Pennsylvania Contractor Builds Redi-Rock Kingstone Wall for Sloped Pool Site

Project Name: Brookville Home Owner: Residential/Private Manufacturer: American Precast Industries Contractor: J&J Construction & Excavating Location: Brookville, PA Wall Type: Gravity Texture: Kingstone Year Built: 2026 Wall Area: 3000 sq ft (278.7 sq m)

We're here today in Brookville, Pennsylvania, and I am with Tom from American Precast. We are on an awesome job site where the homeowners have chosen Redi-Rock to retain the soil around their beautiful pool. Tom, can you tell us about what they're trying to accomplish here? Yeah. Yeah. So these folks saw a couple of our projects and they, liked the product and they reached out to me. They had a design in mind. They wanted to be able to have this a little bit more usable, so they are gonna be doing a three tiered retaining wall about three courses high. So this is the first tier. They're gonna go back about six or seven feet and do another tier and then another one. They just wanted a really nice outdoor scape. They chose Redi-Rock to give it the look that they wanted. The Kingstone face was the right choice. That's why they started looking at it at first because it was aesthetically what they were looking for. But when they came and I was talking to them about it, they felt confident about the long lasting aspect of it, that it's gonna be here for a long time. It's not gonna move. The contractor that's installing it, it's his first time ever installing Redi-Rock, he's really enjoying it so far. They're having a good time with it. Something I use constantly is the construction details from the Redi-Rock website. I have them all on my phone. And if they're talking about an inside corner, a ninety degree outside corner, step downs, or foundations, or whatever, I just find the construction detail and I text it to them in PDF and usually answers all their questions right there. If you had a contractor who was thinking about using Redi-Rock for the first time, what would you say to them to persuade them to to start using Redi-Rock? Everyone that I've talked to that's installed it once, they get all the kinks figured out for the part the first time. I gotta tell everybody, Redi-Rock's made to be an easily installed retaining wall system. Get into it and ask your wall supplier for help, any kind of construction details. But the website, we tell everybody, is a great asset. Going on there and doing the preliminary wall layouts or videos you guys have, it's it's pretty great. So you heard it here, once you go Redi-Rock, you never go back. When the job's done, we'll be back and hopefully the homeowners will let us christen this pool with a nice cannonball. Thank you Tom and American Precast from Clarion, Pennsylvania. Hopefully we'll be back sometime soon. Thanks guys for coming out.

“They [the homeowners] felt confident about the long-lasting aspect of it, that it's gonna be here for a long time. It's not gonna move.”

-Tom McConnell, American Precast

The Challenge: Create a Safe, Level Pool Deck on a Hilly Site

To turn this sloped backyard into a safe, functional poolside retreat, the homeowners needed a retaining wall system that could handle significant grade changes, provide reliable drainage, and still look great in a residential setting. Redi-Rock gravity walls were a natural choice to meet the project’s demands, and producer American Precast Industries, based in nearby Clarion, Pennsylvania, proposed the engineered fix this challenging site demanded.

The project required:

A long-term solution for retaining steep slopes
Visually appealing walls to complement the poolscape
Effective drainage to keep water away from the deck
A 3-tiered gravity retaining wall system to meet grade changes

Additionally, installer J&J Construction & Excavating was using Redi-Rock for the very first time. However, with the right tools and technical support, they were able to build with precision, providing the homeowners with exactly what they had asked for.

In the video above, you’ll witness this Redi-Rock project during construction, and tag along with Redi-Rock expert Scott Fisher, joined by Tom McConnell from American Precast.

Why Redi-Rock? Beauty (and functionality) in the Backyard

What initially caught the homeowners’ attention was the natural stone aesthetic of Redi-Rock’s Kingstone texture. It was a perfect match for blending in with their backyard and complementing the exteriors of their home and barn.

For the contractor, it was the complete system support and ease of installation that made the difference. Redi-Rock provided:

A three-tier retaining wall system, with each tier three courses high, built with the 28 in (710 mm) and 41 in (1030 mm) Hollow Core blocks.
Detailed installation resources available online, including an installation guide and details for corners, step-downs, and foundations
Preliminary Wall Sections layout tool that helped with early planning
Streamlined installation process—even for first-time Redi-Rock installers
Installation support when needed, both online and through Redi-Rock experts

Despite a project timeline extending into 2026 due to tight site access and coordination with a swimming pool and home renovations, the Redi-Rock wall installation itself was one of the fastest phases of construction. This project demonstrates that with the right retaining wall system and the proper project support, even first-time installers can achieve lasting results that their clients will love.

Explore more Redi-Rock residential projects, or find the retaining wall project support you need.