Outdoor Living in Rockwall, 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 Rockwall homeowners in Rockwall 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 Rockwall
Rockwall’s draw is the water, and much of the work here is about not competing with it. That means keeping the sightline to Lake Ray Hubbard open while still getting real shade over the kitchen.
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 Rockwall and follow it through review, so the schedule doesn’t stall on paperwork. Rockwall’s water comes from the North Texas Municipal Water District.
Longhorn has built across Rockwall 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 Rockwall, TX
Most asked for in Rockwall: patio covers, pergolas, outdoor kitchens.
Homes and Yards in Rockwall
Rockwall’s fastest growth came in the 1970s and 1980s, driven by jobs in Dallas and the construction of Lake Ray Hubbard.
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.
Rockwall is on the eastern shore of Lake Ray Hubbard. Open ground near the water tends to catch more wind, so shade structures are anchored and placed with the breeze in mind.
North Texas Municipal Water District (Rockwall is a customer of NTMWD’s regional water system).
In the late 1840s the Boydstun family of Illinois settled a 572-acre tract near the East Fork of the Trinity River, then part of Kaufman County. In 1854 Elijah Elgin donated forty acres on a hill above the East Fork for the townsite, and the community took its name from a stone wall found beneath the proposed townsite in 1851. The legislature created Rockwall County from part of Kaufman County in 1873 with Rockwall as county seat, the town was incorporated in 1874, and the Missouri, Kansas and Texas line reached it in 1886.
The population was 1,501 in 1950, 3,121 in 1970, 5,939 in 1980, 10,486 in 1990, 17,976 in 2000, 37,490 in 2010 and 49,669 in 2021. The town sits on a hill above the East Fork of the Trinity River at the intersection of State Highways 66 and 205.
The City of Rockwall is one of the 13 member cities of the North Texas Municipal Water District, which also serves 34 customer cities and utilities and over 2.4 million people across 2,200 square miles. The district’s largest current source is Lavon Lake in Collin County, and Bois d’Arc Lake in Fannin County was completed in fall 2022. The district’s administration building is at 501 East Brown Street in Wylie.
Rockwall services, one by one
What each project needs on Rockwall ground and through the City of Rockwall.
What each outdoor project needs in Rockwall, TX
What does a patio cover need in Rockwall?
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 Rockwall the permit goes through the City of Rockwall, and Longhorn files it and follows it through inspection. More on patio covers.
How is a pergola built to last in Rockwall?
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 Rockwall?
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 Rockwall the permit goes through the City of Rockwall, and Longhorn files it and follows it through inspection. More on pools.
Can a sunroom or screened enclosure be added in Rockwall?
A sunroom or screened enclosure in Rockwall is attached to the house, so it is permitted through the City of Rockwall 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 Rockwall
- 1
A free design visit in Rockwall
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 the City of Rockwall 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.
- 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.
- 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 Rockwall County-local if you need us later.
Rockwall 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 Rockwall and handles the inspections, so the schedule does not stall on paperwork.
Rockwall sits on Blackland Prairie ground in Rockwall 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.
Rockwall’s water comes from the North Texas Municipal Water District. 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 Rockwall 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 Rockwall
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 Rockwall
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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