Any ideas of the cost of building a SIP home? We have property in Dade City, FL and would like to find out the SF pricing on building. Had a contract to build a block home but the contractor broke the contract b/c he refused to provide his financials to the bank to be approved for our mortgage. Extremely frustrating waste of a year of planning. Now back to looking into SIPS homes, possibly just dried in??

Cost per sf is tough to say, kind of like saying how much is a car. Maybe better to ask a SIP guy how much it adds to the build cost. I have been told by my general contractor customers that an all ICF house adds 3-5% to the build cost of a single family house.

How much is a car? A car is $279 a month with a $1000 cash-back if you come on down and sign today- everybody knows that, right? :-)

A percentage cost-adder is also a very squishy number, since it really comes down to "compared to what?" and at what thermal performance level. For instance, IRC 2012 code minimum for a block wall in Dade City (US climate zone 2) aren't very stringent- a CMU wall with an inch of exterior EPS or 1" of interior side polyiso meets code min.

That's a pretty cheap wall- I can't imagine that even the skinniest ICF is anywhere near as low as just a 3-5% cost adder to a code-min CMU house. But it might be a mere 3-5% cost adder for an R13 + 10 c.i. code min house in US climate zone 6.

But the hurricane resilience of a reinforced concrete wall is substantially higher than a CMU wall (or a SIP.)

Posted By Dana1 on 27 Apr 2015 04:38 PM
How much is a car? A car is $279 a month with a $1000 cash-back if you come on down and sign today- everybody knows that, right? :-)

A percentage cost-adder is also a very squishy number, since it really comes down to "compared to what?" and at what thermal performance level. For instance, IRC 2012 code minimum for a block wall in Dade City (US climate zone 2) aren't very stringent- a CMU wall with an inch of exterior EPS or 1" of interior side polyiso meets code min.

That's a pretty cheap wall- I can't imagine that even the skinniest ICF is anywhere near as low as just a 3-5% cost adder to a code-min CMU house. But it might be a mere 3-5% cost adder for an R13 + 10 c.i. code min house in US climate zone 6.

But the hurricane resilience of a reinforced concrete wall is substantially higher than a CMU wall (or a SIP.)

I can only speak as to here in Twin Cities MN, where I work. Prior to our new code (feb 2015). But not that squishy as all the ones that the GC broke it down came in 3-5% more for ICF.

We typically come in at about $30 per foot for ICF with R- 30 footing, R-50 wall, R-80 trussed roof shell. Metal low e roof with no facia, no finishes, no windows, no doors, no floors, no drywall, no siding, no HVAC, no electrical, no plumbing. Local fees, engineering, achetectural approvals, taxes and shipping are all extra. This is based on at least 2000 square feet, not a real complicated design, square footage is outside of building walls, local material price variations out of tolerance. Clean flat peeped site with 9" gravel leveled. There is high variability in all the no s. I am sure I didn't mention something, but that should be a reasonable ball park for an efficient shell to start.

Brian

R-80 trussed roof shell?

Richa,

You are talking about a slightly better than code wall for $2.20 for just the Styrofoam per surface square foot of wall surfaces? Your reference is not for square foot of shell costs and does not include the rest of the materials and on site erection. Am I understanding what your professing?

We deal in super insulated passive shells. Typically our clients are looking for R-50 plus walls.

Brian

I rather have truly insulated Sips panels, that can be erected in 2-3 days than that system.

No way is it as tight
plenty of thermal bridging
Labor cost is higher.

A Sips panel upto 8x24 in size, 6.5" costs $4 a sq ft +-

8" about .50 more a sq

Insulating with EPS over fiberglass makes sense. There is room for both sandwich SIPS and EZ SIPS in the marketplace. However I used to pay $1.50 / square foot for blank SIP panels. Now even if you can find blanks for $4.00, by the time you pay for the routing and accessories for a fully pre-cut ready to stand system you are in the $6.00 to $7.00 dollar range. Then you add freight and on site craning / handling and you are going to be around $10.00. AND you have to find a specialized crew in your area as most carpenters will not touch SIP panel systems or can charge more than standard framed on site because they are not familiar with it. I actually had to convince a european trained carpenter yesterday that EZ SIPS are not a pre-cut SIP system. He said the last pre-cut SIP package he did "would not fit together for love nor money". EZ SIPS also is produced and delivered locally in many areas so freight is more likely to be minimal. The advantage of EZ SIPS over standard sandwich SIP panels: 1. Hybrid combining the benefits of SIPs at 50% less cost than pre-cut SIP panel systems 2. Any carpenter can work with EZ SIPS 3. Exposed inner wall face with snap-away vertical & horizontal wiring / plumbing channels 4. Thicker actual EPS insulation in your walls

Guess you're not understanding they are not that much money.

They are $4,

Shipping on 3500 sq ft is $750 to $2,000 depending on distance etc.
If you use U_SHIP they can save big money with private truckers

Crane Lull for a week is $750

Your numbers are way off closer to $5-6 erected

You guys are mostly talking material costs of walls only. Standard framed 2X6 walls are usually about $10 cost per foot of house minimum. SIPs and ICFs are a better quality building for $12 to $15 per foot of house. Walls only erected. ICFs are strongest, most air tight, most energy efficient, most bullet proof and most storm resistant building. SIPs are in between ICFs and Standard walls in all these categories. The extra cost for the ICF or SIP envelopes is an easy justification if life cycle costs are considered. This is a no brainer if you are going to live in the home and not simply flipping the house.

If you move up to a passive level house, R-50ish 12 inches of foam in the walls in most cases We do that level of ICFs for $15 per foot of house. Insert lots of restrictions to those numbers. minimum house size, wall heights, number of corners, complexity of design, window walls, etc. etc.

SIPs and ICFs have similar construction times. ICFs can be poured integral to the foundation making them much stronger. SIPs require a foundation and deck assembly pre walls. This assembly needs to be very accurate if the panels are pre cut. If either is a little off it is a major pain to fix. Having an integral insulated foundation is easier with ICFs. It only requires having a trench with 9 inches of tamped gravel where the footing is to be. The top of the gravel needs to be level. This is easy to fix if slightly off.

ICFs are easier to work with than 24 foot SIP panels. No crane required. I prefer ICFs and SIPs over standard construction. We have done all three methods of construction. After using all three methods and comparing the benefits, cost, schedule, flexibility, quality of product, strength of building, and life time costs of projects we decided that ICFs provide a better value especially in a passive level building for our clients. SIP costs tend to very more as you get quotes around the country. Bulk Geo-foam Styrofoam is more consistent for costing in our experience as well.

These are definitely ballpark answers. Lots of local situations can change these numbers substantially. Hope this brings some clarity to answering the original question in reference to costs of buildings.

Brian