I'd appreciate a discussion of modern inorganic replacements for building materials for a NW FLA Panhandle, beach community home built on pilings.

I'm assuming there are inorganic alternative that wear longer with less maintenance than, say, 2x4 wood decks, wood clapboards, and cedar shingles.

Plastic wood decking, concrete pilings, Siding?

There are all sorts of inorganic cladding materials these days, from insulated or uninsulated vinyl, fiber-cement siding, such as Hardi and Nichiha, and PVC products. There's also stucco, a popular choice in FL. It comes down to personal preference and budget. For our traditional Craftsman home, I went with Nichiha fiber cement siding, with Hardi trim and a metal roof. I used PVC trim in the areas that came down to grade, as fiber cement is prone to wick water if too close to the soil. I installed the siding over a rain gap to promote rapid drying, and I expect/hope that we will have a fairly low maintenance exterior.

In a hurricane zone like the FL panhandle there's a lot to be said for building the walls with a SCIP approach rather than framed construction. With a SCIP the shot-crete exterior can be the scratch coat for hard stucco, and the interior shot-crete can be the scratch coat for hard plaster. In that area even a 2" EPS core SCIP structure would meet code min, but 3" is probably still "worth it". I've not seen it done with pier foundations, but that's not to say it would be a big change.

Some local N-FL press on the approach:

https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=545337


SCIP build blog detailing a Panama City house project:

http://waterfrontbuildinginpanamacity.blogspot.com/

Other regional bloggery bits:

http://northgeorgiascipshouse.blogspot.com/

I can tell you that SCIP homes hold up well right on the ocean. From what I've seen, almost any kind of exposed (interior or exterior) metal, even fasteners) is a problem with other designs.