Sounds like you do not have the building inspection hell of many places.
Local governments often insist that every aspect of the build is documented before you start (which is unachievable) and any deviations from the plan require stopping work and re-documenting at vast expense in professional fees and charges from the state.
We tend to be quite building inspection heavy over here in the UK but I gather if you work with people who know the system well, you can get off-grid style buildings built. Hopefully this is quite a useful example that featured on two episodes of Grand Designs.
The UK (and Ireland) both make it default-illegal to build things and then you have to beg a bunch of church elders on the council to let you build your house, and they'll decide if it's pretty enough, but there is _one_ cool thing the UK is doing - http://www.oneplanetcouncil.org.uk/ - making it easier to do off-grid living in Wales.
Local governments often insist that every aspect of the build is documented before you start (which is unachievable) and any deviations from the plan require stopping work and re-documenting at vast expense in professional fees and charges from the state.