Hear from Our Customers
If you’ve got a slope that’s been eroding for years, soil washing onto your driveway after every hard rain, or an old masonry wall that’s starting to lean you already know the problem isn’t going away on its own. What you might not know is how much usable space you’re leaving on the table while you wait.
Upper Darby sits entirely within the Darby and Cobbs Creek Watershed, and that matters more than most homeowners realize. Five creeks run through or border this township, and the documented history of stormwater stress in this drainage basin means properties here face real, ongoing erosion pressure not just cosmetic slope issues. A properly built retaining wall with engineered drainage doesn’t just hold dirt back. It manages water, protects your foundation, and turns a problem area into functional outdoor living space.
A lot of the homes in Drexel Hill, Primos, and Secane were built in the 1920s through 1950s. Original masonry walls from that era brick, mortared stone, poured concrete were built before modern drainage standards existed. They don’t have adequate weep holes. They don’t have drainage aggregate behind them. And after 70 or 80 years of Delaware County freeze-thaw cycles, many are actively failing. Getting ahead of that failure, with a wall built to current standards, is the difference between a planned investment and an emergency repair.
<
Spennato Landscaping is a Delaware County-based hardscaping company serving residential homeowners across Upper Darby and the surrounding townships. Renato Spennato holds an active Pennsylvania contractor license and a BuildZoom score that ranks in the top 11% of over 125,000 licensed contractors statewide but what actually sets us apart is simpler than a score.
Every project runs through one crew. No subcontractors. No handoffs. The same people who assess your property, design your wall, and pull your permits are the ones on-site every day until the job is done. Renato’s name is on every project which means if something comes up in year two, you’re not navigating a phone tree or chasing down a company that’s moved on. You call the same number you called on day one.
That kind of accountability matters in Upper Darby, where word travels fast and contractor horror stories are common enough that most homeowners have heard at least one from a neighbor.
<
It starts with a visit to your property not a phone estimate, not an online quote form. Upper Darby’s terrain varies more than most people expect across just a few miles. A lot in Highland Park near the Cobbs Creek corridor has completely different drainage and slope conditions than one in Westbrook Park or Llanerch Hills. The only way to give you an accurate quote and a wall that actually performs is to see your site first.
During that visit, we evaluate your slope, existing drainage patterns, soil conditions, and any access limitations because tight lots and close neighbors are real factors in a township this dense. From there, you get a clear recommendation on materials, drainage design, and timeline before any work begins. For walls over four feet, Upper Darby’s Licenses and Inspections Department requires both a zoning permit and a building permit and in some cases, a licensed engineer’s sealed plan. We handle that permit process for you, so you’re not left guessing what the township requires or risking double fees for unpermitted work.
Construction follows a sequenced process: grading and excavation, drainage aggregate placement, stepped block installation with compacted backfill, and a final walkthrough before we leave your property. Most projects in Upper Darby run five to ten days depending on size, slope, and weather. You’ll know the timeline before work starts not after.
<
Ready to get started?
Material selection is one of the most important decisions in a retaining wall project, and it’s one most homeowners don’t have a framework for evaluating. Here’s the honest version: treated timber walls last 10 to 30 years in Pennsylvania’s climate. Concrete block walls last 30 to 50 years. Properly built natural stone can last over a century. The cheapest quote you get is often the most expensive wall you’ll ever own.
For most Upper Darby properties, VERSA-LOK modular segmental systems are a strong fit. They require no frost footings which matters in a climate zone where January temperatures hover right at the freeze-thaw threshold and they can handle curves, corners, columns, stairs, and freestanding walls without losing structural integrity. They’re engineered for exactly the kind of Piedmont terrain and clay-heavy soil that defines Delaware County properties. For properties near Darby Creek or within a designated floodplain, there’s an additional permit layer through Upper Darby Township, and we factor that into the project plan from the start.
Every retaining wall project we complete includes a full on-site assessment, drainage planning, permit management, and a clear timeline with the same crew on your property from day one to final walkthrough. Property appraisers consistently estimate 100 to 200 percent returns on well-designed retaining walls using quality materials. In Drexel Hill, where median home values sit around $212,000, a wall that adds usable space and protects your foundation is one of the stronger investments you can make in your property.
<
Yes and it’s more involved than most homeowners expect. Upper Darby Township requires a zoning permit before a building permit can be issued, and the zoning permit alone costs $75 with a decision issued within 30 days. For walls over four feet in height, a building permit is also required, and depending on the wall’s complexity and load, the township may require a plan sealed by a licensed structural engineer before approving the permit.
If your property is near Darby Creek or Cobbs Creek both of which border sections of the township and falls within a designated Special Flood Hazard Area, you’ll also need a Floodplain Development Permit under Upper Darby’s Chapter 305 floodplain management ordinance. Working without the required permits can result in double fees, stop-work orders, or being required to remove the wall entirely. We handle the permit process as part of every project so you’re fully covered before a single block goes in the ground.
The honest range for a professionally built retaining wall runs from roughly $3,500 on the low end to $10,000 or more for larger, more complex installations and pricing varies significantly based on wall height, length, material choice, and site conditions. In Upper Darby specifically, site access can be a real factor: the township’s density means tighter lots, closer neighbors, and sometimes limited equipment access that affects how a project is priced and staged.
Material choice is the biggest variable. A treated timber wall will cost less upfront but needs replacing in 10 to 30 years. A VERSA-LOK concrete block system costs more initially but lasts 30 to 50 years with proper drainage behind it. When you factor in the cost of a second installation plus any erosion or foundation damage that accumulates in the meantime the cheaper option rarely wins. Get a quote that includes a site visit, not one generated over the phone, because Upper Darby’s terrain and lot conditions vary enough that a phone estimate is often meaningless.
The most common cause of retaining wall failure isn’t age it’s water. When drainage isn’t properly engineered behind the wall, hydrostatic pressure builds up in the soil and pushes against the wall from behind. Over time, that pressure causes bowing, cracking, leaning, or outright collapse. This is especially common in older walls built without drainage aggregate, weep holes, or geogrid reinforcement and in Upper Darby, where much of the housing stock dates to the 1920s through 1950s, a lot of original walls were built exactly that way.
Delaware County’s clay-heavy soil makes this worse. Clay expands when it absorbs water and contracts when it dries out, which puts cyclical stress on any structure trying to hold it back. Add in the freeze-thaw cycle water seeping into the soil, freezing, expanding, and loosening the earth and you’ve got a compounding problem. If your wall is visibly bowing, has cracks running horizontally, is leaning away from the slope, or has soil washing around or through it after rain, those are signs it needs to be assessed before the next hard storm makes the decision for you.
VERSA-LOK is a modular segmental retaining wall system interlocking concrete blocks engineered specifically for structural earth retention rather than just stacked decoratively. What makes it well-suited to Upper Darby properties is that it requires no frost footings, which is a meaningful advantage in Pennsylvania’s climate zone where frost depth and freeze-thaw cycles put stress on systems that depend on deep concrete footings to stay stable.
VERSA-LOK walls can handle straight runs, curves, corners, columns, stairs, and freestanding designs, and with geogrid reinforcement they can be built up to 50 feet high. For the rolling, sloped terrain that characterizes Drexel Hill, Llanerch Hills, and the hillier western sections of Upper Darby, that design flexibility matters. The system is also compatible with the clay-heavy Piedmont soil common throughout Delaware County when installed with proper drainage aggregate and compaction, it performs well over decades without the cracking and shifting you see in older mortared stone or poured concrete walls.
Most residential retaining wall projects in Upper Darby run five to ten days of active construction, depending on wall length, height, material, and site conditions. That timeline doesn’t include the permit process, which adds time upfront Upper Darby’s zoning permit review alone can take up to 30 days, and building permit review adds additional time depending on the scope of the project. Planning ahead, especially for spring installations when demand picks up sharply across Delaware County, is worth doing.
The on-site assessment happens before any timeline is given, because Upper Darby’s varied terrain means a wall in Secane near a flat lot installs very differently than one in Drexel Hill on a steep grade with limited equipment access. You’ll have a clear project timeline confirmed before work starts not a vague window that gets pushed back three times. Spring is consistently the busiest season for retaining wall work in this area, as freeze-thaw damage becomes visible and homeowners act on problems they’ve been watching all winter.
A properly engineered retaining wall is the most reliable long-term solution for slope erosion but the wall alone isn’t enough if drainage isn’t addressed at the same time. In Upper Darby, where the entire township drains into the Darby and Cobbs Creek Watershed, stormwater runoff is a documented, ongoing challenge. Properties on sloped lots especially those in the hillier sections of Drexel Hill or near Naylor’s Run see erosion accelerate after heavy rain because water has nowhere to go except downhill, taking soil with it.
The right fix starts with understanding where the water is coming from and where it needs to go. A retaining wall with proper drainage aggregate behind it, weep holes to relieve hydrostatic pressure, and grading that directs surface water away from the structure will stop the erosion and keep it stopped. Stopgap measures like landscape fabric, ground cover plants, or loose stone can slow erosion temporarily but won’t solve the underlying drainage problem. If your slope has been getting worse over time, or if you’re seeing soil displacement after every significant rain, an on-site assessment will tell you exactly what you’re dealing with and what it takes to fix it for good.
