Pools & Spas in Bardwell
Gunite pools and spas planned with the deck, shade and kitchen.
Outdoor Living in Bardwell, 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 Bardwell homeowners in Ellis County, with one family-owned team.
- 40+Years in Business
- 15,000+Projects Completed
- 1984Family-Owned Since
- 334Texas Cities Served
Before you build in Bardwell
Bardwell is on Farm Road 984 and State Highway 34 just west of Bardwell Lake, ten miles southeast of Waxahachie in southeastern Ellis County. The town grew up in an outstanding cotton producing area.
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.
In Bardwell the job is reviewed by the City of Bardwell (Application for Permit), and we file and follow the permit through that office ourselves. Our permit guide lists the office for every city we have checked.
Longhorn has built across Ellis 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 Bardwell, TX
Outdoor Kitchens in Bardwell
Stone islands, built-in grills, fridges and a real vent hood, under cover.
Patio Covers in Bardwell
Solid-roof shade over the patio. It’s the simplest way to use it year-round.
Pergolas in Bardwell
Fixed or louvered, built to your slab, the yard’s centerpiece.
Sunrooms in Bardwell
Glass walls under a solid roof. Real square footage, light all day.
Patio Enclosures in Bardwell
Screened rooms: the breeze and the view, none of the mosquitoes.
Hardscaping in Bardwell
Travertine, pavers, seat walls and fire pits, with drainage solved first.
Landscaping & Lighting in Bardwell
Water-wise planting, irrigation and lighting for North Texas.
Outdoor living ideas for Bardwell homes
Homes and Yards in Bardwell
The community began in the early 1880s when John W. Bardwell built a cotton gin a mile southwest of the present site. When the Trinity and Brazos Valley Railway came through in 1907, the gin moved to the tracks and the town followed.
Close to a lake, a screened patio enclosure can keep insects out on summer evenings while still letting the breeze through.
Ellis County’s terrain is level to rolling, from 300 to 700 feet above sea level, and its soils are mainly calcareous, marly and variegated clays and clay loams. Rainfall averages slightly less than thirty-six inches a year.
Water comes from the City of Bardwell, which draws on groundwater.
Bardwell prospered through the 1920s with three cotton gins, two banks, six grocery stores, a gristmill, a lumberyard, and a weekly newspaper, the Herald. Residents built an open-air tabernacle for political meetings, revivals, traveling Chautauquas, and summer singing programs. The population reached a high of 650 in 1929.
The Great Depression and drought drained the economy in the 1930s, and when the main road moved to State Highway 34 in the early 1940s, most businesses closed or moved. The school was consolidated with the Ennis schools in 1958. The population was 387 in 1990 and grew to 583 in 2000.
NOAA’s Storm Events Database lists 142 hail reports in Ellis County from 2016 to 2025, 114 of them an inch across or larger, with stones up to 3.75 inches. 2 of those reports were logged at Bardwell itself, the largest 1.75 inches. The same records show 39 damaging thunderstorm wind reports, with gusts up to about 85 mph, and 9 tornadoes. That is why a patio cover’s roof panels, fasteners and posts here are chosen for hail and wind, not only for shade.
What each outdoor project needs in Bardwell, TX
How is a pool built in Bardwell?
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 Bardwell the permit goes through City of Bardwell (Application for Permit), and Longhorn files it and follows it through inspection. More on pools.
What does a patio cover need in Bardwell?
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 Bardwell the permit goes through City of Bardwell (Application for Permit), and Longhorn files it and follows it through inspection. More on patio covers.
How is a pergola built to last in Bardwell?
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.
Can a sunroom or screened enclosure be added in Bardwell?
A sunroom or screened enclosure in Bardwell is attached to the house, so it is permitted through City of Bardwell (Application for Permit) 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 Bardwell
- 1
A free design visit in Bardwell
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.
- 2
Drawings, permit and HOA
We file the permit with City of Bardwell (Application for Permit) at the City of Bardwell and follow it through review. Where an HOA wants a submittal, we prepare the drawings it asks for.
- 3
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.
- 4
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 Ellis County-local if you need us later.
Bardwell outdoor living questions
The City of Bardwell (Application for Permit) reviews residential projects in Bardwell. Pools and structures attached to the house, such as patio covers, sunrooms and enclosures, almost always need a permit. Longhorn files it and follows it through inspection.
Bardwell sits on Blackland Prairie ground in Ellis 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.
Where an HOA in Bardwell 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 Bardwell
Every town we serve in Ellis County · See all 334 cities we serve
Outdoor living guides
Hardscaping
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.
Patio Covers
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.
Patio Covers
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 Bardwell
Tell us what you have in mind and we’ll come measure, talk options and give you a straight number. No obligation, no pressure.
Call (972) 534-2716Get Your Free Quote
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