as a home designer, i have some experience with these products.
typical construction method: concrete foundation with wood stud walls and stick framed roof. this method is the most cost 'efficient' in the short term. but over the long term, your utility bills will offset any saving you had up front. most homes in calgary are built this way.
external insulated finishing system (eifs): this system is starting to be rejected by engineers. something about how the external rigid insulation is attached to the building, is starting to compromise the building envelope and hence may have vapour/moisture issues. it's a great retro-fit solution for older homes wanting to beef up insulation, but for a new build, i would steer clear as it's an inferior technique for efficient new construction.
structural insulated panel (sips): the great advantage to sips panels are that they have no thermal bridging between inside and out, like a typical wood stud wall has. this makes sips a more energy efficient system. sips also has roughly the same wall thickness as wood stud, which means you won't need special depth windows to span the wall thickness. sips can be a pain when you look at electrical and plumbing. you can't simple run your electrical or plumbing down thru the exterior walls. for electrical, you must cut out channels to run the wires thru. sips allow zero forgiveness in window placement, as the holes for windows are already pre-cut before arriving on site for assembly. so make sure you are 100% confident that the windows are located exactly where you want them.
insulated concrete foundation (icf): this product comes in many core widths, starting at 6.25" and 8" being the most common. tack on to those, a 2.75" layer of styrofoam on each side, and you have yourself a thick wall with no thermal bridging. the windows will need refelct the thickness of your walls and may cost you more. electrical voids are hotknived out of the styrofoam where the wires can be run. icf does give you the largest r-value as well as a great stc rating if you worry about noise levels.
there is no perfect way to build a home, but there certainly are wrong ways to do it. the wrong way would be to combine some of these elements to say you used them, instead of using them properly in their entirety. an example of the wrong way to build a homes would be to use an icf foundation, typical wood stud walls with eifs and a sip roof. keep the build simple and consistent.
if i had my choice to build a new home today, i'd be building a strawbale home, but that's for another discussion......
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