Interesting to hear your perspective. As someone who'd also like to buy land and build a house for my future family some day, aren't there relatively inexpensive ways to do it despite potentially overzealous building codes? Surely there are some pretty nice "cookie cutter" templates out there, right?
I guess it depends on your definition of "relatively inexpensive" :)
I've only got residential experience in two states, but from what I'm aware of, there are certainly cheaper routes you can go. Especially with high quality prefab options becoming more common.
From scratch though, towns typically expect a professional architect to sign off on a design, and a licensed electrician to do the wiring, and a licensed plumber to do the plumbing, and on and on. I'm officially none of those things, even though I got myself through college working construction, and I know how to use CAD packages for statics analysis, my degree is in electrical engineering, water flows down hill, and on and on. The DIY option is for all intents and purposes off the table, is what I was lamenting.
You build your house in an area that is not governed by a building code. No permits, no inspections, do your own thing at your own risk. This generally means a rural area.
I was actually researching this with respect to the tiny house movement. They are out there. Definitely all rural, which can make it tough when you depend on fast internet to make a living.
