After expanding the area behind their home in Afton, Wyo., for parking and a patio, the owners contacted Cory Wilkes of Wisco Walls and Falls to retain the hill. Wilkes' economical, efficient solution was a decorative concrete boulder wall created without molds. The concrete mix is 10 bags per yard, which produces a thick slurry with additives that increase the working time as the crew stacks then sculpts, carves and stamps the "mud" with trowels.

Uniformity has its place in this industry but sometimes a little nonconformity is in order.

Hardscape contractor Cory Wilkes of Farr West, Utah, knows this well. His newfound specialty, decorative concrete features, is somewhat unconventional and the route that he took to this specialty was anything but a straight line.

Wilkes once owned a gravel company, Wisco, Inc., that made concrete aggregates, including concrete-grade sand. When he found himself with a surplus of sand, he resourcefully bought a 40-year-old block machine and started producing blocks and pavers. Then, in order to move more of this inventory, he hit on the idea of installing hardscapes on his own.

About three years ago, Stonemaker, Inc. reached out to Wilkes to try to interest him in becoming a decorative concrete provider. The concept intrigued Wilkes so he took one of Stonemaker's training courses and started to offer the service while continually learning more from industry experts.

Wilkes' company, Wisco Walls and Falls relies on Parsons Concrete of Ogden, Utah to supply the "mud" but he and his crew of three, including his son, Jeremy, do all of the other work.

"We're becoming concrete artisans," he says.

This wall building technique begins with typical prep work: making a trench, adding rocks for drainage and tying in rebar.

Wilkes likes to use 10 bags per yard of concrete, which produces a 2- to 2 ???(R)???AE?-inch slump. But additives are used to give the crew more working time. As the concrete is poured, the workers stack it up with a shovel and shave it down as it dries, until the desired form is made. Then it is troweled smooth, any textures are stamped in and any lines are carved. After the wall cures, it is stained and sealed.

There are a number of practical advantages of decorative concrete walls. One is that the concrete can be pumped through a 300-foot-long hose, which makes it a good material to use in places that have difficult access.

Other advantages include the extreme strength of solid concrete and these walls' distinctive look that not only sets them apart from other concrete walls, it sets them apart from each other as well.

Also, economy and efficiency add to their appeal. One particular project illustrates this well.

Homeowners in Afton, Wyo., which is close to 200 miles from Wilkes' base of operation, needed to retain a hill behind their house that was cut back to make room for more parking at one end and for a patio at the other.

Wilkes summarizes the job, "We drove four hours, prepped it, put in rebar, shaped it, started pouring that day, finished pouring the next day. It was 30 yards of concrete. Then we drove four hours back home."

This natural rock wall at a home in Perry, Utah, was also shaped and sculpted by hand without molds or forms. The different stain colors were diluted with as much as four parts water to keep them light. The pavers in the sunken patio are Lehigh Cobblestone, which used to be manufactured by Wisco, Inc. They were set in course sand to allow permeability.

Another type of wall that Wilkes builds without molds, this one in Salt Lake City, Utah, replaced a small concrete wall with a fence on top of it that had failed. Wisco prepped on the first day, poured and sculpted on the second day, sealed, stained and installed the fence on the third day. The wall begins with a bench that transitions into a resemblance of cliff rock and then boulders. The colors used to stain it included antique gray, purple and chocolate.

This wall in Ogden, Utah was installed to stop the ongoing encroachment of the adjacent property (inset), which would have eventually toppled the fence. A crew of five took ten hours to pour and shape it. Patches of the wall were stained with sandstone and honey and then the entire wall was covered with bark brown.

The Afton, Wyo., wall was finished with Stonemaker stain in bark brown and highlighted with amber, chocolate, black, honey, nutmeg and fawn. Stonemaker sealant was also applied.

Efficient as that seems, it's even more so when the details are revealed. The homeowners came to Wisco looking for a typical segmental block retaining wall approximately 120 feet long. They wanted it to start at grade on one end, peak at about eight feet in the middle, and end at grade.

The key reasons for the wall were to prevent the hill from eroding and to enhance the look of their backyard, which had been marred by the excavation. The homeowners also wanted steps up to the higher level where they use a considerable area for gardening, storage and recreation.

Wilkes gave them a bid to install the SRW and another bid to simply supply materials delivered out of the Salt Lake City area.

After considering the price of the installed wall, and an additional fence on top of the wall for safety, the total cost was beyond the planned and expected budget.

"The customers were thanking me for my time and effort, and literally heading out the door when I told them that I had another alternative," remembers Wilkes. "Concrete."

The wall in Afton, Wyo., is 8 feet high in the middle but because it is set back at an angle, steps were creatively built so the owners can easily access the area above the wall, which they use for gardening, storage and relaxation.

Wilkes likes to plumb these types of walls for water as he did with this one, which can now accommodate a simple waterfall or have water flowing from end to end. The stub up for the waterfall is visible at the top of the wall but after staining, it blended in.

Thirty yards of concrete were used to create this 120-foot-long wall. It starts and ends at grade.

He showed them the pictures of a previous decorative concrete job and estimated the price, to which the homeowners signaled their interest.

"They loved the natural look idea, and the deal was made," Wilkes says.

On the scheduled date, Wilkes and his crew of four, including David Malan and Mark Davis left the yard at 7:00 a.m. with two trucks pulling trailers. They arrived on the jobsite at 11:30. The concrete was set to arrive at 2:00 p.m.

The crew and two people provided by the customer dug right in: excavating the trench along the bottom, shaping some cuts in the hillside for ledges, steps and a waterfall, compacting and wetting down the area, and tying in rebar. They finished the trench and the shaping, and had installed about one third of the rebar when the first five yards of concrete arrived, with another five yards on its way.

They began pouring where there was rebar. Then they finished tying rebar to the end of the wall, and plumbed for the simple waterfall. After installing another five yards, they cleaned up and left for the day at about 5 p.m., "absolutely blowing away anything that could be done in one day for a segmental block wall," asserts Wilkes.

On the second day, the first shipment of concrete was delivered at 8 a.m. They poured 20 yards and were completely cleaned up and driving away at 3:30.

A crew of three returned after the concrete had time to cure for a week or so to stain and seal.

"It's best to wait a month but we wanted to beat the early Wyoming winter," Wilkes says.

Since there was not enough time to add the water features, Wilkes and his crew will return in the future and install a small pond and waterfall.

As for the future of the company, Wilkes added mini-waterpark installations as a specialty. And since his business takes a steep drop in Utah in the winter, Wilkes obtained a California contractor's license and is promoting his services there, showing once again his inclination for thinking outside the mold.

Information and videos on building decorative concrete features can be found at stonemakers.net.