system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: why are most suburban houses in the US built with wood, instead of bricks and mortar?
gpt
Wood is cheap, plentiful, and easy to build with and transport. Very good strength/weight ratio compared to masonry.

A full masonry structure is enormously heavy and much more costly.  Even most “brick” houses in the the US are “masonry facade” with a wooden frame.

You can get some cinderblock construction in hurricane bullseye zones along the gulf coast, other than that it’s almost entirely wood frame construction in the US.