Outdoor Living in Frisco, 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 Frisco 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 Frisco
Frisco backyards are newer and flatter than most, which makes them easy to plan and easy to over-build. We would rather size the pool and the cover to leave you some lawn.
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 Frisco the job is reviewed by the Development Services: Plans & Permits, and we file and follow the permit through that office ourselves. Frisco requires a construction permit for in-ground pools, above-ground pools, spas and splash pads, and plan review has to finish before construction starts. Our permit guide lists the office for every city we have checked.
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.
Homes and Yards in Frisco
Frisco began as a farm shipping town, started growing rapidly in the 1970s and gradually became a suburb of Dallas.
Newer subdivisions usually come with an HOA review and a small builder’s slab, so it pays to plan the full backyard together and take one complete set of drawings to the HOA.
Panther Creek rises just northeast of Frisco and runs west about twelve miles to Lewisville Lake. Near a creek or river it is worth checking the flood maps early, before a pool or slab is placed.
City of Frisco, which buys treated surface water from the North Texas Municipal Water District.
The townsite was Francis Emerson’s farm, and the place was called Emerson until the post office opened in 1902 as Frisco City, named for the St. Louis, San Francisco and Texas Railway. Frisco incorporated in the first decade of the twentieth century and had about 1,000 people by 1914. The population was 618 in 1930, 1,845 in 1970, 3,499 in 1980, 6,141 in 1990, and 33,714 in 2000, then 116,989 in 2010 and 200,509 in 2020, and by 1990 the city had spread into Denton County. An $83 million downtown reinvestment project was recently completed.
The city lists 16 trails. The Cottonwood Creek Greenbelt runs 1.94 miles through a 77-acre natural area, the Iron Horse Trail crosses 38.6 acres of restored Blackland Prairie with two ponds, the Taychas Trail follows West Rowlett Creek for 2.2 miles past Limestone Quarry Park and Harold Bacchus Community Park, and the Hazelwood and Dominion trails follow Panther Creek and a tributary.
Frisco is one of the 13 member cities of the North Texas Municipal Water District. Plans & Permits at the George A. Purefoy Municipal Center, 6101 Frisco Square Blvd. (972-292-5301), reviews fences, additions, and alterations electronically, and above-ground pools, in-ground pools, and spas holding more than 24 inches of water need a pool construction permit.
What each outdoor project needs in Frisco, TX
What does a patio cover need in Frisco?
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 Frisco the permit goes through the Development Services: Plans & Permits, and Longhorn files it and follows it through inspection. More on patio covers.
How is a pergola built to last in Frisco?
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 Frisco?
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 Frisco the permit goes through the Development Services: Plans & Permits, and Longhorn files it and follows it through inspection. More on pools.
Can a sunroom or screened enclosure be added in Frisco?
A sunroom or screened enclosure in Frisco is attached to the house, so it is permitted through the Development Services: Plans & Permits 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 Frisco
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A free design visit in Frisco
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 Development Services: Plans & Permits at the City of Frisco and follow it through review. 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.
Frisco outdoor living questions
The Development Services: Plans & Permits reviews residential projects in Frisco. 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. Frisco requires a construction permit for in-ground pools, above-ground pools, spas and splash pads, and plan review has to finish before construction starts.
Frisco 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.
Where an HOA in Frisco 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 Frisco
Guides for Frisco homeowners
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.
Protect Your Frisco Home From Hail Damage
Most hail advice stops at the roof. This is the whole exterior in layers, with the insurance rules that decide what a storm really costs you and a straight list of what is not worth doing early.
Free design visits in Frisco
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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