Retaining Walls in El Cajon

El Cajon has two papers on this and they do not match. The city's When Do I Need a Permit sheet, dated December 2020, says walls not over 3 feet need no permit unless they hold a surcharge. The city's building questions page says walls not over 4 feet, measured from the bottom of the footing, need no permit if they do not hold back a slope.

Those two rules can give a different answer for the same wall. Call Building and Fire Safety at 619-441-1726 and ask which one they use today. Until they tell you, plan around the stricter one. More on city rules is in our El Cajon permit guide.

A surcharge is extra weight pushing on the soil behind a wall. A slope that keeps climbing above the wall is one. A driveway, a parked car or a shed close to the top can be one too.

That matters because a short wall with a load on it can need a permit, even if a wall of the same height in a flat yard does not. Tell us what sits above the wall when you call.

Soil gets much heavier when it is wet. If water cannot get out, it pushes on the wall every time it rains. That is why a leaning wall is often a drainage problem as much as a block problem.

Ask how water will get out. A good plan names the drain rock, the drain pipe or the weep holes, and says where the water goes after that. Clay makes it worse, because it swells when it gets wet. Our clay soil guide explains why.

• How wide and how deep is the footing
• Is the wall block, poured concrete or stacked units
• Where does the steel go and what size is it
• How is the drain built and where does it empty
• Who hauls off the dirt
• What finish goes on the face

Get those answers in writing. Two bids are only easy to compare when they cover the same wall.

Height moves the price the most, because a taller wall needs a bigger footing and more steel. Length, tight access, old wall removal and how far the dirt travels all add to it.

For a rough sense of the range, public agencies publish prices they use to size bonds. The County of San Diego list, a July 2024 draft, uses $64.22 a square foot of masonry retaining wall. The City of Carlsbad list for 2024 to 2025 uses $29.65. Those are not bids and they are not our price. They do show how wide the range can be. See our El Cajon cost guide for more.

A footing means digging, and state law says to notify the regional notice center at least two working days first. Call 811 and the buried lines get marked. Also ask where your property line is before a wall goes near it.

American Polo Remodeling is your contractor on the job, from the estimate to the final walk through. Licensed California contractor, CSLB #1084257.