Hi all,

I am building a 1600 sq ft modified bi-level home with an ICF Basement, and SIPS walls and roof.  I have talked to 2 contractors who both would like to do the job.

The first I talked to was hesitant about using SIPS at first, because he has never used them before.  He is building another home in my area (a little over an hour from the city) so there may be some efficiencies with his crew already being in town/building 2 homes at a time.

Because of the first builders hesitancy's I talked to a second builder to get a price on building with SIPS, who specialuizes in energy efficient homes, and builds with SIPS regularly. 

I am now waiting to hear back from both builders on prices, although it is hard to compare, I know.

I would like to go with Builder #1,  but I wonder if I want my house to be his "learning experience" or if the SIPS go together so easy that I have nothing to worry about.

Builder #2 definatley knows the product better, and that gives me a little more confidence.

What to do?

Hesitance often turns out to be costly in many ways. I would personnaly go with the more experienced builder who knows your preffered system best. Not that the other is incompetant but simply inexperienced in a certain area.
If #1 wants to go ahead and would like to add a new feature under his belt ask if you could work out a middle ground price wise and bring in a proffesionnal on site to help both your situations.

Bricklayer - I'd go with the GC who specializes in energy efficient homes.  There is a learning curve to using inovative building systems and I'd think you would prefer that to happen elsewhere.  Further if the guy specializes in energy efficeint homes, I gather that is your goal, so it just makes sense. 

It wouldn't surprize me though if the other contractor's price is cheaper.   If you decide to go with him, it might make sense to hire a 3rd party such as a HERS rater to oversee/check the energy efficient aspects of the construction process.  Here we can get a HERS rater for about $800 for say a 2k sq ft house.  They verify the house design from a EE standpoint, then do the blower door and duct blaster tests and check the integrity of the building envelope - etc.

For that matter it would make sense to get a HERS rater regardless of what contractor you use.  NO - I'm not a HERS rater, nor do I sell that.

Bricklayer;

I don't even understand why you would consider using an inexperienced builder?? You may use quote to negotiate price, but in the end there is no substitute for experience

My experience with SIPS is that when they go together easily, it's very easy. When they don't it's very hard. We used two different sets of SIPs on my project in Arizona, the first were styrene and were surplus 3 years old. They were tough to work with until we figured out some tricks, like using the backhoe to push and ripping sill plates to fit tight panels. The roof panels were brand new urethane panels and it went on in 6 hours - we also had a bigger crew with more experience AND a bigger backhoe, which lifted the panels into place. The extra guy and hoe was $550 - well worth it.

The experience comes pretty fast, so I'd go with the guys you're most comfortable with. Just make sure everyone has read the instruction book, it's different from different manufacturers, and that matters. This means YOU too, so you can keep the process on target.

Posted By JR in WV on 16 Apr 2010 10:10 AM
My experience with SIPS is that when they go together easily, it's very easy. When they don't it's very hard.

thats the truth! we have done many different sytems, we prefer those systems that do not require splines or spline fastening, "Friction Fit", "SipBloc" or "FrictionLok"

why not use the guy who has experience with SIPs as a sub to the guy you want? SIPs are pretty easy to put up (when the go together easily!) and there is a lot more to a house then just the exterior shell.

Just to go back to the original post.

Are there efficiencies with builder number one already being in the area building a home? Maybe it means he'll be stretched thin. Maybe you want the guy who can dump all his resources into Your house.

When you say you are getting prices from both does that mean for the same kinds of walls and roof?