We let perfect be the enemy of good a lot here. Environmental regs, construction standards, and the ADA bring a lot of benefits but they've made it so there's so such thing as a minor project anymore.
but yes, overall, codes become more complicated and it gets harder to build. the quality is better, but it is slower.
one of my old coworkers started a startup to help people navigate codes faster and understand the specifications, which in of itself can be a hindrance wrt the permitting process (though that's only one part of construction).
The permitting and environmental review system was put into place with the best of intentions but it's a hot mess now. We definitely don't want to set anyone like Robert Moses [0] loose with a bulldozer again but the system in place now makes it difficult and expensive to build anything, even critical infrastructure.
Example: A dredge hit the only bridge to Hatteras Island in 1990, leading to its temporary closure and planned replacement in the early-mid 1990s. Despite the fact that the soon-reopened, damaged span had a safety rating of 4/100, an environmental non-profit was able to delay the opening of its replacement until 2019. [1]
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Moses
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_Inlet#Herbert_C._Bonner...
Construction is hard, and it's getting harder. New code and regulation is hard. The contractor/subcontractor relationship is hard, and it produces a lot of bad anti-patterns in "cover your ass," or doing things that are just plain wrong, but are what was written down.
Perhaps worst is that the tools have only marginally improved. A hammer is still a hammer, and a nailgun is still a nailgun. Hanging drywall doesn't go faster than it did 30 years ago really. Though, as homes/buildings get more complicated, it only serves to need more specialists, more cooks in the kitchen, and slower results.
Heck, just look at the cost to build a mile of highway. And that's a relatively simple construction. Yet when you look at what goes into it, all of the people involved, all of the engineering that goes into it, and all of the fixtures that are required to "finish," a road to a modern standard, it's expensive.
Construction is one area where there just really is little replacement for hard work.