Massachusetts state building codes require all of that, and have for 15 years. On top of which, most townships have laws limiting the number of unrelated people who can live together- in Amherst, it's 4. But our house has a variance, because it was already a fraternity when that went into affect. Still, we have to jump through hoops. Generally, what the inspector does with us, is he gives us a list of things he wants done by the next time he comes- we call it the 30-day list. That way we can get things done in stages, rather than bankrupt ourselves all at once. You might be able to work something like that, if you have a good relationship.
If you have a good lawyer, you might try getting yourself set as a 'family unit'. Most places allow groups that live together for a common purpose (a la nuns) to count as a family for zoning purposes. I realize you're hardly running a convent, but it's worth a shot.
Some advice on your specific problems:
1) We have a sprinkler system, and have since 1977, with its own pump because Amherst doesn't have enough pressure to make ours work on its own. We just had to have the compressor replaced to the tune of $1400. If our sprinklers don't work, the house is closed, no exceptions. There's really no way to get around that one- just get a good company who will come back for repairs, and pay them well.
2) Sheetrock can be done yourself, it's easy once you get the hang of it. Go to the Home Depot or whatever you have there about 30 minutes before they close, and you can probably get a deal on irregular shaped pieces left over from the day. Once you've got the walls done, the hard part is keeping them up- our walls have a hundred fist, foot, and head shaped holes. The way to keep up with it is to cover the holes with bonding tape and then paint over- we do that until a wall is more hole than wall, then we replace. If you need help with exactly how to do the repair, I can explain it. The reason they require it is because plaster will burn through in two seconds, but sheetrock will give you a couple minutes.
3) Spring hinges are cheap. Right now we only have to have our fire doors self-closing, but for next year we have to convert all our doors. What we do with the fire doors is close them for inspection, stop them open the rest of the time. Stupid, but it works.
4) What exactly do you have to put up? Some of our houses have real fire-escapes, with stairs, but we just have steel ladders coming down from every window. I'm betting if they're requiring that, your windows will also have to be of a required size for people to get out of them- the one in my room is extra wide. We have a room on the third floor that has to stay locked all the time (by which we mean "when the inspector comes") because it lacks a window large enough to climb out of, and it doesn't meet the health codes for sunlight and air.
5) This one is funky, I'm not sure how you're going to work it. Does it count if the bedrooms just have door locks? What exactly do they want? Our common area is two rooms on the first, and the basement. We have three bedrooms on the first- two of them have their own doors to the outside, and the third has an entrance with a vestibule which is off the common area, so it's separated. The vestibule was created with a really big piece of sheetrock.
6) We only have to have the hood if it's a gas stove, not for electric- that's why we switched. Is yours the same?
7) You're just going to have to hire an electrician. We have three boxes, but the two extras are wired to breakers on the main one. If you think that's bad- MA has a new code, all low-voltage wiring (telephone, cable, computer network) must be installed by electricians. Ugh.
If you need any more specific advice, just e-mail
jfossell@student.umass.edu. Living in Massachusetts, you learn to deal with stupid government.