That's a cool story, but not true in all of Arizona. I built in Arizona and without code inspections or anyone checking I follow regulations. They probably just tried to build in a fascist shithole like Maricopa or Pima county where people with such deranged regulatory thinking congregate for their mental illness self support group.

In my county we figured out that ' paid for in blood' was bullshit invented by corrupt inspectors and contractors and we voted to eliminate it. Draw a rectangle on a map and after that it's green light.

At a previous job, planning regulations forced a mid 5 figure expense for a dumpster enclosure[0] complete with roof and handicapped access. You know, in case someone in a wheel chair or on crutches needs to pull a dumpster out for collection.

Whose blood wrote that regulation?

[0]Next to grandfathered buildings who just chain their dumpsters to the alleyway, of course.