> Any house built in at least the last 20 years, by competent contractors and in a jurisdiction with adequate code enforcement, should have all of these features built in.
For those not in the construction business, this sentance needs the following addition ", but you need to check." Relying on code inspection and competent builders is like relying on software to follow RFC must and should. They should do it, but there's a significant chance they didn't and it's going to be your problem if they didn't, so you should confirm before you buy. You also can't rely on home inspectors to find this kind of thing; again, they should.
My general experience dealing with contractors in a large city with a decent permitting system demonstrates that you have to basically force the contractor to comply - they won’t even do a permit unless you mention it first and some will even actively go out of their way to try to convince you not to get one. Not every contractor I’ve worked with is like this but more often than not it is the case.
Permits are often time-consuming to get and can be expensive. If you go shopping on price, you will likely find contractors who believe the best thing they can do for you is to avoid the time and expense. After all "I'm going to build it to code anyway."
Having done a lot of work on two houses now, I don't shop on price, and my contractor always gets permits and does inspections.
For those not in the construction business, this sentance needs the following addition ", but you need to check." Relying on code inspection and competent builders is like relying on software to follow RFC must and should. They should do it, but there's a significant chance they didn't and it's going to be your problem if they didn't, so you should confirm before you buy. You also can't rely on home inspectors to find this kind of thing; again, they should.