Outdoor Living in Irving, 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 Irving 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 Irving
From Las Colinas to the older grid south of it, Irving lots differ widely in size and setback. The design visit is what sorts out which of it actually fits.
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 Irving and follow it through review, so the schedule doesn’t stall on paperwork. Locally that is the Inspections Department. Irving supplies its own water from Lake Chapman rights plus treated water bought from Dallas Water Utilities.
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 Irving
Irving’s farmland was turned into subdivisions from the 1950s on, and the city also includes Las Colinas, a planned community begun in the 1970s.
On older lots, big shade trees, narrow side gates and aging utility lines are common, so crew access and where the old lines run get checked at the first visit.
Irving lies between the Elm Fork and West 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.
The City of Irving, which receives treated surface water through a connection with Dallas Water Utilities.
Irving was laid out in 1903 on 80 acres bought from rancher Henry Britain, with a lot auction on December 19, 1903, and residents voted to incorporate in 1914. For its first four decades it was a town of truck farms, dairies and poultry. The farming communities between the Elm and West forks, among them Kit, Sowers, Twin Wells, Union Bower, Bear Creek and Estelle, were all later annexed. Developers bought up the farmland in the 1950s, and the census went from 2,621 in 1950 to 45,985 in 1960, 97,260 in 1970 and 155,037 in 1990.
Las Colinas grew out of a ranch John W. Carpenter started in 1928, which reached 6,000 acres by 1959. The development was announced on September 14, 1973, covered about 7,000 acres at first and 12,000 acres by 1980, and is centered on the 125-acre man-made Lake Carolyn with the Mandalay Canal system beside it.
The Elm Fork of the Trinity runs eighty-five miles southeast from Montague County and joins the West Fork just west of downtown Dallas. Irving’s supplier, Dallas Water Utilities, draws surface water from six connected reservoirs, Lewisville, Tawakoni, Grapevine, Ray Hubbard, Ray Roberts and Fork, and serves 23 wholesale treated-water customers. The pipeline that carries Jim Chapman Lake water into Denton County is jointly owned by the City of Irving and the Upper Trinity Regional Water District.
What each outdoor project needs in Irving, TX
What does a patio cover need in Irving?
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 Irving the permit goes through the Inspections Department, and Longhorn files it and follows it through inspection. More on patio covers.
How is a pool built in Irving?
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 Irving the permit goes through the Inspections Department, and Longhorn files it and follows it through inspection. More on pools.
How is a pergola built to last in Irving?
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 Irving?
A sunroom or screened enclosure in Irving is attached to the house, so it is permitted through the Inspections Department 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 Irving
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A free design visit in Irving
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 Irving (locally that is the Inspections Department) and follow it through review, along with any HOA submittal.
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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 Dallas County-local if you need us later.
Irving outdoor living questions
The Inspections Department reviews residential projects in Irving. 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.
Irving 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.
Irving supplies its own water from Lake Chapman rights plus treated water bought from Dallas Water Utilities. Watering schedules can tighten in a drought, so we plan the planting and irrigation around the current rules and choose heat-tolerant plants that can establish on them.
Where an HOA in Irving 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 Irving
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 Irving
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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