Outdoor Living in Venus, 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 Venus homeowners in Johnson County, with one family-owned team.
- 40+Years in Business
- 15,000+Projects Completed
- 1984Family-Owned Since
- 90DFW Cities Served
Before you build in Venus
Venus began in the 1880s as a railroad junction town in far northeastern Johnson County and remains small, with homes mixed among working farmland and large rural tracts. Its city limits extend into Ellis County, and it sits east of the line where Johnson County changes from Grand Prairie limestone to deep prairie clay.
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 Venus and follow it through review, so the schedule doesn’t stall on paperwork.
Longhorn has built across Johnson 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 Venus, TX
Homes and Yards in Venus
Venus is still a small town, with homes mixed in among working farmland and large rural tracts.
On a larger or more rural lot there is room to spread out, but the runs for power, gas and water get longer, and a septic field or well can decide where a pool may go.
City of Venus buys treated water from the City of Midlothian.
Families settled the area in the late 1850s, but the town did not develop until the late 1880s, when J. C. Smyth bought eighty acres in an abandoned cornfield and laid out lots. A post office opened in 1888, and by 1890 Venus sat at the junction of the International-Great Northern and Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe railroads. Venus voted to incorporate in 1903, passed 800 residents by the late 1920s, fell to about 300 by the late 1940s, and had 977 residents in 1990, by which time it had expanded into Ellis County. The population was 2,960 in 2010 and 5,727 in 2021. The city is on State Highway 67, about twenty miles east of Cleburne.
City Hall and the Permits Department are at 700 W. US Highway 67, 972-366-3348, open Monday through Thursday from 7:30 AM to 5:30 PM. A building permit is required to erect, alter or enlarge structures, including additions and lawn sprinklers. A pool or spa needs an application and a plot plan, plot approval from the power company must come before applying, and a fence will be required around a pool or spa. Anyone unsure whether a project needs a permit can submit a Permit Determination Form for a written ruling from the Chief Building Official. The city has adopted the 2021 I-Codes along with a 2021 Deck Code, and permits are requested through MyGov.
Public Works and Water/Sewer is at 103 W 3rd St, (972) 366-3435, with after-hours water or sewer issues at (682) 459-5104 and utility line locates at 972-366-3348, extension 302.
What each outdoor project needs in Venus, TX
How is a pool built in Venus?
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 Venus the permit goes through the City of Venus, and Longhorn files it and follows it through inspection. More on pools.
What does a patio cover need in Venus?
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 Venus the permit goes through the City of Venus, and Longhorn files it and follows it through inspection. More on patio covers.
How is a pergola built to last in Venus?
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 a Backyard Project Runs in Venus
- 1
A free design visit in Venus
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 Venus 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 Johnson County-local if you need us later.
Venus 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 Venus and handles the inspections, so the schedule does not stall on paperwork.
Venus sits on Blackland Prairie ground in Johnson 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 Venus 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 Venus
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 Venus, TX
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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