Start with the city, plat, and easements
Fence controls in Texas are mostly local. Ask the city or county office whether your address needs approval and what drawing it will accept. Then check the recorded plat and title documents for utility, drainage, access, or visibility easements. A fence may be allowed near a lot line but restricted inside an easement.
An HOA can also regulate fence material and placement. Texas Property Code section 202.023 limits some association restrictions on perimeter security measures, but still permits certain regulation of fence type and placement. HOA approval does not establish the legal boundary.
The rural-law trap
Texas Agriculture Code Chapter 143 covers fences and local stock-law elections. It matters on agricultural and livestock property, but it is not a statewide rule that automatically makes a suburban neighbor pay half of a privacy fence. The question changes with local stock-law history, land use, and the fence's purpose.
When the survey is worth ordering
Texas's current boundary-survey standards require record research, field investigation, and professional analysis. Ask for that work when no recent survey can be found, corner monuments are uncertain, the old fence conflicts with the plat or neighbor's understanding, the proposed posts leave little margin, or the local reviewer asks for verified boundary information.
A county appraisal map can help locate parcel records, but it is not a professional boundary determination. A fence contractor can build to a marked line; the contractor should not be asked to decide where the legal line is.
Ask for a fence-specific result
Tell the surveyor which side will be fenced, whether you need all corners recovered, how frequently the fence-side line should be marked, and whether the local office expects a signed drawing. Send the address, parcel account number, deed, recorded plat, prior survey, HOA instructions, and planned fence route.
After the line is marked, photograph the stakes and walk the route with the contractor. Decide whether the posts will sit on the line or inside your property. Request utility marking before digging; utility locating and boundary surveying solve different problems.
Texas decision
If the local office accepts the proposed plan, a recent survey remains usable, the relevant monuments are identifiable, and the fence will stay comfortably inside the property, a new survey may not be necessary. If not, use the Texas board's current rules as the starting point for discussing the correct scope with an RPLS.