Just read a good article on Liberty & Building Permits (http://www.newswithviews.com/Bill/sizemore49.htm) you might find interesting...
Interesting article!
QuoteI am placing on the 2008 ballot a measure that would allow farmers and homeowners to do $35,000 in improvements to their property each year without a building permit.
The measure contains a few reasonable caveats. Electrical work must be signed off by a licensed electrical contractor, you can't add a second story to a house without a permit, and the new construction must be a legal distance from the property line.
This is the outline of a very reasonable "owner-builder" code exemption and much like one we had until recently on Whidbey Island. It was kicked out when we signed on to the new IRC at the state level.
Nashville once had something very like that as well.