Convention in most Dallas neighbourhoods is that the finished side faces out, with rails and posts on your side. Plenty of HOA covenants require it in writing. If the fence sits on a shared line, agree it before anyone builds.
The custom of facing the good side out is partly courtesy and partly streetscape: a neighbourhood where every fence shows its framing to the street looks unfinished. Where an HOA has an opinion, this is usually one of the things it specifies.
Board-on-board built with alternating boards looks finished from both sides. It costs more than side-by-side because it uses more material, and on a shared line it is often the cheapest way to avoid a disagreement that outlasts the fence.
Turning a run around once it is up means pulling every picket and re-fixing it on the other side of the rails. It is not a small change of mind. On a boundary fence, get the orientation agreed with the neighbour in writing along with who is paying for what.
Then it is your call, subject to the covenant. Most people still face the finished side out, because the alternative is looking at your neighbour’s framing for the next fifteen years while they look at your finished side.
There is no blanket state requirement, but an HOA covenant can require it and many do. Absent a rule, it is convention rather than obligation.
Pickets overlapped so there are no gaps as the wood moves. Built with alternating boards it reads as finished from both sides, which is why it suits shared lines.
Not without asking. Fixing anything to a fence you do not own, or to a shared fence without agreement, is how a fence disagreement becomes a real dispute.
We walk the property, give you a straight price, and show you how it is built underneath.