The building codes/inspectors are all-frickin'-over the place. If you are from Chicago, have tons of money, and want to build a camp that you visit twice a year, you buy yourself a remote cabin variance and you are in business! If you are of modest means and you want to build a year round house, you are SOL. Most camps here are in the deep woods, to whereas most farmland is on an all season road and near enough to the grid that they'll want you to hook up to and wouldn't grant you a remote cabin variance. Plus, if you get a remote cabin variance, you don't have to have a septic, but then you *aren't allowed* to have running water indoors, even just on a point well.
They cannot/will not answer questions ahead of time, because they don't get paid for it. Building inspectors make like $25 per inspection, nothing for phone calls. So they all have other jobs, usually as contractors, and therefore have a strong incentive to shut out alternative buildings.
My advice would be to pull a permit and build a barn, but do it in such a way that it's livable- insulate the heck out of it, put in windows and floor, etc. It'll pass inspection, no occupancy permit required. Then drill your point, put in your shower and kitchen and composting toilet. Say that the barn is your staging area until you get around to building your 3500 square foot house (it is all about revenue generation- big house = more taxes). Then just... never get around to it.
Figure out how to avoid the home codes- sometimes if you build on skids, you don't need a permit, sometimes you have to build under 20'x20' or 14'x14', it depends on the locale. If you are in an unincorporated community, you could build one or several "park model RVs" - 12' wide x 32' long and 16' tall. You probably would not have to register it as an RV, though you might need to build it on a trailer- again, this depends on where you are and who is working at the office when you call.
If you want to homestead, the unincorporated communities here are the way to go. City and town governments here are incredibly backward when it comes to the urban farming trend.
