I had no idea what good insulation meant until I moved to Germany. I can spot it pretty quickly now. What I saw from the inside of that house didn't seem to be anything especially different from a standard build. More of it, sure. Nicely done, sure. But same technique. And the glass most definitely doesn't look triple glazed.
those are masonry homes, you are correct but those don't really exist in the US .. it's all stick framed houses here which is fine
You are correct.
Even a house like that is built by the same standards and same people as the 200k house down the street.
yessir it's called the residential building code
