Project

Ngaio - Winter '25

Integrated firewood storage

Original retaining wall after the site had been cleared

Finished view from the house

Green waste/compost bins with removable covers and ground level access hatches

Initial sketch provided to the customer

Project description

A decorative yet functional addition to the garden to conceal an ugly but structurally sound (despite the lean) concrete retaining wall.

The customer's original brief was to build a tall screen in front of the wall obscuring all the brickwork, but I proposed a design that incorporated the brickwork as a unique feature, giving a one-of-a-kind final result. Integrated wood storage was added to make use of the void behind created by the lean of the wall, and the section of faux retaining that was built out to the boundary and originally intended to be open for green waste to be stored behind, was evolved during the course of the project into a dedicated two compartment compost bin complete with removable covers and access hatches.

Unfortunately, this was one of the few projects where we went over budget compared to the original estimate - even discounting the additional work due to the changes in the design that were made along the way, the complexities of a site where nothing is square or plumb meant that the labour cost crept away from us. A discount was offered to the customer to alleviate some of the pain of the final bill, and lessons have been learned to try and improve the accuracy of quotes on similar jobs in the future

Last updated on 10-09-2025