Outdoor Living in DeSoto, 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 DeSoto 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 DeSoto
DeSoto developed mainly from the 1970s through the 2000s and platted noticeably larger single-family lots than the older inner-ring Dallas suburbs, so backyards here are often deeper than in Duncanville or Oak Cliff. The ground rises toward the Cedar Hill escarpment on the city’s west side.
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 DeSoto and follow it through review, so the schedule doesn’t stall on paperwork.
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 DeSoto
DeSoto grew as a Dallas commuter suburb from the 1960s through the 1990s.
DeSoto yards are usually established, with grown trees and an original patio, but the deeper lots leave more room than in older inner suburbs to set a pool and a cover well apart.
Ten Mile Creek runs through the city. Near a creek or river it is worth checking the flood maps early, before a pool or slab is placed.
City of DeSoto buys treated water from Dallas Water Utilities.
Families settled the area in 1847, and around 1848 T. J. Johnson built a store at the crossroads that became Belt Line and Hampton roads. The town stayed a farming community until the 1940s. Residents incorporated to fix an inadequate water system; the election on March 2, 1949 passed 50 to 2 with about 400 people. Growth then ran from 6,617 people in 1970 to 15,538 in 1980, 30,544 in 1991, 37,646 in 2000, 49,047 in 2010, and 56,145 in 2020.
Community parks are Ernie Roberts, Moseley, and Les Zeiger; regional sites include Curtistene S. McCowan Park and Grimes Park; and the trails are the DeSoto Ranch Nature Trail, the Roy Orr Trail, and the Paul S. Dryer Preserve at Windmill Hill. The city is developing an Erosion Mitigation Program for streambank erosion behind homes, proposed at $500,000 a year with a $10,000 contribution per participating homeowner.
Building Inspections requires permits for fences, accessory buildings including storage sheds, gazebos, carports, and patio covers, decks, flat work such as slabs, swimming pools (and a demolition permit to fill one in), and retaining walls, which need engineered drawings.
A pool must sit at least 3 feet from rear and side property lines and 5 feet from buildings with foundations; pools, decks, and equipment cannot be in any easement, and equipment cannot be in the front yard. Doors to the pool need 30-second alarms or self-latching hardware with the release at least 54 inches up, and an approved HOA letter is part of the application.
What each outdoor project needs in DeSoto, TX
What does a patio cover need in DeSoto?
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 DeSoto the permit goes through the City of DeSoto, and Longhorn files it and follows it through inspection. More on patio covers.
How is a pool built in DeSoto?
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 DeSoto the permit goes through the City of DeSoto, and Longhorn files it and follows it through inspection. More on pools.
How is a pergola built to last in DeSoto?
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 a Backyard Project Runs in DeSoto
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A free design visit in DeSoto
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 the City of DeSoto 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.
- 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.
DeSoto 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 DeSoto and handles the inspections, so the schedule does not stall on paperwork.
DeSoto 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 DeSoto 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 DeSoto
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 DeSoto
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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