The other problem here that I see from some of the complaints above is the feeling that all the regulations and procedures take to much time.
I have been building since 1968 and am 64 now and have seem a tremendous change in the whole permitting process. Used to be the BI knew you and that was that, especially if you were a "townie". Most of those guys were carpenters themselves and knew what was up. You never used a structural engineer, worried about load paths, because there were implied standards (and written codes back to 1908 if I remember correctly) . Everyone new who was good and who was not, and people listened to experience and used what others had learned.
Today new ball game, BI is a career path (not a criticism) and the code is the rule not the exception. Most of all the old guys are gone and along with went the old way of building. The process we have today establishes a paper trail to protect all that are involved.
Just for chuckles look up the Code of Hammurabi
The Secrets of the Code. | Architecture for Humanity
sorry for the length
Ed