Want privacy, a cleaner yard edge or a slope that stays put? We build concrete block walls on solid footings, planned for your lot.
A concrete block wall in Escondido is a masonry fence or garden wall built on a concrete footing, which holds it in place and keeps it from tipping or sliding. At Craftsman Escondido Concrete and Masonry we build them for privacy, for yard edges and for sloped lots that need holding back.
Most people call me because they want privacy from the street, a clean edge around the yard, or a bank that stops washing onto the patio. The price mostly comes down to the wall's length and height, whether it holds back dirt, how easy the spot is to dig and reach, and the block and cap you choose. The schedule turns on whether the wall needs a permit and the inspections that come with one, and if it does, we handle the application and meet the inspector. If your wall is really there to hold a hillside, our retaining wall construction page goes deeper. Either way, I'll put your own figure in a written estimate after we walk the yard together.
I come out to look at every wall myself, so the person writing your estimate is the same one on site while it gets built. I'm on the tools most days and running our crew, which means your questions get answered right there in the yard.
I spent years running jobs as another mason's right hand before starting out on my own in Escondido in 2020. Six years in, I'd still rather build the wall your yard actually needs than sell you a bigger one, because good masonry should outlast all of us.
We're licensed and insured. In California, the Contractors State License Board, known as CSLB, licenses and regulates the construction trade, and that matters on a block wall because it's structural work that will sit in your yard for a long time.
We keep it to those two words because that's the whole promise. When you're ready to talk about your wall, call (760) 546-4075 or use the form on this page, and I'll set a time to come walk the yard with you.
Tell us the wall's length, how tall you want it and whether it holds back soil, and we'll get back to you within one business day to set a time. I'll come out, walk the yard with you and put a free on-site estimate in writing. There's no pressure to book.
The City of Escondido requires a building permit for a fence over 6 feet tall and for a retaining wall 4 feet or taller measured with its footing, or one holding a surcharge, which is extra weight like a driveway or a slope on the high side. So whether your wall needs a permit comes down to its height and what it holds, and we sort that out when we measure. If it needs one, we handle the application with the city and meet the inspector when the time comes. The city's zoning code also sets fence heights and setbacks, so it decides how tall your wall can be and where it sits on the lot, and if the project reshapes a sloped yard, changing that slope takes a grading permit too.
The San Jacinto fault zone, the most active of the plate-boundary faults in southern California, lies northeast of Escondido, which is one more reason we don't cut corners on footings and steel. Around here we see a lot of homes on lots that step down a hill and plenty of calls from people tired of a bank sliding toward the house. We're based in Escondido and build the same walls in the cities around it, from San Marcos and Valley Center up to Temecula and Murrieta and down to Chula Vista, plus plenty of places that don't have a page on this site.
The cost depends mostly on how long and tall the wall is and whether it holds back soil, since a retaining wall needs a bigger footing, more steel and drains. Tight access, hard digging, a fancier block or cap, and any permit or engineering push it up, while a short, straight garden wall on level ground keeps it down. I'll give you your own figure in a written estimate after we walk the yard.
Start by deciding how tall the wall needs to be and what will sit on the high side, because those two things shape the permit and the design. Ask early whether you'll need a soils report, since the city says one prepared by a licensed engineer may be required. Then leave room in your schedule for inspections, and we'll take it from the walk-through to the finished cap.
Nothing heavy close to the edge. The city doesn't allow a building foundation, driveway, parking, fence or other load on the upper level within a distance equal to the wall's height, so the taller the wall, the farther back those things go. That's why we ask where you want a driveway, parking or fence on the high side before we design anything.
A permitted retaining wall gets city inspections at several stages, starting once the footing is dug and the steel is tied, before any concrete goes in. The permit and plans have to be on site for the inspector, so we keep them there and meet the inspector at each visit. Expect the work to pause between stages, since we don't pour until a stage passes.
No more than $1,000, and less than that on a smaller contract. The state licensing board says a contractor can't ask for or accept a down payment above $1,000 or a set share of the total contract price, whichever is less. If someone wants more than that before work starts, it's a reason to slow down.
Check that each bid shows wall drains along the full length of the wall at the level of the bottom course of block, because the city's retaining wall guideline requires them. The bid should also show the footings going into undisturbed natural soil or compacted fill, as the city requires. Compare how each builder plans to design and build the wall, not just the block they offer.
