house siding, w stucco and cement board.

My MIL has an old farm house and they added on a room and closed in some windows. Next they used strand board and house wrap. Then they screwed up 4x8 sheets of cement fiber board, similar to the Hardie Board siding, but I think a cheaper store brand is what they used. Then they used some kind of spray machine and spayed a stucco mixture over the cement board. Then they painted it with Elasameric paint. (not sure if I have that name exactly right or not, but anyway, it is an elastic sort of stretchy paint that is used specifically for stucco, maybe they used a primer too, I don't know right off).
Has anyone ever heard of doing siding like that and if so how it would hold up over time, weather, ect. I would love to hear suggestions and advice for siding a house. I would like stucco, but the labor is so expensive and we could do this method ourselves. What do ya'all think of it? Her project turned out beautiful. But it is an old farmhouse and very small, so not too much risk involved. I am a little more reserved to do it on a new house construction...