There are so many great, low maintenance cladding materials available these days, I wouldn't restrict myself to either brick or render. I know they are the common and cheapest choices, but it would be nice to see people (and builders) use a bit more thought and imagination when designing a home. Plenty of both natural and man-made cladding materials that are virtually zero maintenance.
I would be looking at a more long term cost model when designing a home. So for example, it might cost $20,000 more to use low or zero maintenance wall cladding, but you'd need to weight that up against how much it costs to repaint the house every 10 years. I don't think many people consider these types of things when building, and builders really couldn't give a rats.