Red bricks and other varieties are kiln fired, not unlike ceramics and glass.

Concrete cinder blocks are cured in a mold, as with all concrete.

Adobe is often sun-baked in desert climates, but it's not as practical in other climates.

Cobble stones are hewn from found or quarried rock. Not all rock can withstand all environments, based on frost action and other factors. Graveyards tend to regulate head stone selection for this reason.

So it all really depends on your brick selection, and what will work for where you are, and how much you want to spend.

It's clay, and wood is much more abundant in the US. However, in other places such as the UK, wood isn't abundant, so most houses are made of brick.

The UK has a particular problem with a fungus that attacks lumber, serpula lacrymans aka ‘dry rot’.

Related, we're throwing up so many new houses these days, that the UK brick industry can't keep up with demand:

https://www.theconstructionindex.co.uk/news/view/uk-brick-ma...

Transporting them is expensive because they're heavy and they're made far away from where the buildings are being built.

if it catches on, that will no longer be a problem.

dirt plus