your retained height is modest we'd rather point you at a cheaper option than quote you for strength you'll never use.

Core filling is where these walls get let down, and we take it seriously. Concrete has to reach the bottom of every core and wrap right around the steel, so we fill in lifts and compact as we go instead of pouring the whole height in one hit and hoping.

Starter bars get set accurately in the footing pour. Bars that end up in the wrong place mean blocks that won't thread over them, and the fixes for that are all bad ones. We set them from the block layout, not by eye.

We also plan the finish from the start. Whether you want a plastered and painted wall, a bagged texture, or stone cladding over the top, that decision changes the block choice and the joint work, so it's much cheaper to decide before we lay the first course.