I thought maybe you were referring to whole communities that are designed and built by the developer, there is one near us but I can't find a pic of it. the houses are all variations of the same layout, and the same materials used to build them but in slight variations of colour. ppl buy off the plan and get no choice in external colours, maybe a few choices internally. that sort of thing?
The rooves are all identical, the house footprints are identical, the location on the block is identical. I have been down this street and it was what prompted my comment....the fronts of the houses are identical (I just do not have a photo of it).
Go for a walk on this estate and unless you leave a trail of crumbs you will get lost because every street looks exactly the same as the next. There are no landmarks or points of difference to get your bearings at all. And I am not talking about a different color here and there.
Now I cannot be 100% but I am reasonably sure it did not end up this way because 100s of people all had exactly the same idea of how to build their house.
And I do not think it needs to be this way. Nor should it be.