Boulder Retaining Wall Rebuild and Shoreline Restoration in Wayzata

This Wayzata property had a failing boulder retaining wall that wasn't doing its job anymore. When a wall starts to shift and lose its structure, the ground behind it follows - and on a sloped lakefront lot with multiple elevation changes, that's not a small problem. It needed to come out and get rebuilt the right way.

We're rebuilding the upper boulder retaining wall from the ground up, and at the same time raising and extending the lower wall to give the whole yard better structure. Both walls tie together two separate levels of the property, so getting them right matters. The excavation work involved moving a lot of material to regrade and prep each area before the boulders go back in. That's the kind of groundwork that doesn't show up in a finished photo, but it's what everything else depends on.

Connecting the two levels means people actually need to get between them safely. That's where the 3-foot granite steps come in - one set off the upper wall, another set off the lower. Granite holds up better than most materials over time, especially on a property that sees freeze-thaw cycles every year. It's a functional solution that also looks sharp once everything is finished.

The shoreline is the last piece of the puzzle. The plan is to install a custom-fitted boulder shoreline to tie the whole project together and give the property a clean, natural edge at the water line. A lot of lakefront properties in the Twin Cities area have shorelines that have eroded or never had proper stabilization to begin with. Getting that edge locked in with boulders that are sized and placed right is what keeps it from becoming a problem again down the road.

This is a big scope of work - retaining walls, granite steps, excavation, and shoreline restoration all on one property. It's the kind of job where each piece has to be planned in sequence because each one affects the next. We're in the thick of it now and looking forward to showing the finished result.