LOL, there are dinosaurs among us. Sorry, but as soon as I hear anybody in the trade (and as time passes, there are very few left) flogging the old, "bunch of rope monkies. no way to add circuits later, blah, blah", like most tradesmen in the 21st, I quickly stop listening. I also have no need to listen to a mechanic morn the loss of split rims and inner tubes.
The alleged access issue is about as far from reality as it get. Any decent residential tradesmen with the proper skills and tools can run Romex anywhere, anytime, for a fraction of the cost of doing a pipe job. The other reason the whole claim is smoke and mirrors is that the majority of additional work is to new locations, not in areas where "just adding a wire" will get the job done. In my area it is heavily tilted to new fan installations, hot tubs, pool pumps etc.... You might have a usable junction and pipe capacity to the area, but that's all. If your code jurisdiction is still mired in the corrupt 1940's you're pulling sheetrock to run pipe.
Sorry, but the "higher standards" line doesn't was either. Both issues discussed here, double tapping breakers, and the legitimate use of the wireway in a panel to make splices, have nothing to do with higher standards. They are code sanctioned, standard industry practice that you disapprove of since your still operating half a century in the past. Nothing wrong with that, if you have the time and money to waste. That said, doing it your way, and running conduit in new homes, is so obscure that it isn't even a rounding error when added to the total of new homes wired. Your being dismissive of industry practice that first became standard between the great wars, and had been doing pretty well ever since. As for it being cost competitive, not even close.
Regarding costs, I'm probably low with the 3X comment. There is much debate on this topic on electrician's forums and it is, as you might imagine, typically a battle between Chicago union electricians and the rest of the first world. Bottom line is that 800' is what is typically expected when slamming 1/2" thin-wall in. Or rough 40-60 man hours to rough in a typical, large home in the 'burbs. Problem with that is that the same job typically takes an electrician and a helper a day an a half with Romex. So roughly 24hrs to complete a rough in, ready for inspection, or 40-60 hours to install conduit, the first step of the job. Once the material costs are accounted for, 3x is going to be typically low, particularly in most market areas, when nobody had done it since Roosevelt was president.