Swanson Renovations — Luxury Design and Build

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Outdoor Living, Outdoor Kitchens & Covered Patios in Southlake, Keller & DFW

Covered outdoor kitchens, integrated pool-house living, fireplace patios, and the porch projects that turn the back of the home into the favorite room. Design-build by Swanson Renovations. 7× Best of Houzz.

An outdoor living project at Swanson typically covers a 350-1,200 square-foot exterior addition — a covered patio with an outdoor kitchen, a fireplace seating zone, sometimes a pool house or pavilion. Most Southlake / Westlake / Carillon outdoor living projects run 14-22 weeks of active construction and land in the $85,000 to $385,000 range. Pool-house additions with bath and bar facilities push toward $500K-$750K.

What an outdoor living project looks like at Swanson.

Texas climate means the back of the home spends six months a year as the favorite room and the other six as unused square footage. The difference between those two states is structure — a covered patio that handles rain and sun, an outdoor kitchen that handles entertaining, a fireplace that handles the two cold months, heating that handles the marginal months. With those four elements, the patio becomes the kitchen, the dining room, and the family room for the half of the year the weather allows.

We design every outdoor living project as an extension of the interior — same finish grade, same material vocabulary, same lighting layer-by-layer thinking. The transition from the kitchen to the patio, and from the patio to the pool, should read as one continuous design rather than three separate stops.

Three patterns we see most.

The “back-of-home transformation.”

A covered patio addition off the kitchen and family room, with an integrated outdoor kitchen, masonry fireplace, ceiling-mounted heaters, and matched-roof tie-in to the existing home. The patio reads as a permanent extension of the interior — same flooring (often porcelain that matches the interior tile), same lighting layer, same scale. Budget: $145-$285K. Timeline: 14-22 weeks construction.

The “pool-adjacent outdoor living.”

Sometimes the project is about the relationship between the patio and the pool — repositioning the patio to face the pool correctly, adding a pool-house pavilion, integrating outdoor showers, building a fire-pit lounge. Common in Westlake homes with large pool-adjacent yards. Budget: $185-$385K (without pool house) or $385-$650K (with pool house).

The “outdoor kitchen retrofit.”

The existing patio is fine — covered, oriented correctly, scaled appropriately. The scope is adding a fully-built-in outdoor kitchen, sometimes a bar, sometimes a fireplace. No structural work to the patio itself. Budget: $35-$85K for the kitchen alone, $65-$135K with bar and fireplace additions.

What’s included in a Swanson outdoor living contract.

A single construction contract covers:

  • Design. our design coordination for the outdoor space: layout, structural roof design (when applicable), material specifications, lighting design, appliance and fixture selection. 3D renderings.
  • Architectural drawings + ARB submission. Exterior changes almost always trigger HOA review in our market.
  • Permits. Building, electrical, plumbing, gas, and mechanical depending on scope.
  • Foundation work (for patio additions or pool houses).
  • Structural work. Patio roof framing, posts, beams, ceiling treatment, drainage integration, tie-in to existing home roofline.
  • MEP rough-in. Electrical for appliances, lighting, fans, heaters; plumbing for sink, refrigeration ice line, gas for grill and fireplace; HVAC if pool house has interior conditioned space.
  • Outdoor kitchen. Stone or tile countertops, masonry base or stainless steel framing, appliance install (grill, side burner, refrigeration, ice maker, sink, pizza oven if specified).
  • Fireplace + chimney. Masonry fireplace, chimney work, hearth and mantel, integrated wood storage where applicable.
  • Lighting. Recessed in ceilings, decorative pendants over kitchen islands, integrated step lighting, landscape lighting at the patio edge.
  • Heating. Ceiling-mounted radiant heaters integrated into the ceiling treatment.
  • Finishes. Flooring (porcelain, stone, or stained concrete), ceiling treatment (often beamed cedar or pine), railing or low walls.
  • Project management. BuilderTrend daily updates, weekly walkthroughs.
  • Cleanup. Daily, weekly, final.

Recent outdoor and unique-spaces projects.

See our project portfolio

Ready to talk about your outdoor living project?

Talk to Chad about your project — the first conversation is sixty to ninety minutes in your home, free, no pitch.

Frequently asked questions

What does an outdoor kitchen cost in Southlake?
A built-in outdoor kitchen with a 36-42" grill, side burner, sink, refrigerator, and stone countertop typically runs $35,000-$85,000 within an existing covered patio. Add a pizza oven (Lynx, Alfa, or wood-fired masonry), kegerator, ice maker, or smoker and you're at $55-$135K. The kitchen alone is typically 15-25% of a full outdoor living project — the rest is the structure (covered patio, fireplace, lighting, electrical, plumbing) around it.
What does a full covered patio with outdoor kitchen cost?
Most Swanson covered patios with integrated outdoor kitchen, fireplace seating area, fans, and integrated lighting land between $145,000 and $285,000. Patios with structural roofs that match the existing home (matching pitch, matching shingles, matching beam exposure), retractable screen systems, or motorized shade integration run $225-$385K.
How long does a covered patio project take?
Typical: 14-22 weeks of active construction, plus 6-10 weeks of design and permits. From first consultation to keys: 5-8 months. Pool-house additions extend to 22-32 weeks construction. ARB review is almost always required in Vaquero, Carillon, Estates of Southlake — the patio roof is visible from the exterior and the architectural review board reviews exterior changes.
Do you handle outdoor kitchen appliance selection?
Yes. The brands we spec most often: Wolf and Lynx for grills, Hestan for serious cooking infrastructure (sealed burners + IR rotisserie), Kalamazoo for chef-grade outdoor stations, Sub-Zero for refrigeration drawers, Perlick for under-counter refrigeration and beverage centers, Ooni or Alfa for portable pizza ovens, wood-fired masonry from local masons when the scope calls for a permanent oven. Plumbing fixtures: Waterworks Easton in PVD brass holds up beautifully to weather; brushed nickel and matte black hold up too, lacquered finishes do not.
Can we add a fireplace to a covered patio?
Yes — and we recommend it when the patio is deeper than 14 feet, which is most Southlake / Vaquero / Westlake patios. A masonry wood-burning fireplace is the design-strongest option (and what we install most often), but gas-burning fireplaces with concealed log sets are a real option when the chimney's exterior height isn't accommodated by the rooflines or when an HOA restricts wood-burning. Budget: $25-65K for the fireplace structure plus integrated mantel and surround.
What about outdoor heating in Texas?
Yes, even in Texas. Two months of the year (January-February) the patio is unusable without supplemental heat; another two months (December, March) it's marginal. We integrate ceiling-mounted radiant heaters (Schwank, Bromic, Infratech) along the patio perimeter or in the seating-area ceiling. They're invisible when not in use, draw on a dedicated electrical circuit, and extend the usable patio season by months. Budget add: $4,500-$12,000 depending on patio size and heater count.
Do you do pool houses?
Yes — when the project includes them. Pool houses are a distinct scope tier: typically 250-650 sq ft of structure with a bathroom (often with a shower), a bar or small kitchen, sometimes a changing area, and the same finish-grade as the main home's interiors. They're built as additions, which means foundation, framing, roofing, exterior finishes, full MEP, all interior finish-out, and ARB review for the exterior. Budget: typically $250-$650K for a full-bath pool house with a small bar.
Do you do outdoor living projects in Vaquero, Carillon, and Timarron?
Yes — these are core neighborhoods for us. Vaquero outdoor living projects typically involve adding a covered patio off the back of the home with integrated kitchen, fireplace, and pool integration. Carillon and Westlake projects often include pool-house additions. All require ARB review for the exterior changes.

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Talk to Chad about your outdoor living, outdoor kitchens & covered patios.

First conversation is sixty to ninety minutes in your home. Free, no pitch.

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