Covered patios, decks and fences in Castle Hills
Castle Hills, incorporated in 1951, is a 2.5-square-mile city inside Loop 410 with its own permit office. Fences, decks and gazebos all need permits.
What we build in Castle Hills
Covered Patios
Match-the-house roofs for year-round shade.
Custom Decks
Composite, cedar, multi-level and pool decks.
Fencing
Cedar privacy, horizontal board, and wrought iron.
Removal & Haul-Away
Decks, pergolas, sheds, fences, hot tubs, haul-away.
Starting price
16x30 basic wood deck with handrails
from$4,000
- 16 ft by 30 ft (480 sq ft)
- Basic wood, handrails
- Labor and materials
A 16x30 basic wood deck with handrails in Castle Hills starts at $4,000, labor and materials included. Covered patio, pergola or a bigger deck in Castle Hills? You get a fixed price in writing within 3 to 5 business days.
Price my projectBuilding in Castle Hills
Separate city inside Loop 410 at Northwest Military and West Avenue
- ZIP and place78213, a sliver in 78216
- An enclave fully surrounded by San Antonio at Northwest Military Highway and West Avenue, bisected by Loop 410. About 2.47 square miles and 3,978 residents at the 2020 Census.
- Permit deskCity of Castle Hills Permit Office
- Castle Hills issues its own permits, not San Antonio. Fences, decks, gazebos and accessory buildings all need one; decks and accessory buildings need a site plan or survey with the application, and the contractor pulls the permit. There is no online portal, and inspections are called in by 2 p.m. for the next day. The city does not publish a square-footage threshold, so assume every deck and cover is permitted and confirm with the office.
- Fence rulesCode Sec. 50-66
- Front-yard fences are typically limited to 3 feet in wood, wrought iron, brick, stone, stucco or finished concrete, with no chain link in front. Side and rear fences typically run up to 8 feet. Corner lots keep a sight triangle clear, and replacing more than a quarter of a fence in a year means the new run has to be in approved materials.
- Accessory structuresCode Sec. 50-36(f)
- Typically no more than two per lot, set at least 75 feet back from the front property line and 10 feet off the house, no taller than 25 feet, and anything over 120 square feet may not be sheet metal. That shapes where a detached pergola, pavilion or shed can sit on a Castle Hills lot.
- Trees
- Paid contractors need a city tree permit to prune (oak and non-oak fees differ); homeowners may trim their own. Oak pruning is banned citywide from February 1 through June 30 for oak wilt, cuts are painted within the hour, and debris leaves within 48 hours. Any canopy work to clear a patio cover is scheduled in the open window.
- Design review
- No architectural review for single-family homes: the city's Architectural Review Committee covers commercial and multifamily only. Variances go to the Board of Adjustment. No HOA review is on record for the older core, so the city permit is the whole approval.
- Ground and drainage
- The city sits at the headwaters of Olmos Creek on chalk and marl uplands, and parts of it were once a gravel pit. Several streets flood in heavy rain and the city carries a multi-million-dollar drainage backlog, so patio grading, downspout routing and where a cover sheds water get real attention here.
- Lots and homes
- Single-family lots typically start at 14,000 square feet, with a rural-residential district at three-quarters of an acre. Homes are largely late-1940s-onward mid-century and ranch designs, single story, with mature live oaks: the covered patio usually replaces a small original slab porch.
Same six steps in Castle Hills
- Step 1: Consult
- Step 2: Design and scope
- Step 3: Materials
- Step 4: Permits and HOA
- Step 5: Build
- Step 6: Walk-through
What Castle Hills homeowners ask first
Does Castle Hills require a permit for a patio cover or deck?
Yes. The City of Castle Hills permit office lists decks, gazebos and accessory buildings as permitted work and asks for a site plan or survey with the application. Unlike San Antonio, the city publishes no size exemption, so treat every deck and cover as permitted. The contractor pulls the permit and calls inspections; Klema Builders does both as a line item in the quote.
What fence height is allowed in Castle Hills?
Typically 3 feet in the front yard, in wood, iron, brick, stone, stucco or finished concrete, with no chain link out front, and up to 8 feet on side and rear lines. Corner lots keep the sight triangle clear. If you replace more than a quarter of an existing fence within a year the new section has to be in an approved material, which is why we quote the whole run rather than a patch.
Do I need HOA approval in Castle Hills?
For the original city there is no architectural committee for houses and no HOA on record; the city permit is the approval. If your street is in a newer platted section with its own association, we confirm that before the quote and prepare the submission if one exists.
Do you handle the permit and the design review in Castle Hills?
Yes. In Castle Hills that means the city permit from the Castle Hills permit office, filed in person with a site plan or survey, plus a tree permit if any oak has to be pruned to clear the structure. We prepare the drawings, the site plan and the material list, file the application, and handle the back-and-forth; the permit and the review are line items in the quote. Every project starts with a free in-home consult and a fixed-price quote line by line within 3 to 5 business days, and we build across San Antonio, the Texas Hill Country and the I-35 corridor to Austin.
How much does a deck, pergola or covered patio cost in Castle Hills?
A 16x30 basic wood deck with handrails in Castle Hills starts at $4,000, labor and materials included. Covered patios, pergolas, composite and multi-level decks are quoted fixed-price, line by line, after a free in-home consult. The written quote arrives within 3 to 5 business days.
When can you trim my live oaks to fit a patio cover?
Not between February 1 and June 30. Castle Hills bans oak pruning in that window to slow oak wilt, requires a tree permit for paid contractors, and expects cuts painted within the hour and debris gone within 48 hours. We schedule any canopy work in the open months and design the cover to the canopy where we can instead.
More questions (3)Fewer questions
What does it cost to take down an old pergola or deck in Castle Hills?
A 12x12 pergola removal in Castle Hills starts at $3,750, haul-away and yard grading included. Decks, patio covers, fences, sheds, hot tubs and playsets are taken down in 1 to 3 business days, hauled off and the ground graded or raked. Concrete footings and any siding or stucco repair at the ledger are handled separately. Already tore it down yourself? We haul off the pile.
My street floods in a hard rain. Does that change the patio design?
It changes the grading and the water path. Castle Hills sits at the head of Olmos Creek with known drainage trouble spots, so we set the patio to fall away from the house, route cover downspouts to daylight or a drain, and keep the finished surface at a height that does not send water toward a neighbor. That is settled at the consult, before the price is written.
How long does a project take in Castle Hills?
A cedar pergola is built in 1 to 2 weeks on site once materials and approvals are in hand. A composite or cedar deck takes 3 to 6 weeks from signed contract to walk-through once the permit clears, and a multi-level or pool deck 6 to 10 weeks. Castle Hills permit review is typically short once the site plan is in, on the order of 1 to 3 weeks. The schedule is committed in writing in the contract.
Built for Castle Hills lots, reviewed the first time.
Free in-home consult in Castle Hills, then a written fixed-price quote in 3 to 5 business days.