Outdoor Living in Allen, TX
Outdoor living is the covered patio, pool, kitchen, stone and lighting that make a backyard part of the home. Longhorn designs and builds them together for Allen homeowners in Collin County, with one family-owned team.
- 40+Years in Business
- 15,000+Projects Completed
- 1984Family-Owned Since
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Before you build in Allen
Allen yards are typically newer suburban lots where the builder already set the drainage fall. New hardscape has to work with that fall rather than against it, or you move water toward the house.
That ground decides how a slab, a pool shell or a footing has to be built here. Here is what it does to a patio.
We file the permit with the City of Allen and follow it through review, so the schedule doesn’t stall on paperwork. Allen’s water comes from the North Texas Municipal Water District.
Longhorn has built across Collin County and the wider Metroplex since 1984, and every project starts with a free design visit and a firm price.
Outdoor living we build in Allen, TX
Homes and Yards in Allen
Allen’s rapid growth began in the late 1960s, driven by Dallas, neighboring Plano and the new DFW Airport.
Most Allen yards sit in subdivisions where the builder set the grade and poured a small patio slab, and many come with an HOA review, so it pays to plan the whole backyard together and take one set of drawings to the HOA.
Allen lies in the Rowlett Creek watershed, with gently rolling terrain of blackland clay over Austin Chalk limestone. Where the ground slopes or rock sits close to the surface, retaining walls or rock excavation get priced at the design visit rather than discovered during the dig.
North Texas Municipal Water District (Allen is a customer of NTMWD’s regional water system).
Allen was established in 1870 by a purchasing agent for the Houston and Texas Central Railway. The population was 550 in 1915, then fell to 400 by the mid-1940s. Growth after that came in steps: 1,940 residents in 1970, 8,314 in 1980, 19,315 in 1990, 43,554 in 2000, 84,246 in 2010 and 104,627 in 2020.
Collin County is level to gently rolling, 450 to 700 feet above sea level, and lies almost entirely in the Blackland Prairie, with deep clayey soils over marl and chalk. Allen is a member city of the North Texas Municipal Water District, whose drought stages key on the combined storage in Lavon Lake and Bois d’Arc Lake. Allen customers may run sprinklers up to twice per week on assigned days; from April 1 to October 31 watering is prohibited from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and from November 1 to March 31 it is once a week.
Permits are applied for through the Citizen Self-Service portal at allentx.gov/CSS, and a homeowner doing the work fills out a Homeowners Affidavit. Separate permit types cover a patio cover, arbor or deck; a pool or spa, which also needs a Pool Protection Device Letter and a Drainage Letter; accessory buildings; a fence; and irrigation.
The city fee schedule lists a fence at $75.00, an arbor, patio or carport at $200.00, an in-ground swimming pool at $225.00, an above-ground pool at $75.00, a retaining wall at $150.00, an accessory structure of 120 to 200 square feet at $75.00 and one of 201 to 400 square feet at $125.00.
What each outdoor project needs in Allen, TX
What does a patio cover need in Allen?
Blackland Prairie clay lifts and drops with the season, so a patio cover’s footings are the whole job. Posts set in shallow pads move with the top of the soil and take the roofline with them; footings taken below the active zone, tied to a slab that drains away from the house, do not. In Allen the permit goes through the City of Allen, and Longhorn files it and follows it through inspection. More on patio covers.
How is a pergola built to last in Allen?
On Blackland Prairie clay a pergola’s posts are what decide whether it still stands square in five years. The clay moves most in the top few feet, so footings go deeper than the movement rather than resting in it, and the slab underneath gets its own drainage plan. More on pergolas.
How is a pool built in Allen?
Blackland Prairie clay swells through a wet spring and shrinks hard by August, and a pool shell is a rigid object sitting in ground that moves around it. Here that means the shell, the beam and the deck are engineered for that movement from the drawing stage, and the flatwork gets its control joints placed on purpose rather than wherever the pour ends. In Allen the permit goes through the City of Allen, and Longhorn files it and follows it through inspection. More on pools.
Can a sunroom or screened enclosure be added in Allen?
A sunroom or screened enclosure in Allen is attached to the house, so it is permitted through the City of Allen and sits on footings designed for the ground under it. We match the roofline and the exterior to the house so it reads as part of it. More on sunrooms and patio enclosures.
How a Backyard Project Runs in Allen
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A free design visit in Allen
A designer comes out to the house, measures the space a backyard project has to fit, walks the access a crew would need, and talks through what you want it to do. You leave with a firm price. On Blackland Prairie ground, that is also when the grading, drainage and movement details get decided rather than improvised on site.
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Drawings, permit and HOA
We file the permit with the City of Allen and follow it through review, so the schedule does not stall on paperwork. Where an HOA wants a submittal, we prepare the drawings it asks for.
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One crew, one schedule
The same team builds the whole backyard project in order, so the slab, the structure, the electrical and the finish work are not three different companies working around each other.
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Walkthrough and warranty
We walk the finished backyard project with you, settle the punch list and leave one warranty on the work, and we are still Collin County-local if you need us later.
Allen outdoor living questions
Almost always, for pools and for anything attached to the house, including patio covers, sunrooms and enclosures. Longhorn files the permit with the City of Allen and handles the inspections, so the schedule does not stall on paperwork.
Allen sits on Blackland Prairie ground in Collin County. The ground decides how a slab, a pool shell or a footing has to be built, so we plan the drainage and the footings for it at the first visit rather than after something moves.
Allen’s water comes from the North Texas Municipal Water District. Watering schedules can tighten in a drought, so we plan the planting and irrigation around the current rules and choose heat-tolerant plants that can establish on them.
Where an HOA in Allen asks for a submittal, we prepare the drawings and details it wants, alongside the city permit, so the approval runs in parallel with the design rather than after it.
Yes. Many homeowners start with one piece, such as a pool or a patio cover, and add the rest later. We plan the whole space up front so the gas, power, water and drainage for later phases are in place from the start.
Other cities we build in near Allen
Outdoor living guides
Outdoor Flooring for a Frisco Backyard: Pick by Zone
One yard, five jobs for the ground: dining, cooking, swimming, play and the dog. Here is how to match a surface to each zone, and what Frisco’s clay, heat and city rules change.
Outdoor Kitchen Countertop Materials in Frisco, TX
Granite, porcelain, quartzite and quartz all behave differently in Frisco sun, freezes and clay. Here is a pick by exposure, a sealing test, and what the base under the stone needs.
HOA Approval for a Patio Cover in Texas: DFW Guide
The HOA and the city are two separate approvals, and the HOA usually comes first. Here is the packet a DFW committee wants, how long it takes, why it says no, and how to answer a denial.
Free design visits in Allen
Tell us what you have in mind and we’ll come measure, talk options and give you a straight number. No obligation, no pressure.
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