Yeah. I work in municipal development and people think we’re just a bunch of officious pricks making people do unnecessary paperwork.

Things you don’t think about can kill people. Yeah - you don’t see a lot of people dying from building collapses and fires, but that’s because we make people address the complicated issues. Want to build a guesthouse? Great. We don’t care. What we do care about is that you put in a safe building and don’t grade in the floodway blocking the path of water causing the house to get carried away or diverting the natural watercourse into your neighbor’s house or the street.

Yes - you have to hire an engineer, and no, you can’t just do whatever you want because it’s your property. What you do impacts neighbor’s, the city, its infrastructure, your guests, and the next person who owns the property. It’s complicated and expensive no matter how much you contractor insists he does good work and you don’t have to worry. Contractors are liars who don’t know what the hell they’re doing half the time because they operate based on their gut and whatever is cheapest.