House roofs in the US are often quite steep, and typically asphalt shingles over plywood. Terra cotta exists but is rare outside certain regions (and not that c

House roofs in the US are often quite steep, and typically asphalt shingles over plywood. Terra cotta exists but is rare outside certain regions (and not that common even in those). Wood shingles exist but most are terrible, most still around now were installed after we ran out of wood good enough to give them their supposed 50+ year lifespan (we ran out in the 70s or 80s), so people tend to replace them with asphalt when they go to shit in 20-30ish years rather than paying a large premium to replace them with more (bad) wood. Slate, copper, et c., exist, but are basically "exotic"—no normal person has those on their house unless they bought a very old house in a bad neighborhood (a house with a roof like that's likely to be crazy-expensive if it's not in a bad neighborhood). Most people in the US don't work on their own roofs. You need safety equipment most people don't own, plus protective equipment to keep from damaging the shingles, and to be proficient with it you need to use the stuff more than once every couple decades. And even then, it's pretty dangerous.