The only real benifit (in my eyes) to not deal with codes, or the man enforcing them, is calling them up to get them to sign off.
I only deal with septic but i sign that I will build to codes=just as a city home. So that leaves the city off the hook if the home sells and colapses-and I cheated to save time or $$$ A home built to code is sometimes not the best---overkill is better if you live in wind speeds and snow loads you need to deal with. My wind speed is 90 mph but i will most likely try for 110-120....etc