We dug the ground out around the house a couple of years ago, and I poured foundations for the retaining walls last year. Since then, the "cliffs" have just sat there weathering. They've stood up fairly well:
Both of those photos are after I had cleaned up the collapses and the weed growth. Setting out the straight wall outside the utility doors was easy. Just a matter of getting a level peg or two in place, measuring 1210 out from the wall, and laying a few bricks:
Note the expanded metal lath built into the brickwork, and the spike of reinforcing rod sticking up in a couple of places out of the footing:
Setting out this curve was easy too. I simply drilled a hole in a batten at the right length of the radius, slipped it over the nail in the top of the centre peg, and used this to located the centre of each brick:
If you look closely you'll see a number of steps in the foundation. These are 3" each time (or would be if I had got the levels completely accurate!) to amount to a brick course. This is because the patio will slope down to surface water drains at the points furthest from the house, so the wall will be taller there than closer to the house.
Setting out the next curve was bit of a pig, though, because the centre point of the arc was inaccessible, being inside the house behind a solid wall. This meant lots of careful measuring to establish the corner, the mid-point, and distance out from the house to the curve every 1500 (5').
Then, out on the lawn, I set up some off-cuts of OSB and a centre-point, and swung the appropriate arc, which I cut out carefully with a jigsaw (I knew there was a reason for owning one!):
I then carefully aligned the template with the marks on the foundation I had set out earlier, and laid a few bricks. The above paragraph covers about 3 hours work!
I since laid bricks around to the steps position, which will be on the midline. No photo, sorry.
I only laid 3 course of bricks (approx), for a reason. This is a bit of an over-kill retaining wall structure. My next job was to backfill behind the wall with concrete:
Remember the rods sticking out of the foundation, and the mesh sticking out of the brickwork? Well, the concrete ties everything together now. The wall can't be pushed off the foundation by earth or groundwater movement. Above the concrete the wall will be 9" thick, with a brick face and blockwork behind. There'll be drainage and a membrane, and a coping of brick-on-edge to take it up to just above the ground level behind the wall. The curved shape also helps with the strength, of course, but this really is all a bit OTT. I just don't want anything to go wrong in years to come.