Any time someone from Phoenix posts their new deck, there will always be someone chiding the shallow footings. ("Frost will destroy that in 3 years, hurr, durr.

Any time someone from Phoenix posts their new deck, there will always be someone chiding the shallow footings. ("Frost will destroy that in 3 years, hurr, durr.") When a new home addition in Los Angeles is featured, you get the Brick Mafia laughing about how we use wood frame construction ("You yankees use cheap stuff"). Never mind that earthquakes favor the bendy sticks over the brittle blocks. Huge swaths of code are tied to local weather and common disaster scenarios. Florida really likes their hurricane ties, California loves their Simpson ties, in New England you need to dig down 4 feet to install a birdbath! Other large discrepancies just come from different attitudes toward methods. Like mechanical vents for plumbing (where the vent goes to an interior check valve instead of up through the roof). Some places allow it, others prohibit it. I don't know why exactly, or who is "right". But the point is: if The Code is someone's only objection to a construction technique, then I don't think it's a valid objection. They need to say why the technique or omission is wrong or dangerous.