Custom Boathouses
Open-gable boathouses that run cooler, with lifts, lighting and substructures detailed to the code's load and wave requirements.
Lakes We Serve · Fort Worth, TX
Marine construction on Lake Worth.
Two gates stand between an idea and a finished boathouse here — the lease on a city-owned lot, and an unusually specific city dock code. Getting both right is most of the job.
The Local Fact That Governs Everything
On Lake Worth, the lakefront land is leased, not owned.
The City of Fort Worth owns and operates this lake, and the shoreline lots go out under lease.
Lake Worth is the rare Dallas–Fort Worth lake with a genuine, long-established dock culture — Texas Parks and Wildlife notes the numerous boathouses, fishing docks and piers already lining it. What sets it apart from a fee-owned waterfront is that the ground under those structures belongs to the city. Shoreline lots are administered by the Lake Worth Lease Management Section of the Property Management Department's Real Estate Division, and every project has to satisfy the lease before it can satisfy the building code.
Practically, that means construction on a leased lot must be approved by Lake Worth Lease Management, supported by a site plan, a survey and a written description of the work. It is worth confirming your lot's current status directly with Lease Management before you start designing — arrangements on a city-administered shoreline are reviewed and can change, and you want your paperwork built on what is true today.
Fort Worth Residential Code, Appendix AX
The dock code here is unusually specific — and that is good news.
Appendix AX governs docks, piers and boathouses in Fort Worth. A permit is required to construct, enlarge or alter one, and the construction documents have to show the anchoring system and any attached walkways. Vague drawings do not clear this review.
1
Engineered, or built to the prescriptive minimums
Anything not designed by a Texas-registered engineer has to meet the prescriptive minimums in Section AX106 for piles, beams, stringers, decking and bracing. An engineered design instead has to carry dead, live, roof, wind and wave loads and withstand two-foot wave action.
2
Anchoring and flotation, spelled out
Anchor cables need a 3.0 safety factor and chains 2.0. Flotation must be encased polystyrene or polyethylene meeting the code's density and absorption limits, and carry a minimum eight-year warranty. These are the components that quietly decide whether a floating structure lasts.
3
Lighting and retaining walls
A structure reaching more than 100 feet from shore needs a photocell light of at least 200 lumens burning dusk to dawn. And a retaining wall that requires a permit needs plans prepared by a Texas-licensed engineer — not a sketch.
Shoretech builds to written structural standards as a matter of course, so a code this explicit is an advantage rather than an obstacle. It sets a floor everyone has to clear, and it makes the difference between a properly engineered substructure and a cheap one visible on paper.
Know the Water
Impounded in 1914 — and shallow.
About 3,500 acres on the West Fork of the Trinity River, roughly 22 feet at its deepest.
Impounded in 1914, Lake Worth is an old lake by Texas reservoir standards, and a notably shallow one — stained water, with standing timber in places. Conservation pool is 594 feet above mean sea level and Texas Parks and Wildlife describes the fluctuation as moderate. Fort Worth wraps around it, with the communities of Lake Worth and Sansom Park on its edge.
A shallow lake is not an easy lake to build on. Short water depth limits how far out a slip can reach before it stops being useful, standing timber complicates pile placement and barge access, and a century of sediment means what is under the mud matters as much as what is over it. Depth soundings and a real look at the bottom come before a design, not after.
Scope of Work
Services available on Lake Worth.
New construction on a leased lot, and the rebuild work an old dock lake generates.
Boat Docks & Piers
Fixed, floating and swim piers with anchoring and flotation specified to Appendix AX, not to whatever the supplier had on the truck.
Seawalls, Bulkheads & Retaining Walls
Galvanized steel, vinyl, FRP composite and heavy timber — with engineered plans where a permit requires them.
Precision Dredging
Slip and shoreline dredging to recover usable depth on a shallow lake, pumping material for backfill reuse.
Around the Lake
Where we work from here.
Lake Worth sits inside Fort Worth, so a project here is often part of a wider Tarrant County conversation.
Communities on the lake
- Fort Worth
- Lake Worth
- Sansom Park
What owners call about
- Replacing a failing boathouse
- Bulkhead and bank stabilization
- Engineered retaining walls
- New lifts and slip reconfiguration
- Recovering depth at a slip
- Commercial and marina structures
Shoretech is based in Trinity and Dave travels as far as necessary for the right project. Call to talk through access, staging and scheduling for a Lake Worth site.
Questions We Hear
Lake Worth FAQ.
I lease my lot. Can I still build a boathouse?
Construction on a leased Lake Worth lot has to be approved by the city's Lake Worth Lease Management Section, with a site plan, survey and description of the work. That approval is separate from — and in addition to — the building permit.
Does my dock need an engineer?
Not necessarily. Fort Worth's Appendix AX allows a structure that is not engineered, provided it meets the prescriptive minimums in Section AX106 for piles, beams, stringers, decking and bracing. An engineered design must instead carry dead, live, roof, wind and wave loads and withstand two-foot wave action. A retaining wall requiring a permit does need plans from a Texas-licensed engineer.
What are the rules on floats and anchoring?
Anchor cables carry a 3.0 safety factor and chains 2.0. Flotation has to be encased polystyrene or polyethylene meeting the code's density and absorption limits with a minimum eight-year warranty. We specify to those numbers and keep the documentation.
Do I need a light on the end of my pier?
If the structure reaches more than 100 feet from shore, yes — a photocell light of at least 200 lumens, on from dusk to dawn.
Is Lake Worth within Shoretech's range?
Yes. Dave travels as far as necessary for the right project, and Lake Worth is comfortably inside the working footprint across Texas and western Louisiana. Call and describe the site.
Nearby Water
Other Tarrant County and West Metroplex lakes.
Start With a Conversation
Planning a project on Lake Worth?
Tell Dave about the lot, the lease, the water depth off your bank, and what you want the finished structure to do. The design and the paperwork get built together.