I wonder what the OP thinks about historical societies.
Here is a GREAT ONE.
Replacing the windows on the house. We want thermal double pane with UV coating to come up to energy efficient standards.
The city, not a HOA will NOT ALLOW you order what you want as it "will destroy the look of the city" If you want permits then you have to do it THEIR way. And that way is not having energy efficient windows and with ALL original detailing put back into place. sorry you CAN NOT have double hung windows you MUST have casement windows as that is what was there to begin with.
A 25k job just turned into a 75k job.
Its not just the HOA's
But i tell you what, the city has no problem if you turn your house into a dump site and let it go to weeds.