First off, I"m not against making and beautifying impressive structures late game or in creative mode. I'm not very good at it but am impressed by what others have done. No, I'm talking about building during the early/main part of the run

I use my hoe more in making cart roads in horrible places, boat salvage spots, and navigation beacons than anyplace else except for the rare moat/wall defense. I almost never bother leveling ground for buildings or even fortification walls.

It helps that the vast majority of my buildings are between 2x2 and 4x4 (rarely 5x5) so that sticking struts at the corners where necessary takes care of structural strength needs. Also I tend to use any old ruins that are handy, a couple of patches and repairs and good to go.

As to roads, bridges, and the odd pier; for the most part I don't do anything more than absolutely necessary and I'll unashamedly use 26 degree thatch roofing and floor tiles to avoid major hoe and pickaxe work for cart roads.

I mentioned beacons above - that's my name for a "if I wasn't so lazy I'd build a lighthouse" things consisting of a single raised earth column (height no more than necessary to get above most things nearby) with a campfire on top and a single 2x2 wall plus 45 degree roof to serve dual purpose as reflector and protector.

About the only deviation from the 'lazy builder' behavior on my part is with combat engineering - like I'll build an elevated covered bridge to make hauling iron out of swamps with carts while doubling as fighting platforms for well.. just about everything. Cartway stations atop crypts of course and the elevated cartway tends to meander a bit so as to use 'forever' trees as support rather than an earth column/pole.

None of this type of thing is seen on streams or videos nor in the rare written guides.
So in the end I'm wondering, am I the only 'Ramshackle and proud of it' anti-builder playing?