The Front Range is not flat. The lots across Golden, Arvada, Highlands Ranch, Castle Pines, and the surrounding communities sit on terrain that slopes, drops, and transitions between elevations in ways that make a level backyard the exception rather than the rule. The grade that provides the mountain view from the kitchen window is the same grade that makes the backyard unusable without intervention.

A retaining wall is the intervention. It holds the soil. It creates the level surface. And it gives the homeowner back the square footage that the slope has been keeping from them, often in the part of the yard with the best view.