Purchasing land, getting building permits, etc. are not part of the fantasy, so they are never going to feature in the video.
It's like saying "these videos of hot bikini models oddly omit all the dieting and exercise"
You consider these videos fantasy, for others they may be instructional. That everyone watches popular videos with exactly the same perspective seems pretty unlikely.
You may look at this video as instructional, and that's probably okay, but it definitely wasn't created for that purpose. So its up to you to do the research on the omitted content.
"Hello, Geico. How much to insure a Huracan?"
Technically, I need to get a permit to cut down _any_ tree over 5 years old more than 30 meters from my house. Nobody does this, and the law is unenforced, but I probably wouldn't put up a video of it for fear of attracting attention.
I also should have tried to get a permit for my daughters' playhouse - _clearly_ not an inhabitable structure - because it's in the curtilage of a protected structure. But I didn't.
Recording things and putting them online invites complaint from busybodies though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWgG5pmhdik
They tend to get more into the realities of this type of work and lifestyle.
http://www.seattle.gov/sdci/codes/codes-we-enforce-(a-z)/tre...
California is famous for such regulations. In other states you are unlikely to have problems.
Arguably, this is to protect what little woodland we have left. Practically, though, it means that I would _love_ to reforest my land with native species, but don't, because it will forever lose its value as grazing land.
And I tend to agree, though private property is a complicated thing. After all, who did you buy it from? And who did they buy it from? And the person before that? Unless you're royalty and can defend your property by force (arguably the only true allodial title), you're basically borrowing the land from whatever government defends it for you.
“Where’s the R40 insulation?” “This is a 3-season cabin unoccupied 75% of the time. Or the insulation is weak, but the structure and windows are small, so it’s actually far more efficient than an R40 mansion”
“Where’s the septic field?” “The toilet is for guests (100flushes/yr) into a holding tank, pumped out yearly. I use the outhouse”
“Where’s the 20A circuits in the kitchen?” “I have 1 socket for 1 appliance, everything else is gas”
“Why aren’t there sockets every 10 feet?” “The whole point is to NOT have dozens of gizmos here”
“Your shower doesn’t drain into an approved gray-water system” “I can wash my car/shower outside but can’t shower with a bucket indoors?”
“This doesn’t meet min sqft requirements” “I built all the sqft I need, I’ll spend a half my time here hiking and fishing”
Crap like that.
One whole reason to build out in the boondocks is to build as you like. So it’s kind of beside the point, I think.
On the other hand if you want to build to some code, no one is stopping you either, so there is that.