This argument kind of falls apart when you start trying to maintain or improve plumbing, HVAC, and electrical through the house. It's much easier to do that through the wood and drywall of a typical American house.
AFAIK Plumbing tends to run beneath the floors in either construction model. Electrical in brick buildings is a pain as it runs in conduit behind the plaster but this doesn't compromise the viability of your structure and has a fairly long service life.
HVAC also can generally also be run under floors (and outside of the USA forced air systems are pretty unusual so you're only dealing with pipes).
