re: Any of you D.I.Yers ever build without a permit?

I got fined for putting my fence 19'8" from the sidewalk, when it is supposed to be 20ft. Out of the 8 houses on my block, 6 of them have fences within 10ft of the sidewalk, most within 5ft, and one is a foot. Mine is furthest back, looks the best, only took me a day to move forward, and I still got fined for multiple things like fence too close, no permit, gate too close to park a full sized truck in the driveway when it's closed, no walkway gate (I don't have a walkway). I also got fined for not tearing it down. I ran it over with my truck that night, and the inspector came and told me not to touch it again. Two days later, I got fined for having construction debris in my yard. Then, I had to spend $600 on getting a survey, three days losing in court, and still had to get the permits. Yeah, it's a racket

They even want you to get a permit to put a new toilet in your house