Bring Real Fire Ambiance to Your Southlake Home.

In Southlake's custom-home market, a typical gas fireplace installation runs $4,500 to $12,000, with the wide range driven by the city's above-average home sizes and finish expectations. A direct-vent insert into an existing fireplace with a gas line already run sits at the lower end. A new linear or see-through gas fireplace built into a great-room wall—common in Southlake's newer construction along Dove Road and around Southlake Town Square—sits in the middle to upper end once framing, venting, and stone or tile surrounds are factored in. Builders and remodelers in the area routinely spec units well above $12,000 for oversized linear fireplaces in two-story living rooms. A local dealer will give you a firm number after seeing your space.

You can, though true wood-burning fireplaces are uncommon in Southlake to begin with—most homes built here since the 1990s came from the builder already plumbed for gas logs or a direct-vent insert, since our mild winters and average low of 34°F never created much demand for real wood heat. If you do have an older masonry fireplace, most local retailers will install a direct-vent gas insert using the existing chimney with a stainless liner, typically running $4,500 to $9,000. Homes without a gas line to the fireplace location will need a licensed gas-fitter to run new pipe, which adds to the cost but is a routine job here given how common gas fireplaces already are.

Southlake sits on top of the Barnett Shale gas field, and natural gas service is dense throughout the city—the overwhelming majority of homes are already connected for cooking, water heating, or an existing gas fireplace, so adding a new gas fireplace usually just means extending an existing line. Propane is rarely needed here, but it remains an option for outbuildings, pool houses, or any property that isn't on the gas main. Most gas fireplace models can be configured for either fuel—your installer sets the orifice and regulator accordingly.

Most gas fireplaces with intermittent pilot ignition (IPI) include a battery backup that keeps the unit operating during an outage—you flip the switch, and it lights the same way it always does, just running off batteries instead of house current. That matters more in North Texas than people expect: Winter Storm Uri in February 2021 knocked out ERCOT grid power to hundreds of thousands of Tarrant County homes for days during a hard freeze, and homeowners with battery-backed gas fireplaces were among the few with working heat. Valor fireplaces take it a step further—their pilot assembly generates its own electricity through the thermocouple, so there's no battery to remember at all. Ask your local dealer about the ignition system on any unit you're considering.

A gas fireplace is a fully built-in unit framed into a wall—the standard choice in Southlake's new construction and major remodels, especially for the large linear units popular in open-concept great rooms. A gas insert drops into an existing masonry firebox, sealing it up and venting through the existing chimney—the right call if you already have a wood-burning fireplace shell you want to upgrade. A gas stove is a freestanding cast-iron or steel unit that sits on the floor, less common in Southlake's contemporary builder homes but occasionally used in secondary living spaces or as a design statement.

Yes. The City of Southlake's Building Inspections Department requires both a building permit and a gas permit for new gas fireplace installations and most conversions, and the gas line work must be done by a licensed gas-fitter. Most established hearth dealers pull these permits as part of the installation and coordinate the inspection, so you're not left managing multiple trades and city sign-offs yourself.

Both are legal in Texas, and both get installed locally, but they serve different purposes. Vented (direct-vent) gas fireplaces draw combustion air from outside and exhaust it back outside through a sealed pipe—they're the standard for full-time use and the type installed in nearly every new Southlake home. Vent-free units burn without any exterior venting, releasing some combustion byproducts into the room, and come with strict room-size and ventilation requirements. They're sometimes used in smaller secondary spaces, but most Southlake dealers steer primary living-area installs toward direct-vent for air quality and resale reasons.

An annual inspection is recommended for any gas appliance. A technician checks the burner, pilot assembly, gas connections, and glass seal, and cleans the interior—a service that typically runs $150 to $250 in the DFW area. Given Southlake's relatively light usage pattern (most gas fireplaces here run for ambiance rather than daily heating), annual service is usually enough to catch pilot or ignition issues before they become a bigger repair.

Gas delivers real flame, real heat output, and the ambiance most Southlake homeowners are after in a great room or primary living space—and it's the default in the city's new construction. Electric fireplaces have a real place too: no venting or gas line required, so they work in interior rooms, condos, or additions where running a flue isn't practical, and they run on standard household power from Oncor Electric Delivery, Denton County Electric Cooperative, or United Electric Cooperative at roughly $0.13 to $0.14 per kWh. Electric units also cost far less to install—often under $1,500 versus several thousand for gas—but they don't produce a real flame or meaningful heat. For a primary living space, gas is usually the better long-term investment in Southlake; for a bedroom, office, or rental unit, electric is often the practical choice.

Open fireplaces suck—literally. As the fire burns, it consumes air your furnace already paid to heat and pulls it out through the chimney, so the house is actually colder after the fire goes out than before you lit it. An insert fixes this: it seals the chimney, puts fixed glass across the front, and turns that hole in your house into a real heat source.

Yes—with an asterisk. Fireplaces are hot and TVs don't like heat. Either put a mantel between them to deflect rising warmth, or choose a fireplace with heat-management technology that creates a cool zone on the wall above—the wall stays around 125 degrees, barely warm, while the room still gets full heat. If you like clean lines and don't want a mantel, heat management is the answer.

For an average home—covering the fireplace, the vent pipe, and basic installation—a budget between $3,900 and $5,500 gives you a lot of options across wood, gas, and pellet. By the time you add finish work, gas line, and electrical, the average complete installation lands between $5,000 and $12,000 all-in. In a remodel or new build, a good rule is to put about 2.5% of the total project cost toward the fireplace.

On average, a fireplace adds back to the home about the same amount you spent installing it. Add the monthly savings from heating the rooms you actually use instead of the whole house—often hundreds of dollars a year—and the value case is strong before you even count what a fire does for how your family uses the room.