Outdoor Living in Coppell, 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 Coppell homeowners in Dallas County, with one family-owned team.
- 40+Years in Business
- 15,000+Projects Completed
- 1984Family-Owned Since
- 90DFW Cities Served
Before you build in Coppell
Coppell is built out, so most of what we do here is replacement work: tired decking, a pool from the eighties, a patio that never got covered.
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 Coppell the job is reviewed by the Building Inspections, Community Development, 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 Dallas County and the wider Metroplex since 1984, and every project starts with a free design visit and a firm price.
Homes and Yards in Coppell
Coppell changed from a farming village into an upper-middle-class suburb in the 1980s and 1990s, with nearly all residential land built out by 2000.
Yards from those decades are usually established, with grown trees, a fence line and an original patio that is often too small. Most projects become a retrofit, planned around what is worth keeping.
Grapevine Creek, Denton Creek, and Cottonwood Branch flow through the city, near the Elm Fork of the Trinity River. Near a creek or river it is worth checking the flood maps early, before a pool or slab is placed.
City of Coppell buys treated water from Dallas Water Utilities.
The St. Louis, Arkansas and Texas Railway came through in 1888, and the depot took the Coppell name in 1892. The settlement had 450 people in 1914, fell to about 200 by 1926, and stayed there for three decades. Coppell adopted a zoning plan in 1956, incorporated in 1962, expanded northward into southern Denton County in the 1970s, and grew from 3,826 people in 1984 to 16,881 in 1990 and 35,958 in 2000.
The city has 23.2 miles of multi-use hike and bike trails, a 1.1 mile decomposed granite running trail, and 5 miles of nature trails, with the greenbelt trail beginning along Denton Creek at the Andrew Brown Community Park system.
A fence permit is required when a fence is new, changes height, location, or materials, replaces more than 50 percent within 12 months, encloses a pool or spa, or faces a street from the side or rear yard. Fences may not exceed 9 feet or stand in front yards or floodplains. Sheds, covered patios, carports, pergolas, fire pits, and outdoor kitchens all need accessory building permits.
Every pool or spa, including above-ground units, needs a $300 permit under the 2018 International Swimming Pool and Spa Code: a barrier at least 48 inches high, self-closing gates with latches at least 54 inches above grade, and door alarms. Every retaining wall needs a permit, walls over 4 feet including footing need an engineer, and wood or railroad-tie walls are prohibited because the city is in a high termite zone. Any floodplain on the lot adds a free Floodplain Development Permit.
Coppell services, one by one
What each project needs on Coppell ground and through the City of Coppell.
What each outdoor project needs in Coppell, TX
What does a patio cover need in Coppell?
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 Coppell the permit goes through the Building Inspections, Community Development, and Longhorn files it and follows it through inspection. More on patio covers.
How is a pergola built to last in Coppell?
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 Coppell?
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 Coppell the permit goes through the Building Inspections, Community Development, and Longhorn files it and follows it through inspection. More on pools.
Can a sunroom or screened enclosure be added in Coppell?
A sunroom or screened enclosure in Coppell is attached to the house, so it is permitted through the Building Inspections, Community Development 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 Coppell
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A free design visit in Coppell
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 Building Inspections, Community Development at the City of Coppell 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 Dallas County-local if you need us later.
Coppell outdoor living questions
The Building Inspections, Community Development reviews residential projects in Coppell. 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.
Coppell sits on Blackland Prairie ground in Dallas 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 Coppell 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 Coppell
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 Coppell
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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