Outdoor Living in Ferris, 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 Ferris homeowners in Ellis County, with one family-owned team.
- 40+Years in Business
- 15,000+Projects Completed
- 1984Family-Owned Since
- 90DFW Cities Served
Before you build in Ferris
Ferris straddles I-45 at the Ellis/Dallas county line and built its economy on brick manufacturing, drawing on the heavy local clay deposits that still underlie most lots in town. Housing is a mix of pre-war frame homes near the old railroad grid and scattered newer infill, with a small annexed portion of the city extending into Dallas County.
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 Ferris and follow it through review, so the schedule doesn’t stall on paperwork.
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.
Homes and Yards in Ferris
Ferris is a small railroad and brick-making town whose growth in the later twentieth century was aided by Interstate 45 and Dallas-Fort Worth expansion.
Near the old railroad grid, pre-war lots bring big trees and older utility lines; newer infill lots start closer to bare. Either way, access and the old lines get checked at the first visit.
Tenmile Creek, with limestone and black-clay banks and clayey soils, flows through the city limits. Near a creek or river it is worth checking the flood maps early, before a pool or slab is placed.
City of Ferris, using a city well plus treated surface water bought from Rockett Special Utility District.
Railroad employees surveyed and laid out Ferris in 1874 on land donated by the McKnight family as the Houston and Texas Central Railway was built, and a store and post office opened the same year. Within ten years the town had 300 people, and it incorporated in 1892 with 350 residents and about twenty businesses. It grew to 901 people in 1904 and 1,233 in 1910; by 1914 there were six brick plants among some fifty businesses, and the population stood at 1,586 in 1925. Known locally as the brick capital of the nation, Ferris still had four brick plants in the 1950s. The population was 2,212 in 1990, 2,175 in 2000, 2,436 in 2010, and 2,788 in 2020, so the town stayed small while its neighbors grew.
Treated water for the city comes in part from Rockett Special Utility District, based at 126 Alton Adams Dr. in Waxahachie. The district’s drought contingency plan has four stages; the first two are voluntary. Stage 1 begins when daily demand reaches 80 percent of a 10 million gallon per day safe operating capacity for 3 consecutive days, and Stage 2 at 90 percent of 11 million gallons per day.
Under Stage 2 the district suggests outdoor watering for even-numbered addresses on Mondays and Thursdays and for odd-numbered addresses on Tuesdays and Fridays, in both cases between 6:00 p.m. and 10:00 a.m. Stages end when the triggering conditions have ceased for 30 consecutive days.
What each outdoor project needs in Ferris, TX
What does a patio cover need in Ferris?
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 Ferris the permit goes through the City of Ferris, and Longhorn files it and follows it through inspection. More on patio covers.
How is a pool built in Ferris?
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 Ferris the permit goes through the City of Ferris, and Longhorn files it and follows it through inspection. More on pools.
How is a pergola built to last in Ferris?
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 Ferris
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A free design visit in Ferris
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 Ferris 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.
- 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.
Ferris 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 Ferris and handles the inspections, so the schedule does not stall on paperwork.
Ferris 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 Ferris 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 Ferris
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 Ferris
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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