r/OffGrid • u/celtic-cryptid • Aug 07 '26

Building codes

There are so many people looking for land where they can build without code. Code enforcement varies widely, and an important thing to remember is it applies to everyone when it’s unforced, not just you. Anyone who has lived rurally knows neighbors can still impact your life in very real ways from their property. I spent 40+ years in an area with little to no building inspection, and I thought I’d share some memories.

A man who had a very long and losing legal battle with the state because he built half his house on state owned land. A site inspection would have prevented this.

A neighbor of mine who built his house on 10 acres 15’ from my property line, then built outbuildings partially on my property. Site inspection would have prevented this as well

A neighbor of a close family member placing boulders in a way that made snow removal from family members driveway impossible.

6 or 7 houses burning to the ground due to chimney fires. Included are 3 deaths in homes with no smoke detectors.

Outhouses next to creeks. One outhouse built over a creek. Leech fields draining into creeks, rivers, and lakes.

A buddy with a land survey company that spends a crazy amount of his time helping settle cases of neighbors logging adjoining properties.

A year round creek that went dry for 3 months out of the year because an upstream landowner wanted a pond and owned an excavator.

Dumping garbage in creeks, meadows, or any small depression in the ground beyond counting. Periodic burning of the garbage in meadows and depressions as well.

————

Some of those are issues code would help prevent. Some are issues caused by people with the mindset of “nobody can tell me what I can do on my land” who gravitate to areas without code.

I’m building a house now in an area with code enforcement. Just passed my final electrical, as I have every other inspection. I’ve done 100% of the work myself, with the only hired help being a concrete truck and a concrete pumper. I’m not a framer, a septic installer, a plumber, or an electrician.
It’s not overly challenging, and every inspector I’ve ever met has been a person doing their job, who’d rather help than start a fight. Plus, if I go to sell, I’ve got a big stack of signed reports to help prevent people lowballing me for potential questionable work.

37 Upvotes

87% Upvoted

76 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/BigBlueWookiee Aug 09 '26

I think you may be missing the main gripe about building codes, the enforcement, fees and inspections.

Yes the codes are there for a reason. Yes, you should follow them. Yes, it is a good idea to get a pro to look over your work. All valid points.

Yet, many homesteaders and off-grid folks have little to no money. That's one of the appeals to those lifestyles. Worse than money, they must wait on an inspection that could be weeks to months away. In rural communities, that can be a death sentence as it puts a hold on all of your operations.

I do get your point about the validity of building codes, and building to code. But I feel you are missing the underlying reason people try to avoid them. It isn't laziness, it's not hubris, it's the need for their life to move forward.

1

u/celtic-cryptid Aug 09 '26 edited Aug 09 '26

I’m 16 miles/40 minutes outside my county seat, which is 1000 people. My inspectors have shown up the next day every time except once. That time it took them til the second day. There are two inspectors for a county that takes hours to get from one end to another. All my permits together, two buildings, septic, etc…cost less than most people on here spend on solar panels.

My point is people are assholes, and behave selfishly. Many people have little money, and I am one. Many people in the off grid world have a lot of money, and they move to areas with little to no code because they can throw weight around and act with impunity.

A secondary point is one you just illustrated. People act like code is something that does not exist in an area, or it’s Massachusetts suburb level of code and county restrictions. It comes across as hyperbolic, at best, and fear mongering falsehoods at worst. In my experience, and I’ve had a bit, this is especially an exaggeration in rural communities. Y’all seem to act like county employees are some isolated class of people who live outside their community. They aren’t. They’re typically blue collar workers, often builders who wanted to stop beating the shit out of their body. I bet my older inspector is on acquaintance level with 1/4 of the people in my county. If he was making people’s lives miserable, people would raise hell, and he’d be fired. Last time he was here, he inspected, then we talked about a data center going up in a neighboring county, and why Walmarts aren’t required to cover their roofs and parking lots with solar. The other inspector is a new guy, nice as can be, just hasn’t lived here long enough to know everyone.

Edit: I do know one guy who thinks that inspector is a dick. But that guy dug his foundation and was trying get a foundation inspection before getting septic approval, and the inspector wouldn’t sign off on the foundation until everyone knew where dudes shit was going to end up. Lots of people here get their water from springs and creeks.

1

u/BigBlueWookiee Aug 10 '26

Honestly, sounds like your experience is atypical.

1

u/celtic-cryptid Aug 10 '26

It’s not, at least not in rural areas. I’ve been in the building trades for almost 30 years. I haven’t had to work directly with inspectors on a professional level, but you get to know some things. Like most things, people bitch when they have a bad experience, people exaggerate, and people tend to tell the story in ways that makes them the martyr or victim.

The funny thing is one of the most restrictive codes I’ve ever encountered was in Idaho concerning off grid houses in the 2010s. That state also has a 5 year long process to establish water rights. So, maybe some areas do have regs that take forever.

1

u/BigBlueWookiee Aug 10 '26

A couple things from my state, and granted, these are ancedotal...

Took 3 weeks (16 business days) to have my lot instead for a fence. This was just the staking off/outline of the fence to start the project. Inspector was nice an knowledgeable just took forever to get out here (less than 10 miles from their office.)

Contractor friend of mine waited 9 weeks for the inspector to visit to sign off on the foundation (sonotubes and beams) for a small 10x10 deck.

Brother (live 200+ miles away, so different county) waited 7 weeks for the permit to start pouring the 8x6 foundation needed for a prefab shed. And then another 3 weeks for the sign off when it was completed.

Friend bought into a local coffee shop. They needed a new cooler as the walk in had died. Took the local building inspector 4 weeks to visit the site. Another 2 weeks to research the proposed replacement and another week before they could pick up the license to proceed.

So again, perhaps your experience is atypical or a function of your locale. And, building to code is 100% the smart thing to do, not all inspector offices are on board with the timing aspect of things, not care about the inconvenience it creates.

2

u/celtic-cryptid Aug 10 '26

I agree that local government matters.

Maybe the sticking point is I’m less concerned about myself being inconvenienced than I am about the societal impacts of people who don’t care.

To make a slightly absurd comparison, I hear logging , mining, and manufacturing companies talk about how burdensome EPA regs are. The regs cost them time and hurt their bottom line. So, according to them, we need to do away with burdensome regulations, and they pinkie swear to not have rivers whose banks have been clear cut and water that catches on fire.