Bricks vs Stone

Hi all!

I found this site by coincident the other day and it's great. There is so much information on here.

My husband and I are planning on building our own house in the near future. We just can't decide on the material, i.e. if we want weatherboard, bricks or stone. Does anyone have an opinion on which is cheapest and long lasting. We want to build one of those federation/victorian houses and weatherboard would be ideal for "the look" but they need alot of maintenance. We have been thinking of sandstone or something like that. Are they much more expensive than bricks?

Also, we want to draw up our own plans but we will need someone professional to finish them for us. Any ideas on prices for someone to draw up a plan?

Cheers, Olga