What drives the cost of a panel building
Comparing a panel price against a lumber package answers the wrong question. The comparison that matters is the delivered envelope: material, labor, insulation, schedule and the equipment the envelope lets you shrink.
Count the whole envelope
A panel arrives with its insulation, its structure, its rough openings and its headers. A stick wall arrives as lumber and needs framing labor, a separate insulation contractor, and time. Comparing the two on material alone puts a complete assembly against a component.
Labor is the item that has moved most. Guardian's comparisons return to it repeatedly: panels install faster, with less skilled labor, and at lower labor cost than stick framing, masonry or site-built steel.
Then count the second-order savings
A smaller peak load means smaller HVAC equipment, less ductwork and a quicker mechanical installation. A shorter shell program means less financing, less site overhead and an earlier revenue date. Neither shows up in a wall-to-wall price comparison.
Waste is a real line too: components designed to be used in total, with no dumpster, remove a cost most estimates bury in preliminaries.
And the cost of owning it
For an owner-occupier or a long-term holder, the operating saving is part of the capital decision. Guardian's published figures are a 70 to 80 percent reduction in heating and cooling cost on the products page, 75 to 85 percent in the differentiation sheet and on the market page, and up to a 10 percent reduction in total construction cost.
What Guardian publishes
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Guardian states a reduction of up to 10 percent in total costs of construction, and a build in 20 to 35 percent less time.
Source · Market page, transformative powers
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Efficient construction: reduction of the rough construction of the exterior envelope by over 50 percent, with no need for an insulation contractor.
Source · Differentiation sheet
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Components are designed to be used in total, with no waste or need for a dumpster.
Source · Differentiation sheet
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Labor costs to install Shield™ panels are less than stick framing and site-built steel framing, and a small fraction of the cost of installing masonry.
Source · Products page comparisons
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Published by Guardian Structural Technologies. Last updated .
Drafted from our product literature and published building-science sources. Awaiting our technical review. Confirm any figure against the current product documents or ask us before you rely on it in a design.