Call Us:
Can’t find and answer? Call us at 561-935-3700, or click the button below. We’ll reply to you as soon as we can.
Yes, typically the conversion process from block/wood to light gauge steel is seamless. Impact to the Architectural design is typically zero to minimal, while most of the structural plans need to be completely replaced in most cases, except for the foundation related elements. This process can be performed by PBS or the current Architect/Engineering team, whichever makes the most sense. If we do the work, it is performed by a team of designers, detailers, and structural engineers under our guidance, and can take anywhere from a few weeks to few months, depending on type, size, and complexity of the project. The conversion process is executed in the initial phase of the project once under contract, and access to the CAD files is required. If your current Architect/Engineering team is going to do the conversion, we will provide them with the necessary orientation and CAD details to execute the work.
No, however the further along you are in the process, the more expensive and time-consuming the switchover will be. The ideal moment to consider and select the building technology you will use is at the initial Architectural design phase, as this is where overall layout, sizes, wall thicknesses, wall and ceilings heights, free spans and other aspects are impacted. It all comes down to the limited resources of time and money, as there will be costs associated with the conversion of the plans and resubmittal of the revised plans back to the building department for review and approval. Our advice is to check with your building department on the process, costs, and timing required for this type of change to make a more informed decision.
Yes. Typically, we can build pretty much any style, size, shape or type of structure with light gauge steel that you would build with wood and/or block materials. Of course, if you wanted to build a log cabin then light gauge steel would probably not be a good fit. There are some limitations as to free spans, number of floors and such, however, these limitations are usually less than wood and/or block due to the high strength-to-weight ratio of steel. If you are in doubt as to whether your project would be a good fit with our technology, just give us a call to discuss.
Although the entire set of building components for the structure are manufactured in a manufacturing facility, correctly termed as Off-Site Manufacturing (OSM), our system is not technically categorized as modular or prefab as we are providing trusses, column, beam and wall assemblies as individual components. Technically, we are considered a panelized SIP (Structural Insulated Panel) or componentized system. This terminology is typically unimportant, except when certain limitations or restrictions are imposed by local county, city, HOA controlled or historical communities.
Yes. Most of these restricted areas typically deal with the architectural look and feel of the exterior envelope, not the technical or framing aspect of the building or what is behind/inside the walls or attic. In fact, most communities welcome our technology and the benefits gained with its use for both the homeowner and the community.
Yes, we have worked with several GCs and framing crews over the years, mostly in Florida and the Islands. Most GCs and Framing Crews today are experienced in erecting and framing structures made of light gauge steel, especially if they have or are working on any commercial projects. The same goes for the other trades such as mechanical, electrical, and plumbing. Normally, GCs and framing crews with light gauge steel framing experience need very little training or orientation on our system, which is typically about 3 to 5 days on-site. We can certainly assist in searching for and vetting GCs and framing crews in your area if required.
Although you can and probably should use light gauge steel for your remodel project, our focus is only on new construction. We suggest speaking with your General Contractor about using light gauge steel instead of wood for the framing as you will certainly get a much better result and longer lasting structure.
Yes, we are a design-build company. Typically, we can build pretty much any style, size, shape or type of structure with light gauge steel that you would build with wood and/or block materials. Of course, if you wanted to build a log cabin then our system would probably not be a good fit. There are some limitations as to free spans, number of floors and such, however, these limitations are usually less than wood and/or block due to the high strength-to-weight ratio of steel. If you are in doubt as to whether your project would be a good fit with our technology, just give us a call to discuss.
This depends on the size and complexity of the structure. As a point of reference, a small 2,000 SF home would take about a week to fabricate once production begins. As a standard procedure, we place orders into our production queue upon receipt of a signed contract and initial production payment. We typically fabricate the structure while the building permit is in process, allowing for delivery and installation immediately upon installation of the foundation, which can result in shaving off weeks or even months in the overall building process.
This depends on the size and complexity of the structure, but yes, it is typically much faster than traditional stick building or laying block, as well as less messy and resulting in less waste/cost. As a point of reference, a small 2,000 SF home would take an experienced crew of 5 to 6 framers about 3 to 4 days to erect and dry-in. As a rule of thumb, crews are typically 6 to 8 framers, which can erect about 3,000 SF of building space per week if they are extremely efficient.
Yes. Our structures are extremely energy efficient and thus very well insulated and air-tight compared to most wood/block framed structures. Like cardboard, thick block walls, and the human body, the open and closed-cell spray foam insulation does a great job at acoustical isolation and absorbs radio signals very well. Typically, Clients do not complain about reduced cell service inside this type of light gauge steel structure, however it does depend on many factors, including the location of the structure from the tower(s), orientation, size and shape of the structure, etc. In some cases, a booster may be necessary, which are typically provided free-of-charge by the service providers when requested.
While raw material costs are higher compared to traditional wood framing, the total installed cost is often close to or even lower when labor savings, construction speed, reduced materials, reduced waste, reduced equipment rental, lower builder risk insurance and carrying costs are included in the calculations. Operationally, after construction, the owner/occupant can experience reduced maintenance, repairs, energy bills and insurance, providing a lower total cost of ownership year after year.
The Kratos Wall System combines Light Gauge Steel framing, MgO sheathing, and high-performance insulation into a single engineered wall assembly. Compared to traditional wood framing, it offers improved fire resistance, moisture resistance, durability, and energy efficiency. Kratos also supports a more efficient construction process by reducing material waste, improving quality control, and helping builders deliver projects faster. Designed as a high-performance building solution, it helps architects, engineers, and builders meet the growing demands for resilient, energy-efficient, and long-lasting residential construction.
Kratos helps reduce overall project costs by improving efficiency throughout the construction process. Precision-engineered components can reduce labor requirements, minimize material waste, shorten construction schedules, and reduce rework onsite.
Instead of focusing only on material costs, builders should consider the total cost of construction, including labor, equipment rentals, carrying costs, and long-term maintenance expenses. By improving productivity and building performance, Kratos can help lower the total cost of ownership over the life of the building.
Yes. Kratos is designed to improve energy efficiency by minimizing thermal bridging and reducing uncontrolled air leakage within the building envelope.
A key principle in high-performance construction is “Build tight, ventilate right.” By creating a tighter, more energy-efficient building envelope, it becomes equally important to incorporate proper ventilation strategies to maintain healthy indoor air quality, manage moisture, and improve occupant comfort.
By supporting continuous insulation and high-performance building practices, Kratos helps builders meet increasingly stringent energy codes while delivering durable, comfortable, and energy-efficient homes.
Yes. Kratos can be engineered to meet local building codes, energy codes, wind-load requirements, and fire-resistance requirements across various jurisdictions.
PBS works closely with architects, engineers, and project teams to ensure each project complies with the applicable requirements while supporting energy efficiency, resilience, and long-term building performance.
Yes, we work directly with builders, developers, architects, and contractors. Permits are handled essentially like any typical build, typically obtained by the project’s licensed contractor, or the owner if the build is a residential owner/builder type.
The cost differential depends on the project type, location, design criteria and scope. While CFS and other higher quality building material costs are higher as separate line items compared to conventional wood framing materials, most Kratos projects realize savings through reduced labor, lower waste, reduced equipment rental and other items. The overall savings of a Kratos type build will typically even out when looking at the total construction budget, ending up about the same cost as wood framing, sometimes even less when including opportunity cost savings into the mix.
Building inspections are going to be the same as a typical wood frame building, and handled the same way, however in some cases separate inspections like framing and sheathing, would be combined and performed by the inspector during the same site visit with the Kratos solution.
When insulating an exterior wall, building codes are now requiring continuous insulation on the exterior of the studs to reduce the effect of thermal bridging. As the energy and building codes continue to become more stringent, aiming to create more environmentally sustainable “green” buildings, the application and thickness of the continuous installation has increased. Although wood, block, concrete, and steel are all impacted, the requirements can be higher for steel framing. The KRATOS™ wall solution is a patented technology where the exterior insulative sheathing is adhered to the steel frame in a continuous manner, and without any mechanical fasteners. Since the direct connection of the steel frame, and the fasteners from the exterior face to the frame are eliminated, a true thermal break is achieved. In addition, the exterior continuous insulative sheathing thickness is adjustable so any R-value requirement can be achieved. Another major and often overlooked benefit is the elimination of the thousands of fasteners, resulting in less material, labor, and holes in the entire exterior wall surface, thus reducing the risks of future leaks, providing enormous benefits to both the builder and the owner.
The short answer is no. The KRATOS™ wall solution is tested and rated as an impermeable assembly based on TAS 202-94 testing protocols, providing both continuous insulation and sheathing pre-installed in the factory, without mechanical fasteners. After erection and fastening of the exterior wall panels, typically only the joints, holes and any repairs must be filled/sealed. The overall process is fast and easy, eliminating the typical process of WRB application. Below are a few excerpts from one of the test sessions performed in 2019 based on the TAS 202-94 protocol, which tests for air and water penetration. Both test results showed phenomenal performance.
In short yes. Steel is noncombustible and does not feed or “fuel” a fire. Without fuel, which is one of the three ingredients of the Fire Triangle, a fire cannot start/continue. In addition to the light gauge steel framing, the KRATOS™ wall assembly uses Class A UL-rated insulative and sheathing materials to form an impressive fire-resistant solution, with the MX7 version rated to 2 hours from the exterior. According to the National Fire Protection Association, wood structural members or framing rank third on average as the first-ignited material in home fires. Additionally, building with steel can reduce the cost of construction insurance for builders, as well as homeowners’ insurance premiums for the life of the home, helping to lower the annual TCO (Total Cost or Ownership). Check out the Steel Framing Alliance for more information on this subject.
Yes. Although the MX7 exterior sheathing was originally designed for the KRATOS™ light gauge steel building system, it works equally well — if not better — with wood frame construction, CMU, concrete, or other wall types.Applying MX7 as exterior sheathing is an excellent way to protect wood framing from fire because the exposed side is made from magnesium oxide (MgO), a natural, noncombustible, inert compound. The MX7 panel also provides built-in protection against termites, mold, mildew, and other pests. These benefits make MX7 a smart, cost-effective upgrade that enhances both safety and long-term durability and resilience — without changing your framing method.
Yes. Kratos offers MgO-based structural sheathing solutions that can be incorporated into roof assemblies and contribute to structural performance. Specific shear values depend on the assembly design, framing configuration, fastening schedule, and project requirements. Our engineering team and 3rd party partners can provide project-specific calculations and design recommendations. The technical documents can be found on our website in the Downloads area.
No, The MgO board is available in 4′ x 8’’- 4×12’’panel sizes. Additional sizes and custom configurations may also be available depending on project requirements.
Yes. One of the advantages of the Kratos solution is the VDC (Virtual Design & Construction) process includes customized locations and sizes of service holes, noggins, ductwork chases and MEP clash detection. For this level of analysis and configuration a full set of MEP drawings, preferably in 3D BIM format, is required.
The Kratos exterior wall sheathing is compatible with any standard or synthetic elastomeric stucco system that supports direct applied finish (DAFS) solutions. The Company we have done the most testing with, and have certified our Kratos exterior sheathing with, is DecoPlast. Decoplast, and other manufacturers, have a variety of product offerings that are compatible with the Kratos X4 & MX7 substrate boards. PBS is a proud Distributor of the Decoplast product line, offering their products as an optional package in Kratos builds requiring stucco.
Yes, there can be sound transmission issues to resolve with CFS. When you bang on a CFS wall, that physical strike converts into vibrational energy. Steel is highly conductive and provides a direct, uninterrupted path (the stud) for these vibrations to travel.
To prevent CFS walls from transferring thumps, bangs, and vibrations, you must isolate or “decouple” the sheathing from the steel framing in some manor. A few standard construction techniques include using air gaps with double-stud walls, resilient channels, sound isolation clips, acoustic caulking and sealants, sound batts/matts or multi-layer acoustic/fire rated sheathing products like Q-Rock.
Everything depends on the building design, and parameters like stud/truss type and spacing, and wall and ceiling-floor assemblies. The type of materials and configuration of these assemblies will typically be specified by the Architect together with the minimum acoustic parameters such as STC, IIC and HIIC. This is especially important for multi-tenant buildings like townhomes, apartments and hotels and will typically be coupled with the fire/life safety design aspects.
CFS framing has been used mostly in the commercial building space for almost 100 years and is now expanding into the residential and hotel building markets. The user experience with any mobile phones, laptops or other devices that use wireless communications (e.g. Wi-Fi, BlueTooth, etc.) will be about the same as any commercial building you have been in.
The level of interference, or reduced cellular signal strength, depends on a variety of factors, both in the building envelope materials and design, and also depends on the proximity of the cell towers, signal strength, number of users/bandwidth, etc. Ultimately, CFS buildings can be designed to have very little interference to 100% interference, depending on the building design objective. For example, CFS framing provides an excellent structural foundation for an EMF shield or Faraday cage, which is fantastic for building a SCIF.
As for extending CFS walls to the roof structure/decking, this can easily be accomplished and is typical in multi-tenant buildings where fire and sound transmission rated designs are required for code compliance. We have multiple UL-rated assemblies for these types of builds.
Yes. Marine environments are some of the most aggressive environments affecting the degradation of buildings, regardless of the construction type. The Kratos/CFS solution is an excellent solution for coastal and marine environments, however there are precautions to take with any kind of metallic structures or components. The most crucial steps to protecting the building are specifying the CFS with a high level of protective coating like G90/Z275, using connectors, fasteners, clips and other structural components with HDG, ZMAX, G90 coatings and/or stainless steel 316L. Any HRS (Hot rolled Steel) components such as columns, beams, embed plates, rebar, etc. should also be specified with HDG coating.
Additionally, minimizing permanent exposure of CFS/HRS components to the open air by wrapping columns, beams, trusses, outdoor ceilings, etc. is a great long-term strategy for reducing the corrosive effects of the marine environment. Using inorganic sheathing materials such as high grade cementitious/MgO boards, provide excellent resistance to marine environments while also protecting against mold, rot, and insect damage.
Third-party testing reports show CFS lasting from 300-1,000 years in certain circumstances. If you want to read more on the subject, or play around with a CFS Lifespan predictor calculator, you will find those resources on our website in the Resources area.
Like with wood or other types of roof/floor systems, the free-span capacity of a CFS webbed truss or solid c-joist will depend on the live and dead load requirements, OC spacing, floor/ceiling truss depth and other factors. There is no specific number or limit due to all of the variables involved, however the strength-to-weight capacity of CFS is greater than wood, typically allowing a CFS truss or joist to span farther. For example, there are CFS roll-form machines which make hat channel profiles that can create roof trusses with the ability to free-span over 100’ between load bearing points, which is far greater than wood or HRS bar joist products. Ultimately, the free spans and load bearing capacity and points all come down to design and structural engineering parameters and requirements.
Curved and custom geometries can be designed and engineered into CFS buildings typically without issue. This includes curved and irregular door and window openings, and curved walls in either or both planes.
The Kratos/CFS solution was developed to meet demanding structural and resilience requirements, including applications in high-wind regions such as the Florida HVHZ zones, and seismic zones. To-date we have executed 3 and 4-story building projects requiring 180MPH with Category D exposure with topographic factors of 1.25, an equivalent of 225MPH.
Yes, we do offer both dealerships and special licenses for companies who are in the CFS manufacturing business and would like to implement our patented technology for their Clients. For more details on these programs please contact us.
We welcome all candidates for sales and other positions. Please contact us to discuss the open positions and sales opportunities.
Yes, we do offer special licenses for companies who are in the CFS manufacturing business and would like to implement and integrate our patented KRATOS™ Technology into their business. For more details on these programs please contact us.
There are two basic paths to take, either your Architect/Engineer team does the conversion, or we do it, whichever you prefer. Once the models are converted, virtual framing and CNC files are created for each model which is necessary for us to fabricate the structures. Upon completion of the conversion detailed pricing and other details are also provided so you will know exactly the costs associated with each model. For more details on this process and the associated investment please contact us.
Yes. We have successfully executed several projects in Florida HVHZ zones such as Miami-Dade, Broward, Monroe Counties, and the Caribbean Islands. We have worked with multiple 3rd party Structural Engineering Firms over the years with this expertise, as well as seismic zones. If you do not have an EOR with this experience we would be happy to connect you with a Firm that does.
Our versatile steel framing system can be used to build almost any type or style of structure. Value engineered for specific wind and seismic design criteria, and combined with an adjustable r-value insulated exterior wall, it is the perfect solution for any climatic region in the world. Past and current projects have spanned from Alaska to the Caribbean Islands and include residential, commercial, emergency, and institutional building types.
