Long story short - we have a retaining wall and all the hell that comes with it.
We had a structural engineer come out and do a report, and then went looking for somebody to do the work based on his report. He had advised basically excavating behind the wall and putting in proper draining materials as well as a new french drain). We had 4 folks come out and take a look and all of them pretty much agreed the wall could not simply be patched as he had advised. Some of those folks didn't even want to try to bid because this is apparently a larger job than they wanted to take on (part of the wall is double stacked about 6 feet high). Unfortunately, it took a while to get some of these folks out, so it may be that the wall has deteriorated since the original report was done as well.
We have had one company that has been very professional, has come out a few times to look and I do think they know what it would take to fix the wall. That said, they're not sure you can easily patch the wall either. They've recommended a second structural report, but the guy they recommended wants $500 (about 2x what the previous one cost). Obviously red flags went off in my head since this is their recommendation, but the guy seems to be a legitimate structural engineer with an independent business and I don't think there is any sort of collusion here.
I'm at a loss as it seems like most folks we've had out agree the wall can't be patched as the original engineer suggests, but also tend to give me the line of "you don't want to know what it will cost to replace entirely", but I clearly have to figure out how to handle this. So far, most folks are suggesting somewhere between $20-30K for a complete rebuild (the wall is about 100 linear feet, with about 35% of that being a double stacked wall that goes from 5.5-6 feet high...the remainder is about 3-3.5 feet tall), while the one company has said that they would be willing to give us a better price if they could use the resulting wall for promotional materials.
I'm not sure how to proceed. We have a report, but can't find anyone that is willing to take on the job outlined in the report (and the engineer has not offered any help in identifying a trusted company, which isn't his job so I understand). We have found some folks willing to do the work, but they want another report done because they're not comfortable with the approach initially selected. We don't plan to live here forever, so I'm trying to figure how to avoid a small-medium sized car payment for a wall at a house we don't want to live in for more than another 3-5 years. So I feel like my options suck given the combination of price, suggested work and being able to find a reputable company to do the work.
Any advice is welcome.
In Dallas (Rockwall) if anyone has specific recs.
We had a structural engineer come out and do a report, and then went looking for somebody to do the work based on his report. He had advised basically excavating behind the wall and putting in proper draining materials as well as a new french drain). We had 4 folks come out and take a look and all of them pretty much agreed the wall could not simply be patched as he had advised. Some of those folks didn't even want to try to bid because this is apparently a larger job than they wanted to take on (part of the wall is double stacked about 6 feet high). Unfortunately, it took a while to get some of these folks out, so it may be that the wall has deteriorated since the original report was done as well.
We have had one company that has been very professional, has come out a few times to look and I do think they know what it would take to fix the wall. That said, they're not sure you can easily patch the wall either. They've recommended a second structural report, but the guy they recommended wants $500 (about 2x what the previous one cost). Obviously red flags went off in my head since this is their recommendation, but the guy seems to be a legitimate structural engineer with an independent business and I don't think there is any sort of collusion here.
I'm at a loss as it seems like most folks we've had out agree the wall can't be patched as the original engineer suggests, but also tend to give me the line of "you don't want to know what it will cost to replace entirely", but I clearly have to figure out how to handle this. So far, most folks are suggesting somewhere between $20-30K for a complete rebuild (the wall is about 100 linear feet, with about 35% of that being a double stacked wall that goes from 5.5-6 feet high...the remainder is about 3-3.5 feet tall), while the one company has said that they would be willing to give us a better price if they could use the resulting wall for promotional materials.
I'm not sure how to proceed. We have a report, but can't find anyone that is willing to take on the job outlined in the report (and the engineer has not offered any help in identifying a trusted company, which isn't his job so I understand). We have found some folks willing to do the work, but they want another report done because they're not comfortable with the approach initially selected. We don't plan to live here forever, so I'm trying to figure how to avoid a small-medium sized car payment for a wall at a house we don't want to live in for more than another 3-5 years. So I feel like my options suck given the combination of price, suggested work and being able to find a reputable company to do the work.
Any advice is welcome.
In Dallas (Rockwall) if anyone has specific recs.
