Talking to the neighbour it turns out they'd started just after 6:30am.
Once the house pad had been cut, the site was handed to me to erect a retaining wall. It took four days of solid labour from me, and a couple of days from my mate Paul to build. We had no machinery, and 8 hours of that was spent digging holes with a shovel and another 16 digging and moving dirt. Without Paul's help I probably would never have finished it.
It's only OK for DIY... A little untidy up close, but it should last a few years. Total cost in materials was under $1000.
After expending all that effort, it'd be shame to knock the retaining wall down... but that's my plan. I was going to spend big up-front and get a massive concrete construction straight away, but thought better of it at the last minute. There is a clause in the builders specification that said if they damaged the retaining its my responsibility to fix it. More importantly, when the house is finished I'll have a better understanding of how it will fit in to the other landscaping.
