Stone and Retaining Walls in Eden Prairie
When Eden Prairie decided which land its sewers would reach, it followed the shape of the ground, and that can still decide whether a septic field sits in the yard where a wall might go.
10 Years
Workmanship warranty, in writing
A Boundary Drawn Along the Land
Beyond the edge of the City's sewer area lie nearly 2,400 acres that the City's 2040 comprehensive plan describes as "largely comprised of natural features such as floodplain, shoreland, steep slopes, and bluff areas," with no municipal sewer.
Because the sewer-area edge follows ground elevation, the same plan adds that it meanders and does not always follow property lines. Which side of that edge a house is on, and whether it is on septic today, is something its owner already knows.
Septic Fields in the Yard
The City's water resources chapter reports that fewer than 200 single-family homes still use their own on-site systems. It expects that number to fall as city sewer is extended, from 160 systems in 2017 to 20 by 2040. It names the two places where the last ones will likely remain: the southeast of the city along River View Road and properties in the south on Dell Road, and it calls gravity sewer to both currently technically infeasible. Its land use chapter adds that when such a home is built, "primary and secondary sites" for the system "are identified within the property."
On one of those lots, two pieces of the yard may be spoken for, and the second can look like ordinary lawn. A footing trench, a load of stone, and any machine that digs it all need somewhere to go. On River View Road and Dell Road, the field is likely to stay, so a wall there is planned around it for the long run. The same chapter finds no shared community systems anywhere in Eden Prairie, so the field to plan around is the one on your own lot.
Walls That Made the Lots, and Walls on Them
In 2021, City planning staff reviewed a 50-lot subdivision with "nearly 150 feet of grade change from east to west," Riley Creek along its west side and a bluff in one corner. To make lots on that ground, the builder proposed modular-block retaining walls, some reaching "heights of near 15 feet."
Those walls were the builder's, proposed as part of lot grading. They are block, which we neither build nor repair. What we take on in Eden Prairie is the natural stone wall on a homeowner's lot. If you already have an engineer for a taller wall, Sam won't turn it down; with one in place, there is no height limit.
Block, Timber, Boulder and Stone on One Slope
A yard here can hold more than one kind of wall. When the City's planning commission reviewed one Eden Prairie backyard in 2023, the staff report noted "a mix of modular block, timber, and boulder retaining walls," and the site plan filed with it also showed a stone wall. The owner told the commission that one of the timber walls dated from 1986. In that plan, the boulder wall and one timber wall were marked to remain while another timber wall and the block and stone walls were marked to come out, so a slope like that can end up with old and new walls side by side.
Each of those gets a different answer from us. A stone wall we rebuild or repair. Timber, like block, is not something we fix, but a stone wall can take the place of either. Boulder walls are not work we take on. Knowing what each wall on the slope is made of lets the estimate separate the work that is ours from the work that is not.
A Slope That Ends at Water
The City counts 19 lakes, four creek systems and more than 1,000 wetlands and ponds in Eden Prairie, so a backyard slope here can run down to water. Where it does, the spot on the slope decides whether the wall is ours. A stone wall higher up the yard, well back from the bank, is ours.
How Eden Prairie Walls Are Priced
Length, height, and choice of stone set the price on an Eden Prairie wall. An old wall standing where the new one will go can also move it, as can a septic field in the way.
Before you call
Every figure on this page depends on square footage and on what we find when we look. They are rough guides to help you decide whether to call, not quotes. The exact number comes after the visit, and the visit is free.
Creek Banks and Mixed Walls
Our backyard drops toward a creek. Can a stone wall be built at the water's edge or at the top of the bank?+
Walls at the water's edge, or at the top of a creek bank or bluff, aren't work we typically take on.
Part of our wall is stone and part is block. Can you rebuild only the stone part?+
Yes. We can rebuild the stone part on its own and leave the block part standing.
What Customers Say
What appears below is our live Google feed rather than testimonials we picked out, so it shows whatever is genuinely on it.
Setting Up a Free Wall Estimate
Hennepin County's parcel records class 2,892 Eden Prairie properties as townhouses. Walls at a townhouse whose grounds an association looks after are not work we take on.
Tell us:
- If the house is on septic, where the field and the second marked site are
- Roughly how tall the wall stands at its tallest, where on the lot it runs, what it is made of now and whether the slope runs down to water