The issue that I have had and you may run into is when doing anything that does not fit into the cities comfort zone… ie studs on 16″ centers/concrete block/structural steel… they will want to see ALL of your engineering to give them a warm fuzzy feeling that what you are building will still be standing in 10 years. Typically that means that your structural engineer is going to have to spend a day down at the building dept, assumed guilty until he can prove otherwise, reviewing all his calcs and justifying any assumptions. That can be big $$$ depending on how eco friendly you plan on getting. All the title 24 stuff is also stacked against you if you are using any materials that do not have well established energy insulating properties.