Steel SIP panel questions, answered.

The panel package costs more than a lumber package. The finished wall usually costs less, because the panel replaces framing, insulation, sheathing and vapour barrier, and cuts framing labour by roughly half. Then the mechanical system shrinks by about 50%, which is money back on day one. We will price it both ways so you can see the whole picture rather than one line of it.

It depends entirely on the building, which is why the estimate is free and comes with a like-for-like comparison against framing plus insulation plus sheathing plus the labour for all of it. Send plans, a sketch, or a description with rough dimensions. We break down what drives the number in what steel SIP panels cost.

A delivered price for the panel package, quoted from your drawings, with an honest comparison against framing plus insulation plus sheathing plus labour.

Freight is a quoted line item with the package, based on your address.

A documented R-51 to R-61 envelope and a heating bill a quarter of the neighbours’ is an unusually concrete thing to put in a listing, and buyers in this market have learned to ask.

Two to four weeks for shop drawings after we have your plans, then manufacturing, then delivery. On site, an average house shell goes up in about three days. We give you a firm date before you commit to anything.

Shop drawings typically take two to four weeks after we have your plans, and manufacturing runs behind that. We give you a firm date before you commit.

There is no catalogue. Nearly every project is custom. Curved walls, round windows, cathedral ceilings and A-frames have all been built. We panelize your architect’s drawings; we do not ask you to build ours.

We panelize from their drawings, not the other way round. Curved walls, cathedral ceilings and unusual openings have all been done: the drafting team works directly with your architect and engineer.

Rough openings are pre-fabricated to each window manufacturer's specification, so large glazed walls are drawn in from the start rather than cut in on site.

Manufacturing tolerances are documented against HUD requirements. Openings are pre-fabricated to the window schedule, no measuring or cutting on site.

Bundles can be broken down and shuttled in with a smaller truck or trailer when the last mile is tight. Tell us early and we plan the delivery around it.

They are close to ideal for it. Panels are manufactured to the shop drawings, bundled in groups of six in wall-line order, and numbered to match the plan. A crew can set them straight off the trailer, which is why constrained urban sites are one of the strongest cases for panelizing the envelope.

Your own framer, in almost every case. Training is under two hours for a crew that has framed before, and the only power tool required is a screw gun. Panels are numbered to match the drawings and every piece of hardware ships with the package.

Many do. Every panel is numbered to match the drawing, bundles arrive in wall-line order with track and screws included, and the 36-page illustrated assembly manual on our resources page is written to be read before the truck arrives.

Plenty of owner-builders do. Panels are numbered to match the drawings, the assembly manual runs to 36 illustrated pages, and one framer with two helpers is a typical crew. If you are handy and have framed before, the learning curve is a couple of hours.

Rarely for residential scale. Panels average 45 lb for a 4' × 12': two people can carry one.

Yes. Nothing in a steel and EPS panel needs to dry, cure or acclimatise. We set panels through New England winters, and once the shell is closed you can heat and work inside within days.

Every panel has a 1″ × 2″ wire raceway 11″ up from the bottom, so no stud gets drilled. Boxes attach to the studs as usual, and foam is cut back with a hot knife where a vertical run or a pipe needs to pass.

In a zone 6A winter, a well-built panel house typically uses 70–75% less heating energy than the code-built version of the same plan. On a house that would otherwise burn 900 gallons of oil a year, that is roughly 225–270 gallons. Send us your plans and we will run it against your design rather than a generic house.

Quieter and more even. There are no cold walls, no draught at the base of a stud bay, and rooms stay within a degree or two of each other. The panels also do not off-gas and contain no carcinogens, pathogens or allergens.

No, the steel is fully thermally broken from the outside face, which is what separates this from ordinary light gauge framing.

Same or better performance in five and a half or seven and a half inches instead of twelve to sixteen, and no organic material in the assembly to manage for moisture.

It is the best case for it. Cutting the heating and cooling load by up to 75% means a smaller array, a smaller battery bank and a generator you rarely need to start.

The lower load means a smaller array and a shorter payback: that is the whole case.

None that is structural. There is no wood to rot, no insulation to settle and nothing pests will eat. Maintenance is whatever cladding you chose to put on the outside.

No off-gassing, no carcinogens, pathogens or allergens, and nothing that feeds mold or mildew.

Ten years on the panel material, with manufacturing records kept for twenty-five. If a panel needs to be replaced or added later, it can be matched from the file.

Manufacturing records are held for 25 years, so panels can be matched and supplied to the original specification. A 10-year material warranty covers the panels themselves.

There is no organic material to rot, no cavity to trap moisture and nothing for mold or mildew to feed on. Setback costs little because the shell holds temperature, and recovery is fast when you arrive.

Directly, by removing the cause. Ice damming is a heat-loss problem: warm air escapes into the roof assembly, melts the snowpack from below, and the meltwater freezes at a cold eave. A continuous thermally broken roof leaves very little heat to do that with.

The steel is galvanised and fully enclosed behind whatever cladding you choose. There is no organic material in the assembly for moisture or salt to attack, and nothing that feeds mold or mildew in a house that sits closed for months.

EPS and galvanised steel do not rot or delaminate when wet, which is a meaningful difference from wood framing or OSB-faced panels. Elevated first-floor designs and rated below-grade panels are both available.

Yes. IAPMO load tables for construction types II–V, two-hour fire-rated load-bearing assemblies, Florida and Miami-Dade hurricane approval, HUD compliance, seismic testing and ASTM air and water penetration reports. Every document is on the resources page for your plan reviewer.

IAPMO load tables cover construction types II through V. Exterior panels carry up to 42,000 plf LRFD; shear performance runs to 2,420 plf with a 2.0 safety factor. All tables are signed and sealed by BEI Engineering.

Two-hour load-bearing, one-hour load-bearing and two-hour non-load-bearing assemblies are tested and documented, along with EPS smoke and flame spread and self-ignition data. The assembly tests as non-combustible.

Roof panels are engineered as load-bearing elements and the sealed load tables from BEI Engineering cover the numbers your engineer will want. They are on our resources page, along with more than 200 connection details including ridge, eave and bearing conditions.

The hurricane panel is designed, tested and certified to withstand 185 mph including flying debris, to the Miami-Dade protocol, and carries Florida Product Approval and a Miami-Dade Notice of Acceptance. Both documents are on our resources page. Our guide to building on the New England coast covers wind, salt air and moisture.

It contributes to several credits: energy performance, recycled content, waste reduction and indoor air quality among them. Our LEED page walks through which and how.

Usually yes. We take the as-built dimensions off what is actually in the ground rather than off the original drawings, and panelize to them, so the package arrives square to reality.

Yes. Matching an existing structure is a drawing problem, and the addition ends up better insulated than what it attaches to, which is usually the point.

Regularly. Interior panels are used for party walls, thermal separations and inserted floors within existing buildings, and the 3.5 inch panel is thin enough not to eat the floor plan.

Below-grade panels are rated for foundation, knee and retaining wall use, so the walkout level can be the same R-61 assembly as the floors above it.

Yes. Load-bearing panels carry up to 42,000 plf and the system has been used for mid-rise multi-family and hotels; two-hour fire-rated load-bearing assemblies are documented.

Framing labour drops by roughly half and the building is weathertight sooner, which pulls every interior trade forward. On a financed project that is months of carry, and on hospitality it is an earlier opening date.

STC-rated assemblies with clips are documented, plus independent ratings calculated by INSUL EU. The concrete floor panel also gives a high-STC fire stop between floors.

Yes. The concrete floor panel is a stay-in-place form spanning up to 50 ft clear with minimal shoring, cutting concrete volume by about 40% and floor labour by over 60%.

Yes. The panel is used for commercial freezers and cold storage for the same reason it works in a house: a continuous, thermally broken envelope with no thermal bridging and no organic content. More in walk-in freezers and cold storage.

Architectural drawings and a structural set if you have one. We return a panelized take-off, a delivered price and a preliminary panel layout. Connection details are available in PDF and AutoCAD for your drafting team.

The manufacturer is SAM.gov registered and supplies government projects; documentation is on the resources page.

No. We have supplied everything from a garden shed to a six-storey building.