WhatsitCost

What's it Cost?

nother

question I’ve been asked many times, and one that’s been difficult to answer is

simply,

“What

s the cost of SIP's

compared to conventional construction

?”

What is

important is the final cost of your home.

A friend of mine, Tom Hildreth, who runs Advanced Building and Development (www.

AdvancedBD.

), is very knowledgeable in building with scientifically proven materials

and methods to lower costs and improve energy efficiency. So, knowing his background

and experience, I put the question to him. We started making phone calls, and asking for

formation from building contractors, concrete companies,

and SIP builders, gathered all

the

numbers, crunched them, and I think

came up

with

some answers.

We calculate

that it

is 4.9% more expensive to build with SIP's than stick build, with a 8 month payback.

In some areas, it's actually about 5% less expensive to build with SIP's.

That means that the extra expense for SIP's would be paid back in under 8 months and you

would continue saving after that.

hese calculations are backed up by the

Oak Ridge test

data

for the R-value for the SIP’s. The Federal Oak Ridge Report can be found

The second page addresses the question of whether to use SIP or ICF walls. Personally,

I think if you are going to use your basement as a living space, ICF’s will out perform a

poured concrete wall by a large margin. So, unless you have some strong reason to go

with ICF’s, such as sound reduction, it appears that SIP’s are the more economical way

to go

for roof and walls

To see the results, click