With a bit of research prior to your construction efforts you could probably have prevented the agita you encountered. For those of us who can offer advice, it always helps to simply list your general location, as local ordinances can vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and state requirements may also come-into play. Development is usually a 'home-rule' thing, though. The state does adopt a building code, to ensure uniformity across the state, and the federal government has for years required future land use planning in populated areas above a threshold.
Did you need any variances for setback, building placement, % of plot coverage, building size, building height, building use, or style of construction, or any-other relief from the building/land development codes? That is when the letters go-out to the neighbors, here in Florida, that may-be different in your area, but since I don't even-know your state, I cannot offer you anything other than that. I processed many requests for variance, special permits, temporary permits (watchman's trailers on the jobsite during the construction project, common on commercial or industrial sites, also used here in Florida on residential sites where there is no residence yet) and zoning classification changes.
Your local code of ordinances will specify that people who are registered property owners within a certain buffer distance need to be served with notice of your proposed plans, or property use changes, when variance(s) request(s), special or (sometimes) temporary use requests, etc., are made. Becoming familiar with the application process for your building project is something you need to-do to safeguard your considerable financial outlay. The website for the building dept. probably has links to all the information you need for this scope of project, right-on their main webpage. Bottom line on the permitting process, you would not have been given a permit to begin construction without passing all the requirements.
When the contractor was a 'no-show' for the hearing on your development plans, once you were in-receipt of the meeting notice, I would-have had written contact, not just a phone call ("yeah we'll be there") with your contractor to ensure their attendance. "It's just a formality, we don't need to attend" is not an acceptable excuse to not-meet the town board, city council, or whoever is the AHJ who could have denied your application. My experience is that in the absence of the applicant not-being present, and thank-god you were, the AHJ may choose to deny the application upon opposition appearing, making their statement, and no-one from the applicant being there to rebut the objections. I have even-seen people who are members of the community, not within the buffer zone area where notification of the application is required, getting-up to voice opposition to a proposed project.
About the fire inspector and the issues he identified, he made the proper interpretation of the code from his evaluation. However, he may have chosen to rely on an incorrect classification. It sounds like he was using the code for a commercial or industrial building, and not for a residential garage for a single family dwelling or residence (SFR). A fully-outfitted engine company or a ladder truck/elevating platform could weigh in-excess of 74,000 lbs, though most quads or quints are less-than that. A driver-engineer operating such a rig isn't going to venture off the roadway or onto a SFR driveway, as was mentioned; since you're next-to a hydrant, and assuming it's 'in-service' (capable of flowing water to its designed capacity) the engine company is going to make a 'straight lay' from the hydrant, and the firefighters are going to deploy by hand the 2-1/2" or 3" hose(s) to the detached accessory building for firefighting/suppression activities. The engine company doesn't need-to enter your property. It will stay staged at the hydrant where they can make the 5" suction hose connection from the hydrant to the engine company intake port.
Your trip to the fire dept. once the fire inspector did an inspection of your property and was less-than helpful in providing you with information was a proper move, though it really should have been done by the GC for the building project, that's what you're paying them for. Your contract said that: "all permits." Nevertheless, you were able to get the sign-off you needed.
When the fire inspector gave you your violations, he should have been quoting the sections of the code where he found the project as-designed to be in-violation. That makes it far-easier to 'comply with code.'
Here in Florida it's not-uncommon for the chief building official to require a meeting with the licensed contractor, engineer, or architect if the same issue fails inspection twice. This is to ensure that the applicant and the licensed discipline involved are aware of what needs to be done to get approval to proceed with the permitted plan.
In the unlikely event that something is found to be non-compliant at the end of the project, after the appropriate inspection process should have caught the non-compliance, but didn't, most jurisdictions have some-sort of clause in their code of ordinances which says that 'whenever non-compliance is discovered, the code shall be followed.' Sometimes this means that a variance will have-to be applied-for and awarded. An example of this might be that a required setback was violated, or a square footage requirement wasn't met. In cases like this, the jurisdiction may require the homeowner or registered property owner to apply for a variance. Because the issue wasn't discovered until the end of the project, during inspections the AHJ probably had one of the inspectors 'drop the ball.' As long as it's not a serious life safety issue, like not-a sufficient number of means of egress, or something easily-corrected, the AHJ will award the variance to make the project component in-question compliant via variance. Sometimes there may-be a construction change required, but it would be a rare event to require demolition of a building just-constructed, in my experience.
The easiest way to ensure that the CO is awarded is to make the final payment to the contractor of record contingent upon being signed-off with the AHJ for the CO.
I am a career firefighter/paramedic, retired, I'm a firesafety inspector (the Florida term). I have also worked as a planner, and am a licensed plans examiner.
