Outdoor Living in Plano, 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 Plano homeowners in Collin County, with one family-owned team.
- 40+Years in Business
- 15,000+Projects Completed
- 1984Family-Owned Since
- 90DFW Cities Served
Before you build in Plano
Plano lots are mostly flat, fenced and already fully landscaped, so the work is nearly always a retrofit. That means getting a dig and a crew past an established yard without wrecking the parts you want to keep.
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 Plano the job is reviewed by the Building Inspections Department, and we file and follow the permit through that office ourselves. Plano requires a separate permit for the fence around a pool, meeting International Swimming Pool and Spa Code barrier rules, and pool plans have to carry the electric company’s approval stamp before plan review. 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.
Outdoor living we build in Plano, TX
Most asked for in Plano: patio enclosures, sunrooms.
See everything we build for outdoor living.
Plano’s water comes from the North Texas Municipal Water District, delivered through the city’s utility. We plan the planting and the irrigation around those rules rather than against them. A new landscape that cannot be watered through its first summer does not survive it.
Homes and Yards in Plano
Plano grew mainly during the 1970s and 1980s Sun Belt boom, when it became a major Dallas suburb and corporate center.
In neighborhoods of that age the original patio and fencing are often due for replacement, and mature trees shape where a pool or a cover can sensibly go.
Plano is flat, but large trees fill its parks, including Arbor Hills Nature Preserve and Oak Point Park and Nature Preserve, with Rowlett Creek on the east side. Where an older oak survives on a lot, it is an asset: its root zone is marked before any digging, and its shade goes into the layout.
North Texas Municipal Water District, whose main raw-water source is Lake Lavon.
The post office took the name Plano in 1852, the railroad arrived in 1872, and Plano was platted and incorporated in 1873. From 1900 to 1960 the town added about 400 residents per decade, reaching 3,695 in 1960. Growth then ran to 17,872 in 1970, 72,331 in 1980, 127,885 in 1990, 222,030 in 2000 and 285,494 in 2020, and by 1990 the city covered seventy-two square miles.
From April 1 through October 31 residents are asked to water at most twice a week: even-numbered addresses on Mondays and Thursdays, odd-numbered addresses on Tuesdays and Fridays, with HOA common areas on the even schedule. Sprinklers should not run between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. Hand-held and soaker hoses may be used up to two hours any day, and a variance for new landscapes is available for up to 30 days.
The Building Inspections Department at 1520 Avenue K requires two copies of drawings for a residential patio cover, including a site plan at 1 inch to 20 feet. A patio cover may not be erected in any required side, front or rear yard, may not push the lot past its maximum lot coverage, and may not be anchored to brick, siding or other veneer. Accessory buildings may not sit in an easement or right-of-way.
Oak Point Park and Nature Preserve is 800 acres and the city’s largest park, and Arbor Hills Nature Preserve is a 200-acre park on the western border. The Cottonwood Creek Greenbelt carries 8.5 miles of trail through Plano, and the Legacy Trail follows White Rock Creek.
What each outdoor project needs in Plano, TX
What does a patio cover need in Plano?
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 Plano the permit goes through the Building Inspections Department, and Longhorn files it and follows it through inspection. More on patio covers.
How is a pergola built to last in Plano?
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 Plano?
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 Plano the permit goes through the Building Inspections Department, and Longhorn files it and follows it through inspection. More on pools.
Can a sunroom or screened enclosure be added in Plano?
A sunroom or screened enclosure in Plano is attached to the house, so it is permitted through the Building 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 Plano
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A free design visit in Plano
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 Building Inspections Department at the City of Plano and follow it through review. 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.
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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.
Plano outdoor living questions
The Building Inspections Department reviews residential projects in Plano. 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. Plano requires a separate permit for the fence around a pool, meeting International Swimming Pool and Spa Code barrier rules, and pool plans have to carry the electric company’s approval stamp before plan review.
Plano 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.
Plano’s water comes from the North Texas Municipal Water District, delivered through the city’s utility. 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 Plano 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 Plano
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 Plano
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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