Stucco - Painted Concrete or Acrylic?

[scashdan]

We're finishing our house and have been offered two alternatives for the stucco on the house - either (1) applying concrete stucco to the exterior walls, then painting the concrete, or (2) using an acrylic stucco product where the paint color is mixed directly into the product, then sprayed on the walls. The contractor told us that the concrete stucco will easily crack and will start to look bad, but that the acrylic stucco product is more elastic, and thus would not crack. The difference in cost between (1) and (2) is $11K, with (2) being much more expensive.

I was hoping someone on this board would be able to tell me if using concrete stucco, then painting it, would really be as bad as my contractor is predicting (lots of cracks), or if he is just trying to sell me on the more expensive product.

By the way, I live in Phoenix, where our summers are routinely 110 degrees, so the walls do get pounded by the heat and sun.

I've also cross-posted this thread in the concrete and masonry forums, since I didn't know where to post this question about stucco.

Thanks in advance for your replies.