Pic 1: vinyl house in question.
Pic 2: (partially) bricked house in same neighborhood.

We inherited a small home: 1200 sq ft including the unheated attached garage, single story ranch, built in 92, slab foundation, 3’ crawlspace.

We’re thinking about getting estimates for replacing the vinyl with brick, but I want to go into it knowing some basic logistics.

Do vinyl homes like this have adequate brick ledgers to support brick? How wide do brick ledgers have to be?

If there’s not enough brick ledger, can brick just be built from the ground, instead of on the slab (like Pic 2)? Or, do they retrofit ledges that aren’t strong enough?

One reason we want to do this is, there’s been water damage behind the vinyl on the rear of home. Not from the roof/gutter. Mostly from around vinyl trim work. We’ve had to take down quite a bit of vinyl to repair the wood beneath. So, the facade has to be replaced.