I think US construction (and other industries) being permit heavy is just to screw the little man, and artificially inflate the cost with only big companies bei

I think US construction (and other industries) being permit heavy is just to screw the little man, and artificially inflate the cost with only big companies being able to navigate the expensive and byzantine bureaucratic processes. I could list a million examples, but first, let me ask you: Would you consider someone a good software dev because he has a lot of permits and certifications, and promises to build software according to some international ISO standard? Thought so. The same applies to buildings. I remember one guy's blog post, who described his life as a do-everything contractor, who did septic tank installations. What he needed for the job was a shovel and a truck to carry the tanks to the site. Then came the regulators, and essentially made his job illegal. He had to apply for a permit, submit plans, conduct a survey, and need a crew of specialists with expensive equipment to carry out his job. Basically turned what would be a nice one or two man job with a nice margin into a whole expensive ordeal, which only big companies could do. The irony was that said big companies employed hordes of unskilled and underpaid rubes who they worked to the bone.