SIP's is not made of concrete.... have look at their site sipsindustries.com.au

A homeowner nearby who is doing a renovation was strongly considering SIPs but in NSW at least, he said it didn't yet have engineering approval. The builder who was pushing the SIPs put in a suspiciously low quote and his architect warned him away.

They are a great system but like ICF, probably has a long way to go before it gets industry acceptance. If state governments pushed for higher R-value requirements it would be great for SIPs.

We are most likely using a panel from Sips industries, the pricing for my house is going to be different to most as we are building it as a display for my builder. If the builder knows what he is doing then pricing can be similar to a brick veneer most builders will put in a good deal of margin for dealing with a foreign product though so it depends who you go through.

The only downside I can see is articulation is slightly harder to obtain since the whole house is made of panels. Internal wiring can also pose a problem if its not thought about beforehand.

We are building a house at the moment with the OSB SIPS Panels from WA. Concept is great, however the after sales service could certainly be improved as there were a few major errors in the manufacture and we are now left on our own to sort it out and this has added extra cost to our customer - in addition to the $80+K it cost for the panels!

I have also built the Climasteel metal skin SIPS and these are half the price and can be fully cut and made on site. There have been 20 odd homes built in Qld using this material and it works very well and in light of the issues with the WA suppliers I am keen to recommend this for some people.

We are about to check out the MO panels on a job in Mt Eliza soon as well. These seem promising also.

We have found that our initial costings now indicate the similar OSB SIPS imported from Germany or Canada may still b e cheaper and far superior to the local product as well. Cost however is only one issue.

The SIPS concept is very new and there a heap of design and construction traps for the early trailblazers. One of the biggest issues is the engineering and building approval as nobody knows how to assess them properly.

Hence, before you spend any money be sure to get the full test data in your hand to ensure that the panels have been tested to conform with the Building Code of Australia (BCA).

If you are interested you can look at some photos of the SIPS construction we are undertaking in Melbourne here; http://www.mrconstructions.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=31:sips-construction&catid=1:construction-and-project-management&Itemid=2

The house now has the roof panels on and we are getting it all sealed up. PM me if you want to come have a look.

Just building with a SIP in Hobart. My architect/builder prefers to use them for roof and floor. He hasn't done walls with them yet, as he can't get the panel he uses in a size to make the walls work out price wise to advantage. The product he uses is called Bondor, and is EPS inside metal sheets. The inside is then covered in whatever you want for interior, so we are going plasterboard.

Looking forward to when it's finished to see how effective it is. He tells me the roof will work out at R7, and floor at R4.

I work for a Builder here in Melbourne that will build with SIPs.

I have spent a lot of time studying this product for myself. I have designed my own home using SIPS and are close to starting to build once we have our loan in place.

So all Plans, Engineering and Building Permits are ready to go. I have worked through all the issues regarding Fire test, Acoustics reports, wind rating, Town Planning, Energy Rating, Building code and Building Surveyor sign off. Our home is a 37 square home on a sloping block using SIPS for the Floor and Walls and have obtained an 8 star energy rating.

In addition to my own home we are working on plans and costs for a SIPS home for another family in Victoria and will have the Building costs for a SIPS versus Brick veneer Home in the next few weeks.

I am happy to assist anyone looking for information on building with SIPS.

Does anyone know of builders in NSW using SIPs?
Paneco lists Asgard as a partner, but I haven't seen anyone else.

How can we contact you PDS

Hi feel free to phone me on 0416 368 678 if you like.

I've started down the owner builder path and plan to use SIPs for the walls and roof.

During my research I stumbled across this new system from Bondor. http://www.insulliving.com.au/insulliving/home.php

I contacted a sales rep in the Bondor Sydney office and got some information, including prices. The prices are very competitive with the other companies like Austec, Austral Insulation and Paneco.

Now I need to find a draftsman who has experience with or at least understands SIPs. I already have house plans which I drew up using Turbo Floor Plan 3D.

I too have heard of InsulLiving by Bondor. They were featured by Sydney Morning Herald earlier this year
http://www.smh.com.au/national/homes-are-where-the-future-is-20110108-19jiw.html

Here are the claims that stood out for me:

• Slab to lockup in just 10 days
• 8 star energy rating
• 34% faster build time than traditional methods.

I wish I knew about them before I started building.

Here's their interesting video clip (I have no affiliations with them whatsover)
http://www.youtube.com/user/BondorAus

Hey Baccman, have you got Andrews contact details at all? Not sure whats happening but I cant seem to locate their website or find them in the whitepages? Anyways I believe they have a 10star house just built up in Innisfail & we were thinking for going up for a drive & look see later in the week. Our designer is flying up next tues to do a site visit & we want as much info on hand as possible.

Cheers
Kim

kim,
it's paneco.com.au

There is a paneco project going up in Mt Eliza Vic in the next week or so and if you let me know I will make arrangements to meet you on site if that helps.

Andrew Winter (Paneco) 0408 273 681

One of Paneco's partners is Cavalier Homes, so perhaps you could go with Cavalier.

Hi, I am PDS, I made the post above, I though I might let you all know a little about my story and our journey with SIPs, as it looks like there a few people wanting to learn about Sips.

I will be using Sip’s on my home in Victoria we hope to start building soon. I have finished all the research, Design work and specifications, engineering, Heating / cooling and ventilation requirements together with getting an 8 Star rating for our 37 square home here in Melbourne

Our heating requirements for the Melbourne climate zone are 66% less for the same size home with a Five Star rating. The cooling requirements will be around 50% less so we are looking forward to living in a home that will use a fraction of the energy of a 5 Star rated home.

I have spent the last two years working out how to make SIPs work here in Australia. During that process I talked with the People in Perth, Sydney and a company here in Melbourne that was going to build SIPS panels. But they haven’t managed to get it going yet. I also conducted a lot of research into the different options overseas

From my experience the SIPs style home starts with a good supplier and then you need to build a team of people around you to ensure it all works and the home will give you the result you are looking for.

With our home I am not sure how much money I will be saving by using SIPs, I do know I will enjoy a lot of savings however, as we won’t use any Bricks, Plaster to the walls, the Frame costs are also greatly reduced, and the build time will also be greatly reduced. My main reason for building this way is about building the most energy efficient home for our family we know from our studies that a SIPs home will do that for us.

Over the past twelve to fifteen months I have worked through the design issues and have put together a group of people with the skills to get the best out of this building style. As with all new building products and Technology there a lot of issues and pit falls to look out for.

I will be owner building my home which has further complicated the process as the Banks make it very difficult for Owner Builders, as some of you will know, however we are almost across the line now, we will know in the next week or so if we are fully approved.

I work within the Building industry here in Melbourne where I Design, specify and sell new custom designed homes, I went as an owner build my home for many reasons.

Then main reason was I wanted to use SIPS I know I needed to study and manage the complete process from Design, building research, selection of product, specifications, Engineering, Town Planning, Building Permit and construction, going owner building gave us this control.

Now that we are well advanced into this process, I am ready to start working with clients to put together SIPs homes. I am now working with a client here in Melbourne and the Builder I work with to design and Build a home from SIPS. We intend to use SIPS for the Floor, Walls and Roof and have selected PanEco to supply the Panels.

Over the next few weeks we will have the early Design work finished and will go to the costing stage. We intend to cost and energy rate the home as a Brick veneer home and also as a SIPs style home. This will give us a comparison price for standard construction and the costs for the same home using SIPS together with the increased Energy Rating.

From this process we will be able to demonstrate the full advantages of building with SIPS and the sort of savings the home owner could look to enjoy

If you would like to contact me to follow this process fell free to email petersullivan99@yahoo.com.au Or call on 0416 368 678

I am interested in the definition of what makes a 'Structural Insulated Panel'. My understanding is that it itself supports the structure - and that a panel that is used as a 'fill-in' type panel, is not actually structural and that some products calling themselves SIPs are not really SIPs. It seems to be loosely used when in fact, unless the panel itself can support the envelope it is not really that? It does not need framing as the SIP itself is the frame if it is called a structural panel was my understanding. See projects searching with SIPs on Shmeco for panels used in that way to build multi-storey buildings in Western Australia, custom built homes in Canberra and Zero energy Passivhaus buidings in NSW.

The definition is simply what you say and that is that the panel is structural. Some panel systems are more 'structural' than others. For example, the Bondor Insuliving panel is only suitable for single storey construction with limited roof spans whereas some of the better OSB and MgO boards can be the structural frame/panel for multistorey buildings. A SIPS panel is a structural panel - no ifs, no buts. There are plenty of 'panel systems' out there that LOOK like a structural panel but are not. The best way to check is to ask for the engineering and give it to your Building Surveyor to confirm if the panels will suffice for a building permit.

Thanks for clarification. That was my understanding - so some of the panels calling themselves structural are in fact not - just fill in panels and the panel itself should be the structure without the need for any other framing? That too was my understanding, so with that qualifier, there would be only one or two panels that can really authentically be called SIPs?

I'm pretty intrigued by SIP construction. I've been looking at the Bondor Insulwall and SolarSpan stuff but hadn't realised till I read this thread that they are not suitable for multilevel construction. I've started looking at the PanEco stuff that seems to get a good rap here.

Speaking of wrap .... where is the vapour barrier in SIP construction? Am I at all justified in being worried about condensation on the internal walls given there doesn't seem to be one?