The standard DFW suburb backyard, fixed in one project

If you live in a master-planned community anywhere in DFW (Argyle, Alliance, Keller, Aledo, Weatherford, Crowley, Burleson, Mansfield, Forney, McKinney), this backyard probably looks familiar. Pool taking up most of the yard. Dead side strips where the dogs run. A back fence opening onto a greenbelt that turns every pool day into an audience.

The standard play is to fix one of these things per year and live with the rest. The Bearcat play is to fix all of them at once.

This homeowner called us with a single brief:

“We want it to look pretty when we look out the kitchen window. We want our dogs to stop tearing up the grass. We want our daughter’s friends to not be on display every time they swim. And we never want to mow again.”

We spec’d a complete-backyard upgrade. 700 square feet of Natural Blend Pro artificial turf sloped for pool-side drainage, a layered privacy planting plan along the greenbelt fence (anchor bushes plus fill ornamentals), a new flower bed spanning the back fence planted with the privacy bushes, and irrigation rework to feed only the new living plants.

What got installed

Natural Blend Pro, 700 SF, the high-traffic zone between the pool, the patio, and the back fence. 80 oz face weight, 1-3/4” pile, Mini Wave blade, 27 oz 2-layer PU backing rated at 30 in/hr drainage. 15-year manufacturer warranty.
Slope engineering, 1.5% minimum away from the pool coping, with micro-channels routing toward side fence drainage. 4 inches of crushed-stone base over compacted subgrade.
Privacy planting plan, anchor bushes at fixed intervals along the back fence line (taller, fast-growing varieties that mature into a continuous 6-foot screen), shorter fill ornamentals between them to keep the privacy line opaque while the anchors mature.
A new flower bed spanning the back fence, planted with the privacy bushes and edged to tie into the turf border. Doubles as the ground-level layer of the privacy plan and gives the back fence line color and texture instead of bare turf-meets-fence.
Irrigation rework, capped dead heads in what is now the turf zone, redirected lines to the new beds, added drip irrigation to the bushes. The original system was wasting water on what is now turf and starving what is now beds.

Why this scope, in this order

The order matters. We base-prep the turf zone first because the slope and drainage decisions there affect where irrigation lines can run. Then irrigation goes in second (trenching is easier before plants are in the ground). Then the flower bed gets cut in along the back fence and bushes plus ornamentals get planted into it. Turf goes down at the very end after everything else is done so the freshly installed lawn does not get trampled during the heavier work.

The result is a single, finished backyard rather than three separate projects bolted together over three years.

Drainage detail around the pool

Around-pool turf installs fail at one number: not enough slope.

Pool decks already slope away from the pool at code minimum (about 1%). If the turf substrate matches that and nothing more, you have zero net slope on the turf itself, and the first heavy rain pools water along the deck-to-turf seam. We build to 1.5% minimum and more where the pool deck allows it. On this install we routed two micro-channels through the substrate toward the side-yard drainage, so even a hard Texas downpour clears the pool zone faster than the rain falls.

Why Natural Blend Pro

We install Natural Blend Pro on roughly 40% of our residential pool surrounds. The reasons map to the conditions around a pool:

80 oz face weight is heavier than standard Natural Blend, which matters under wet feet and dog-print traffic. The denser pile recovers faster after compression from lounge chairs and pool toys.
Mini Wave blade shape holds upright posture even when towels and chairs sit on it all afternoon. A flat-blade turf would lay flat by July.
30 in/hr drain rate through the 27 oz 2-layer PU backing means splashed-out water and rain clear before the substrate saturates.
Three-tone yarn blend (field green, olive, brown) reads as living grass from 6 feet away. Pure green turf reads as plastic. This blend does not.
15-year manufacturer warranty, the longest on any 80 oz product we stock, and the right call for a surface that sees harsh UV and pool chemical exposure.

Full spec sheet on the Natural Blend Pro product page.

How the privacy plan works

Privacy is layered. A single row of bushes is a privacy line for about 18 months, then it has gaps, then it has dead zones where one bush failed, and you are back to a transparent fence by year three.

This install uses three layers:

Anchor bushes at fixed intervals along the fence. Fast-growing tall varieties that mature into a continuous 6-foot screen.
Fill ornamentals in the gaps between anchors. Keep the privacy line opaque while the anchors mature, then provide low-level density once they do.
Flower bed at the base of the bushes along the back fence. Anchors the privacy plants in real landscaping and adds a ground-level layer of color so the fence line reads as intentional, not just a row of shrubs. Anyone glancing in from the trail sees a planted fence line, not bare turf running into a fence.

What a complete backyard upgrade like this costs

In 2026 Bearcat-installed DFW pricing, scope similar to this install lands in:

Turf alone (700 SF Natural Blend Pro, install + base + drainage): about $8,750 to $11,200
Flower bed cut-in + edging along the back fence: $1,000 to $2,200
Irrigation rework (cap heads, redirect lines, add drip): $800 to $1,800
Privacy bushes + ornamentals + planting: $2,500 to $5,000

Total project range: roughly $13,050 to $20,200. This install landed in the middle of that range.

For a project-specific number, run the Bearcat turf cost calculator (covers the turf portion), or request a site walk for an end-to-end quote on the whole upgrade.

Where this playbook applies

The standard DFW suburb backyard template repeats across the metroplex. Every one of the following cities has master-planned communities where this same upgrade plan applies, just with different fence sight-lines and slightly different soil compositions:

Argyle · Alliance · Keller · Aledo · Weatherford · Crowley · Burleson · Mansfield · Forney · McKinney · Willow Park · Annetta · Hudson Oaks · Westlake · Southlake · Colleyville · Fort Worth · Frisco · Prosper · Celina

If you are in one of those zip codes and you are tired of solving the same backyard problems every spring, tell us about your lot and we will scope the whole upgrade end-to-end. Free site walks. No deposit to book the walkthrough. Fixed-price quotes within one business day.

Read the longer story on the blog: The standard DFW suburb backyard: dead side strips, a pool taking up the yard, an exposed fence, and the complete fix.

What we do at Bearcat

Bearcat is a DFW landscape and outdoor-living contractor based in Aledo, Texas. We handle turf, irrigation, flower beds, hardscapes, privacy planting, retaining walls, across the full Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. Family-owned, woman-owned, HUB Certified by the State of Texas, BBB Accredited, fully insured. 15-year manufacturer warranty on every turf product we install.

Get a free quote · Build a turf estimate · Landscaping services · Aledo service area · Pool builders & turf coordination

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