"Rather than allowing shoddy contractors to do more work, I'd rather see inspectors shut them down until they are deemed competent. That would reduce the need for all these inspections."
I am a competent contracter and I know that inspections keep contracters from cutting corners, from ignoring codes that they think don't serve an important purpose (or that aren't worth the overhead), and I know that an inspecter can often catch mistakes that truly dedicated contracters have made, but didn't catch.
Even work that has been done perfectly by the boss can have a flaw in materials that only shows up in the test required for signoff, tests that so often seem like an unnecssary, time consuming expense, because you put every piece together yourself and you just know it is perfect.
What county is it that requires a code for a dog house, I'll look it up maybe you were misled.
I agree with you, there is a need for inspections. Like anything though, it's a question of where to draw the line.
Bartholomew County, Indiana is the place.