The quest for lower-cost housing has witnessed the use of countless construction techniques ranging from conventional onsite construction to completely prefabricated modules. While labor costs, labor shortages, and quality control are largely responsible for the growing trend away from on-site construction, prefabricated modular construction has also been subject to limitations. Between these extremes, panelized construction utilizing prefabricated panels represents a logical and practical compromise for many building systems.

Panels vary widely according to size, construction, and materials. While modular widths of two to four feet are the most common, some builders use full-width panels. Some panels are constructed using conventional stud construction while others utilize sandwich or stressed-skin designs made of a wide variety of core and facing materials