Scope: Excavation, bush rock wall removal, engineered sandstone block retaining walls on piered concrete footings, native planting
Location: Blaxland, Blue Mountains NSW
Completed: March 2026
This Blaxland front yard was a slope with no real structure to it. Old bush rock walls held some of the ground back, but there were no defined levels, very little of the yard was usable, and it gave the house almost no street appeal.
Laser Landscapes and Excavation removed the bush rock walls, excavated the front yard into two levels and built engineered sandstone block retaining walls on piered concrete footings to hold them. Native planting finished the job.
The problem with bush rock walls on a slope
Bush rock walls are common in older Blue Mountains front yards. They are usually stacked without footings or drainage behind them, so on a slope they tend to shift, bulge and drop stones over time.
On this block they also left the yard without any shape. With no clear levels or garden beds, the front yard was hard to use and hard to keep tidy.
It is a similar starting point to our Bonnet Bay project, where failed bush rock walls on a sloping front yard were replaced with sandstone.
Turning one slope into two levels
The first step was removing the existing bush rock walls and excavating the front yard to create two levels.
Terracing a slope this way means each wall holds back less height than one tall wall would, and it gives you two flat areas to plant and use instead of a single fall of ground. Getting the levels right at the excavation stage sets the height of everything that follows, from the walls to the garden beds and the path to the front door.
You can see how we approach residential excavation on sloping blocks across the Blue Mountains and Penrith.
Engineered walls on piered footings
The new sandstone block retaining walls were engineered for this site. An engineered design sets the footing and the wall construction to suit the height of the wall and the load of the ground behind it, rather than leaving those decisions to guesswork on the day.
Here the walls sit on piered concrete footings. Concrete piers go down into firmer ground below the surface, and the footing on top of them gives the wall a solid, level base to sit on.
That base is what keeps a wall straight. A retaining wall can be built from good stone and still lean or slump if the ground under it moves, and on a slope the soil behind the wall is always pushing forward.
Once the wall is finished, nobody sees the footings again. They are still the part that decides how well the wall holds its line over the years, which is why the base is the first thing we look at when we quote retaining walls in the Blue Mountains.
Sandstone blocks for a clean, modern finish
Squared sandstone blocks were the right fit for this front yard. Straight courses and square edges give the walls a cleaner, more modern look than bush rock or sandstone logs, while the stone itself still suits the natural colours of the Blue Mountains.
The walls run alongside the timber steps and deck that lead down to the house, so the path to the front door now has a defined edge of stone beside it rather than loose ground.
Sandstone is our speciality. For a different take on the same material, our Richmond corner block project used sandstone logs to retain a front yard and create a level parking pad. Our guide to sandstone retaining walls covers how the different options compare.
Native planting to finish
With the walls in, the garden beds on each level were planted with natives and mulched.
Native plants suit the Blue Mountains climate, and once they are established they need less water and less upkeep than most exotic gardens. That keeps a terraced front yard like this one easy to look after.
What we delivered
- Removal of the existing bush rock retaining walls
- Excavation of the front yard into two levels
- Piered concrete footings
- Engineered sandstone block retaining walls on both levels
- Native planting and mulched garden beds
The result
The front yard now has two clear levels held by sandstone walls on a solid base, with planted beds where there used to be an unstructured slope. The walls give the house a proper front yard, and the native beds are simple to maintain.
Planning retaining walls in Blaxland or the lower Blue Mountains?
If your front yard is held up by old bush rock, or a wall that has started to lean, we can come out, look at your site and talk you through your options.
We build sandstone block, sandstone log, concrete sleeper and timber retaining walls across Blaxland, the Blue Mountains, Penrith and the Hawkesbury.
Call Andrew on 0435 355 975 or get in touch for a free quote and site inspection.
