[cute fuzzy bunny]

I actually looked at such a house in the immediate area. The framing was 100% steel with a stucco overlay. Drywall was attached to the steel in the interior.

The builder had a hell of a time selling it because he was heavily advertising its steel construction. People are just a little put off by stuff thats 'different' I guess. Eventually the builder ran into trouble with the bad housing market around here (this was back in 1996) and ended up squatting in the house and finishing the last 20% of the interior work himself. And he wasnt very good at it. That didnt help the cause either. I might actually have bought the house except I was a little concerned about any corners he might have cut that were then covered up with stucco.

All that having been said, a steel frame takes longer, costs more, but is very resistant to wind and settlement, along with being bug and rot proof.

There are a lot of older homes here, and also in Florida, which are largely built from concrete blocks and then sided or stuccoed over. Usually not very attractive, little block houses.

My old house had a clothesline with a wood deck under it that had all its 4x4 structural parts buried in the dirt. When I moved in I pulled that up and it was loaded with termites. Sprayed the heck out of them. Never got any in my house, at least none we were aware of, but my neighbor got them in his house, about 20' away from where I pulled up the decking. So did the neighbor on the opposite side of the court, about 100' away.

Those things do manage to travel...