One other thought, what ever happened to the idea of limited-government or local control. By implementing these building codes at the state-levels, good as they may be, they force the price of building homes way up and decrease the amount of people that can afford the homes.
How about letting each county or city maintain their own set of building codes appropriates for their constituents?
So much for Sanford being a small or limited government conservative.
How small do you go? Your arguments could be modified to suggest that even government regulations at the local or community level might not be "small" enough, and that only regulations at the family or even individual level (which is, ultimately, the "smallest" form of government within range) might be appropriate.