Sam's Retaining Walls

Sam built a patio, retaining wall and fireplace for us and it was the WORST experience of our lives. He said he was an engineer and clearly he is not, nor does he have the skill to do the job properly. The wall is not even a year old and is cracking and moving. He did not use geogrid, did not get a building permit and did a terrible job. It will cost us 50,000 to fix his poor workmanship. There is a warranty but all he does is get lawyers and avoid fixing his mess. To be honest he does not know how to fix it. He has NO business building retaining walls. NONE!

I was under contract with Sam's Retaining Walls to have two separate wall systems constructed for a total cost of $25,000. One of the walls required a building permit from St. Louis County. According to St. Louis County, it is ultimately the contractor's responsibility to obtain a construction permit, however Sam’s Retaining Walls failed to obtain a permit for the job.



A construction permit ensures that the wall is properly constructed in accordance with the Master Plan, which is the general engineering compliance guide for retaining wall construction. Any deviation from this, including the use of substitute materials requires sealed engineering plans and approval from the St. Louis County approval board before a permit is issued.



After a snowstorm and within weeks following the completion of construction, the wall started separating. Upon having a geologist assess the construction conditions, the geologist informed me that the base of the wall was likely installed on unstable soils. At my expense, Sam's Retaining Walls repaired the section of wall that separated and within a couple of weeks and following another snowstorm, the wall separated again. This time I had a structural engineer assess the situation and he confirmed several key factors. The wall was indeed constructed on unstable soils and should have been dug down an additional few feet to reach stable native soil. He further stated that the prescribed materials were not used for the back-fill and improper technique was employed for compacting the back-fill. Back-fill is to be clean rock to allow for drainage and compacted to at least 95% of the material’s maximum dry density. A wall of this height requires compaction with a powered plate-compactor and not a hand-tamper as was used for this project.



After receiving this news, I went back and reviewed my contract to learn that the materials specified in the contract and for which I paid, were not the materials that were provided. I also read through the Master Plan to learn what is required by code. This is required for compliance apart from what is spelled out in the contract. As a result, I have two separate issues, each of which is cause for negligence. First, there were materials and services that I paid for according to the terms of the contract but did not receive, which is breach of contract. Second, the construction was not in compliance with St. Louis County code requirements in accordance with the Master Plan. Minus was used for the back-fill rather than clean rock, which does not allow for proper drainage, is not what was agreed to and paid for in accordance with the terms of the contract and is against both the Master Plan and manufacturer's construction standards.



My contract included an unconditional warranty but Sam’s Retaining Walls charged me for the repair work claiming they were not responsible for the soil conditions. Whether or not the company is responsible for the soil conditions on which they construct a wall is separate from the fact that the written warranty was unconditional. The fact of the matter according to the Master Plan is that the contractor is responsible for ensuring the wall is constructed on stable soils.



Since there was a clear demonstration of negligence on the part of Sam’s Retaining Walls, I did not provide the company with a third opportunity to resolve the problem. Instead I paid another company an additional $9000 to remove and replace the faulty wall system following proper construction techniques. It is sad how educated I have become as a result of going through this experience. I have much more knowledge about retaining wall construction, code compliance and structural integrity than I care to know, which is why I hired a professional to do the work in the first place.

Sam and his team installed a patio and several walls for me. They were promt and professional. Their prices were reasonable and they did a terrific job. They even cleaned up at the end of every day. I was very pleased. I would definitely hire again.

Sam,s Retaining Walls installed a mosaic retaining wall, and a paver driveway and patio. They did a marvalous job.They were very professional and reasonabley priced. They kept the job site clean and did everything tyey said they would do.The employees were always polite. I would recomend this company to anyone.