Why are residential homes still built out of wood when commercial buildings are built with metal?

Question

It just seems that if you built a residential home with metal studs versus wood studs the benefits would be greater.

-straight walls instead of bowed studs

-much stronger

-fire resistant

-mold resistant

-no termites

Answer 1

Yes but wood framing is generally lower cost. Some homes are built with steel frame or masonry. Most people prefer to spend the money on things that show.

Answer 2

It's cheaper to build with wood than with metal.  Yes metal is the better, stronger, and safer choice but...wood is used because of how economical it is.  It's also a code thing, it's required for almost all commercial buildings to be steel framed (for the exact reasons you have listed) while code for residential buildings allows for just wood framing (light frame construction)