Nope, they still didn't show up. And the bigger problem is that some of the missing parts are necessary to install the roof panels. I'll keep adding a comment each day until this gets resolved.

Well, the owner of the SIP company arrived yesterday with all the remaining pieces. However, none of them had been made the right size. Also, we discovered that all of the pieces for the back wall (that had not been installed yet) were the wrong size as well. So, he will be back tomorrow with right-sized panels for the whole deal. And we still don't have enough of the custom track to attach the roof to the walls.

This is the big question. Use conventional materials/methods - less risk, but also less green or sustainable, or however you want to describe it. Innovative materials/methods leaves you vulnerable, more risk, but the outcome is truly unique. These problems will work out and further they are in the past the less it will matter.

or something like that...

Knowing this project intimately (I helped design it) I'm not sure this blame can all be laid at the foot of the "system." I think it bears elucidating that the company in question went through some HUGE upheavals during the production process of this package, and sadly this and a few other projects I know of (schusterHOUSE, the Wright's project in Florida, and others) were and are caught in the middle. For one, all of the panels have been coming out of a new facility, which is obviously implicit in many of the bugs inherent in the screw ups. Are they unfortunate and irritating? Hell yes! Are they issues that take away from the validity of the system? Not really.

Then factor in the fact that some very grave and serious personal upheavals occurred with the panel company during the middle of their establishing of the new manufacturing facility, which lead to understandable grief and later to internecine squabbling. Talk about drama! and I don't even know the half of it.

Then factor in that the original design wasn't conceived around this system, but rather this panel system and steel framing was a late-comer to the party, and that the panel manufacturer was the entity that "modified" the plans to "suit" their system. This I feel was the biggest issue. Things would have gone significantly smoother if the original designers were involved in the translation. This is no indictment of Jeff, but rather an indictment of the panel guys. The money they spent on "shop drawings" and "engineering" would be much better spent on having the original designers implement the necessary changes to the construction parti. This is a lesson I've now learned firsthand twice, and I won't let it happen again, no matter how well versed a manufacturer thinks they are in translating a design to fit their system. They simply don't have the overall vision to see all the issues that will arise by their conceivably simple modifications.

Don't even get me started about the weather. Texas is becoming a promordial swamp, and I swear the squirrels are sprouting gills. That being said, I think the panels will actually shine in this respect. Many of them have sat out in the rain for months at this point, and they are still as good as new (barring some obvious mud and dirt) You can't say that for wood frame construction.

All in all the system is a good one. Currently buggy, yes, but highly efficient, and once it is complete I'm sure you'll grow to appreciate it again, Jeff.

assuming of course you don't float off down the creek...

Are they the right size? Will they assemble smoothly? We will see. BUT, I am optimistic. And I do have to give the company credit for trying so hard. However, effort can only buy you so much. I fear my builder is now building my house for free and that is causing me to loose sleep as I suggested the system. I realize that the company has hit a rough patch, but I think more than half the panels have needed to be rebuilt. Mark is certainly right about one thing, these guys need some expert design help. This house wasn't designed for steel SIPs, but OSB-based SIPs so the modifications should have been minimal, I would think. Most importantly, the roof structure should have been done much differently (which would have worked better, looked better and been much cheaper -- and how do you detail an I-beam puncturing GWB?). Anyway, there are kinks here in the system that need to be addressed. The electrical chases won't help much (I think we'll be buying Romex by the mile and I hear cutting chases in the foam and around the studs is a real pain), the plumber especially will be cutting the heck out of the panels to get vent stacks to the roof, and where floor joists run parallel to the exterior wall, the joist at the exterior wall leaves HUGE gaps in the envelope, etc. These seem to be problems with the system that need to be fixed. In the end though, I am frustrated to be paying for a company's learning curve.