"He talks about strong or weak "bones" and contends that this sort of stick-built construction doesn't have good strong "bones."" I used to have this bias and,

"He talks about strong or weak "bones" and contends that this sort of stick-built construction doesn't have good strong "bones."" I used to have this bias and, to some degree still do - at least aesthetically. However, after building two homes I have come to really appreciate the strength and earthquake resiliency of stud walls clad with plywood sheathing. This kind of shear-wall structure is very strong and quite inexpensive. A "good building" made of brick or stone - like you see in Europe and the East Coast (and that I find very aesthetically pleasing) are very, very fragile to earth shaking. I don't think the "bones" are the problem - the problem is the dressing. Double thick insulation in the walls, noise isolated (or simply double-thick) sheetrock and a 1/4 layer of rubber between the subfloor and the flooring surface (and perhaps some other ingredients) are all you need to make a studwall/stickbuilt structure very, very "solid" and noise isolated, etc.