i built an all-brick house. it's, by far, one of the best exterior materials under the sun. stone is also durable.
brick (in cold climates) requires a frost footer. if your house lacks a footer, it must be back-dug and a footer poured and block laid to just below the finish grade. brick is heavy and must have substantial footing to support the mass.
done properly, there will be no settling, no cracking of joints, stair-steppring, etc.
remamber to figure the steel in for you carry's over man doors, windows and garage doors.
the last home i owned was partial brick and 40+ years old. other than a little repointing of the morter (easily done by a semi-skilled home owner), brick is as close to zero-maintanance as it gets.
also, your brick should be tied to your plywood/osb with masonry ties...easily done as you stripped your old siding off.
brick runs $275-$450/1000 in my area and my house used just under 20k brick (std. size). that's about $8k in bricks. by the time you figure morter and labor costs, it worked out to about $1 per brick to go that route.
don't forget, brick adds mucho value to the resale/desirability of your home. some realtors i spoke with said it usually figures in the 25-30% range in my locale for vinyl vs brick.