Dear all, Please show me about your experience projects in "Labor cost and work rate" in floor wall and roof structure installation. Thank a lot for your information

The great quandry of any SIP supplier is justifying the added material cost to the prospective client. Often this client is a builder who is simply trying to compete, is not a marketing whiz (so has a tough time justifying to any person even a slight price premium), and wants to experiment with building "green". Some of the larger SIP companies have the money to invest in detailed building studies and some of their websites disclose this information. The foam companies, however, who often supply foam to both EPS and PU sip companies, will have the most to gain from helping you with this analysis. See this great link from BASF: http://www.globalbuilding.net/SIPs_Brochure-1.pdf

In this BASF study SIPs installed significantly faster than stick-built construction, and as they say, time is money. A general rule many contractors follow is that for every dollar of materials they estimate two dollars for labor. Now this is thrown on it's head by the SIP industry because of the material premium and savings in labor.

Also of SIGNIFICANT note is the nature of the building design and the nature of the panel interconnect system and the skill of the installer (which can be directly related to the ease of panel installation, just like the skill of the stick-built crew). I have seen SIP homes that probably took twice as long to install as it would have taken for stick because of the complexity of design and the accessibility of the site. The SIP supplying company was located 1000 miles from the build site, the panels came in very large and access with a crane was a real challenge - but again this was a design and site specific issue. Most of the time, however, lot accessibility is easy and home designs are relatively simple, and SIPs will win out over stick in ease of assembly.

But perhaps the most SIGNIFICANT place to look is the ease of panel installation. If you have to join panels by slipping 2x4 or 2x6 lumber in an edge panel void of a 10ft or a 12ft panel then I invite you to go to your local lumber store and try to find a 10ft or 12ft long straight piece of 2x4 or 2x6 lumber - and then find another 150 pcs JUST LIKE IT. Most panels companies requiring splines will tell you to supply it (it makes them appear less expensive) so this should absolutely be considered. Speaking from experience it ain't fun - and if you do it when it's below freezing outside I promise you you'll never want to do it again. Panel systems with pre-installed splines - and some factories will do this for you at additional cost - or simply panel systems that come with pre-installed joining systems are by far the easiest to assemble. There are many of these systems out there as well. Good luck to you!

I try not to be biased towards any particular panel type and as a designer, I have no real allegiances to any one type of panel because my end product are drawings and not a panel sale, but I have to say, the interlocking metal sip with an eps or pu core solves so many of the problems of building that it is in my opinion the closest to being the best, if overall cost issues are carefully considered.