Outdoor Living in Waxahachie, 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 Waxahachie homeowners in Ellis County, with one family-owned team.
- 40+Years in Business
- 15,000+Projects Completed
- 1984Family-Owned Since
- 90DFW Cities Served
Before you build in Waxahachie
Waxahachie is the Ellis County seat and has one of the largest concentrations of late-19th-century Victorian housing in North Texas around its 1895 granite courthouse, so inner-city lots often carry historic-district review and very mature tree cover. Waxahachie Creek and its tributaries cut through the city, giving some lots meaningful grade change.
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 Waxahachie and follow it through review, so the schedule doesn’t stall on paperwork.
Longhorn has built across Ellis County and the wider Metroplex since 1984, and every project starts with a free design visit and a firm price.
Homes and Yards in Waxahachie
Known as the Gingerbread City, Waxahachie has many Victorian homes with gingerbread trim and about 300 structures on the National Register of Historic Places.
Next to an older house with real character, materials and rooflines are chosen to suit the house. It is also worth confirming whether the lot sits in a local historic district before designing anything visible from the street.
Waxahachie has Lake Waxahachie and is called the Crape Myrtle Capital of Texas.
City of Waxahachie water system, supplied by Lake Waxahachie, Bardwell Lake and the Tarrant Regional Water District system.
Waxahachie became the Ellis County seat in August 1850 on land donated by Emory W. Rogers, and the town was incorporated April 28, 1871. Construction of the Waxahachie Tap Railroad began June 14, 1875. The population was 11,204 in 1950, 14,624 in 1980, 21,426 in 2000, 29,621 in 2010 and 43,368 in 2021; the city’s own site now lists 53,334 people, 51 square miles and a 4.4 percent growth rate.
The City of Waxahachie is currently in Stage 1 of its Drought Contingency Plan, which is tied to lake level: 531 feet is normal, Stage 2 at 527 feet asks for reduced non-essential use, Stage 3 at 524 feet imposes mandatory daily limits, Stage 4 at 520 feet restricts watering to specified days, and Stage 5 at 517.5 feet prohibits outdoor watering. The Utilities Department is 469-309-4320.
Building and Community Services, 408 S Rogers, 469-309-4020, has adopted the 2021 International Code Council codes and the 2020 National Electric Code with local amendments. The department publishes application guides for fences, irrigation, residential accessory structures and swimming pools, and takes applications and inspection requests through a Citizen Self-Service portal.
The parks department counts 20 or more parks, more than 250 acres of park land, 9.64 miles of trails, 3 splash pads and 5 fishing areas, and the lake parks are Boat Dock Park and Spring Park. The red sandstone and granite courthouse designed by James Riely Gordon was completed in 1897, and the octagonal Chautauqua Auditorium dates to 1902.
What each outdoor project needs in Waxahachie, TX
What does a patio cover need in Waxahachie?
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 Waxahachie the permit goes through the City of Waxahachie, and Longhorn files it and follows it through inspection. More on patio covers.
How is a pergola built to last in Waxahachie?
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 Waxahachie?
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 Waxahachie the permit goes through the City of Waxahachie, and Longhorn files it and follows it through inspection. More on pools.
How a Backyard Project Runs in Waxahachie
- 1
A free design visit in Waxahachie
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 Waxahachie 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 Ellis County-local if you need us later.
Waxahachie 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 Waxahachie and handles the inspections, so the schedule does not stall on paperwork.
Waxahachie sits on Blackland Prairie ground in Ellis 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 Waxahachie 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 Waxahachie
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 Waxahachie
Tell us what you have in mind and we’ll come measure, talk options and give you a straight number. No obligation, no pressure.
Call (972) 534-2716Get Your Free Quote
4.8 on Google from 22 reviewsFamily-owned since 1984