Pools & Spas in O’Brien
Gunite pools and spas planned with the deck, shade and kitchen.
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 O’Brien homeowners in Haskell County, with one family-owned team.

O’Brien is at the junction of State Highway 6 and Farm Road 2229, on the Santa Fe Railroad in northwest Haskell County. An earlier community near the site was called Carney, after founder Tom Carney.
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 or county office that covers O’Brien and follow it through review, so the schedule doesn’t stall on paperwork.
Longhorn has been building since 1984, and every project starts with a free design visit and a firm price.
Gunite pools and spas planned with the deck, shade and kitchen.
Stone islands, built-in grills, fridges and a real vent hood, under cover.
Solid-roof shade over the patio. It’s the simplest way to use it year-round.
Fixed or louvered, built to your slab, the yard’s centerpiece.
Glass walls under a solid roof. Real square footage, light all day.
Screened rooms: the breeze and the view, none of the mosquitoes.
Travertine, pavers, seat walls and fire pits, with drainage solved first.
Water-wise planting, irrigation and lighting for North Texas.
O’Brien was established in 1906 with the building of the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railway and named for railroad superintendent Nick O’Brien. The town incorporated in 1958, after rebuilding from a tornado.
Because plains storms can be fierce, a patio cover on an open lot here deserves engineered anchors, metal ties, and a roof designed for high wind.
Northwest Haskell County shares the county’s rolling plains, with average July highs of 97° and January lows of 29° F. Annual rainfall averages 24.14 inches, and the growing season lasts 232 days.
O’Brien had 350 people in 1915 and 800 in 1940, when it had eight businesses. A tornado in 1953 caused major loss of life and property. By the mid-1960s cotton, seed, grain, and oil paid for a new city hall, fire station, sewer system, and school, though the population had dropped to 287 in 1960.
The decline is attributed to nearby Rochester and Knox City, which had greater commercial and cultural offerings. O’Brien had 258 residents in 1970 and 212 in 1980. The count fell to 152 in 1990 and to 132 in 2000, well below the 800 reported in 1940.
NOAA’s Storm Events Database lists 42 hail reports in Haskell County from 2016 to 2025, 35 of them an inch across or larger, with stones up to 2.5 inches. The same records show 44 damaging thunderstorm wind reports, with gusts up to about 90 mph, and 6 tornadoes. That is why a patio cover’s roof panels, fasteners and posts here are chosen for hail and wind, not only for shade.
Rolling Plains clay swells when it is wet and shrinks when it dries, and a pool shell is a rigid object sitting in it. The shell, its bond beam and the deck are designed for that movement, and the deck is graded so rain runs away from the pool and the house. In O’Brien the permit goes through the city or county office that covers O’Brien, and Longhorn files it and follows it through inspection. More on pools.
On Rolling Plains clay a patio cover’s footings carry the whole structure, and the top of the clay is the part that moves most. Footings are taken below that movement and the slab is graded away from the house, so the roofline stays true as the ground wets and dries. In O’Brien the permit goes through the city or county office that covers O’Brien, and Longhorn files it and follows it through inspection. More on patio covers.
A pergola on Rolling Plains clay stays square only if its posts sit below the ground that moves. The footings go deeper than the seasonal swell and shrink, and the grade around each post sheds water instead of holding it. More on pergolas.
A sunroom or screened enclosure in O’Brien is attached to the house, so it is permitted through the city or county office that covers O’Brien 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.
Almost always, for pools and for anything attached to the house, including patio covers, sunrooms and enclosures. Longhorn files the permit with the city or county office that covers O’Brien and handles the inspections, so the schedule does not stall on paperwork.
O’Brien sits on Rolling Plains clay ground in Haskell 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.
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