That's why you "Inherit a codebase", as opposed to "Build a codebase". People who maintain and people who build are... well... they're just different people. We do need them both, but, they are different. Which is why we need them both.
People that build with no regard for future maintainers are building code incorrectly.
It makes me happy when I hand off a code base and the receiving maintainer actually tells me that they appreciate how clear and understandable it is. That's a level of care I wish I always inherited.
Maintainers versus builders aren't different people -- that's just what intellectually lazy programmers tell themselves when they're making another mess for someone else to clean up.
I don't think that is necessarily the case outside a corporate environment. I inherited the SQL-Ledger codebase when we forked to LedgerSMB. Now I am using it as scaffolding to build a very nice, clean, powerful codebase in its place.
