Having dealt with standards and regulations in the US the problem isn't so much the regulations as the people enforcing them are adversarial. And they don't car

Having dealt with standards and regulations in the US the problem isn't so much the regulations as the people enforcing them are adversarial. And they don't care about the costs they are imposing. I've also heard trades in the US behave in adversarial ways towards each other that would get them banned from future work anywhere else. Tidbit: The biggest driver of cost overruns is delays in construction. Adversarial permitting, trades, and the courts allowing disinterested parties to delay projects drives this in the US. Recent one I saw. 2000 sqft vacant lot filled with trash and weeds remains undeveloped because it would take years to get the variances and permits to build on it.