My first router (TM)

[tony sayer]

They do have bricklayers over there .. don't they;?...

[Adam Funk]

There's also the question of space (bigger houses except in big cities). If I lived in my parents' house, I'd have a table saw & a drill press in the basement.

I do feel more comfortable (especially now that I've got a good SDS drill) screwing fairly heavy stuff to random places in the brick walls here (oldish house) than I would on studded plasterboard in the old country (find the studs & put the screws there).

[Adam Funk]

Yes, one of my uncles is one.

Most of the brick houses you see there have brick "cladding" in front of stud & plasterboard construction (like many new houses here, more or less). Another of my uncles had an old house that was genuinely brick-built & presented some of the DIY issues that I now see in my own here.

[John Williamson]

They do, but as it's so much cheaper to build houses from wood, that's the way they do it. There are also problems with brick buildings in many large, densely populated areas of the USA due to earthquakes. Many Yanks that I meet here are amazed to see centuries old brick walls and buildings still standing.

Wooden buildings as used there tend to creak a bit, but stay standing when the ground moves. Brick and stone ones just collapse in a heap of rubble.

[Tony Bryer]

Here there's no pretence: the term used is 'brick veneer'. The structure is timber (sometimes steel for better termite resistance) frame.