Gabion Basket Walls (Phoenix, Scottsdale, Hayden: custom home, construction, contractors)

[sargeant79]

Anyone have any experience with Gabion Basket stone walls? Any rough idea of cost compared to other types of fencing and/or any contractors in Phoenix that handle it? I'm getting ready to put in a perimeter fence around my front yard and am really intrigued by these. My wife and I both think they look really cool, but I'm not finding much in the way of info or companies that put them in.

[DetroitN8V]

I have nothing of value to add but I really like the look. If you end up doing it, please post pics!

[Bungle]

We typically spec out Artweld Gabion baskets from Hilficker and the rock from Granite Express

ArtWeld Gabions
Granite Express

I just looked at the few projects we've done and the cost in our estimates are roughly $325 per Cubic Yard. Those were 3'x3' stacked baskets. You can probably cut the cost down by not going so wide.

If I can dig any more info to help I'll post

[Bungle]

Here's a typical detail of a gabion basket wall

[Bungle]

Also, Valley Rain is a contractor that has installed these on many of our projects. I'm honestly not sure how small scale they go (like if they actually do any residential work). It's a start though.

Valley Rain Construction - Arizona General Engineering and Building Construction

[ScottsdaleMark]

I like these walls, if the "basket" is made out of a sturdy, attractive enough solid/shiny metal; if it's a cheaper, mesh-looking basket, I think it looks cheap or a little odd. But I do like them, there's one nice example on the north side of Shea between Scottsdale and Hayden, I believe. (Or maybe between Hayden and the 101, I can't recall for sure, but it's on the north side.)

I've also seen outdoor furniture (e.g. tables, benches, etc.) made this way, also planters or even home exteriors.

Examples of all can be seen here through Google Images Search.

Personally I also really love natural stone walls, e.g. those made without any masonry cement/components. Like the pioneers used to make, e.g. the rock pile type stone walls, but also the more carefully crafted and stone-cut types. There are actually some contractors/landscape architects out there who will build these walls even today without any cement; takes a lot of planning and stone cutting but I've seen large examples, e.g. retaining walls over 10 feet high, constructed this way on some custom home sites and things like that. There are a lot of interesting things happening lately with stone/rock in construction/landscape design, for sure.