Town centers still just plans

[adamh0903]

For some reason thats a misconseption that the brick industry has never been able to overcome. The total cost "on the wall" for brick can sometimes be 5-8% more than vinyl, stucco or other exteriors. This really depends on the quality of brick mason you hire and how detailed the brick work is. The cost is really not THAT much more when you think about brick will never rot, dent or need painting. But when you are a track home builder 5-8% over 250 homes adds up, and when you are a commercial builder and you need to cut corners and cost, this is the easiest place to do it.

Growing up in SC, in the '60's and '70's it seemed 70% or more of homes were built with brick.  This was the case with houses in ALL income levels.  Today, only the most expensive houses are built with brick. 

Painting a house is quite expense, and it doesn't seem logical that anyone building-to-suit would pick wood over brick if the cost difference is that small.  Vinyl has always fought a bad reputation for looking cheap, which in my opinion, it largely does.  Again if the difference is that small, it would seem few people would choose the alternatives.   

I think you see this because the majority of home buyers are people who buy tract homes and dont have to option of chosing exteriors. There are a few tract home builders that give you the option of all brick construction, www.adamshomes.com is one in Jacksonville, and the cost for these homes are right inline with other builders. On the other hand, people who own a peice of land, and want a house built on it, usually use a "custom home builder"  and the majority of these homes are built with brick, unless the home owner wants something different. When i bought my home, it was in a subdivision, but the builder gave me the option of chosing exteriors and gave me a brick allowance of  $262/1000. In that price range I had about 7 colors and styles to chose from.