Bobcat System Makes an End Run to Solve a Tough Retaining Wall Problem

A Bobcat 337 excavator was used to dismantle an old retaining wall.

As a design/build contractor, Southeast Landscape Management, Dawsonville, Ga., specializes in unusual custom residential projects. “We do work that other companies either don’t want to do or can’t do,” says Chris Nicholson, president of the company.

He and his partner, Tim Costely, president of their sister company, Southeast Arbor Management, Inc., have been doing this work for 11 y ears. Starting with their first skidsteer loader, a 743, they’ve relied on rugged, dependable Bobcat® compact loaders and a variety of Bobcat attachments to handle digging, grading, carrying and loading chores. Their current Bobcat equipment includes two S250 skid-steer loaders and a T190 track loader.

Talent + Bobcat equipment

“We’re creative,” Nicholson says. A recent project—replacing a rotting timber retaining wall on the side of a steep slope with a pre-cast concrete block structure—illustrates how the company successfully combines that talent with Bobcat equipment to complete difficult projects.

The 200-ft.-long wall, built of railroad ties and standing as high as 12 ft. in places, was retaining red Georgia clay soil which supported an asphalt driveway.

“Our main concern was safety,” Nicholson reports. “The site was more than 100 ft. above the lake below it. There was no room for equipment to work on the wall from the side of the slope and we didn’t want to risk a collapse of the wall if we placed machines on the driveway to work from above.”

Tim Costely (left) and Chris Nicholson rely on Bobcat equipment to help them creatively tackle difficult projects.

Excavator dismantles wall

A rented Bobcat 337 excavator, equipped with a bucket and hydraulic clamp, played a key role in dismantling the wall. Nicholson placed the 337 at one end of the wall and used the machine to remove the ties and the original fill behind it as he worked his way to the other end. Along the way he laid the slope back far enough to minimize any collapse of the excavated slope. When he was finished he had an 8-ft.-wide ledge upon which he and his crew could build the new concrete block retaining wall.

“Attacking the wall from one end went like clockwork,” Nicholson says. “The 337 was small enough to fit the job while giving us the stability and power to lift three or four cross ties at once. I’ve used all sorts of equipment and this is one nice machine.”

It also had the reach to place them and the soil far enough back from the edge of the top of the excavation for safe removal. In addition to handling all the dirt on the project, the S250 carried and placed about 68 tons of gravel and all the blocks needed to build the wall which has a 900-sq.-ft. face.

“The S250s are our best moneymaking tools, period,” Nicholson says. “We use them for everything. They’re light enough to get into any jobsite, yet they have the power we need to do the job. The optional twospeed (12 mph in high range) is a great feature. Many of our jobs involve long travel distances (as much as 30 minutes round-trip). That extra speed means one machine can do the work of two in the same amount of time.”