Fence or deck costs in Houston

Houston has no zoning. The City's Legal Department says so plainly, and it's why the City helps enforce recorded deed restrictions instead. Those restrictions follow subdivision lines, sometimes section by section, and in some Heights-area neighborhoods they apply lot by lot. If your neighborhood's papers say where a fence can sit or how tall it can be, that's the rule your fence has to meet. Most owners in the city can request a copy from the Harris County Clerk.

The City's own fence rule is short. The Houston Permitting Center requires a permit for any fence more than 8 feet above grade. A fence built wholly or partly of masonry or concrete needs one at any height, with plan review and an inspection. So a 6-foot cedar fence between brick columns is a permit job, while the same fence on wood posts isn't.

Termites add a Gulf Coast problem. Texas A&M's urban entomology program says Formosan termites were first found in Texas in 1956, around the Houston Ship Channel in Pasadena. They've since been detected in 31 Texas counties. A colony can top a million insects, and they eat wood faster than native subterranean termites. Steel posts with wood rails, and a few inches of air between the bottom board and the soil, give them less to eat.