| Pre-engineered buildings | Conventional Steel Buildings | Concrete Buildings |
| Structure Weight | Structural Members used are tapered built up sections and are 10 to 20% lighter than conventional buildings. | Structural Members used are Hot rolled T-sections which are of heavy weight. | Structural members are solid rectangular sections of constant depth which makes the whole structure very heavy & bulky. |
| Foundations | Since the structural weight is low, Lightweight foundation with simple design is enough. | Heavy structural weight makes it difficult to design the foundation. Foundation must be very heavy enough to bear the loads. | Since the structural weight is high, foundation is also heavy and design is complicated & costly. |
| Clear Span (clear distance between columns) | Members of pre-engineered buildings can offer large clear span up to 100 to 120 m without any intermediate supports. | Maximum clear span offered by the conventional building members is 40 m only. | Not more than 10m clear span is possible in reinforced concrete. |
| Delivery Speed | Faster delivery. It takes 6 to 8 weeks to construct 500 MT pre-engineered building after finalization of design. | Very slow delivery. It takes 20 to 26 weeks to construct 500 MT conventional building after finalization of design | Speed of construction is slower than steel buildings, since reinforced concrete members need to be properly cured & has minimum scaffolding removal time. |
| Cost of Construction | Price per square meter is 30% less than the cost of conventional building. | Price per square meter is very much higher. | Cost is higher for buildings with more than 3 storey and when greater clear distance between columns are required. |
| Seismic Resistance | These buildings offers good resistance against seismic actions since it is made of Lightweight flexible members. | These cannot withstand against seismic forces because of their rigid heavy frames. | Since structure weight is high, seismic forces are high. |
| Future Expansion of Building | It is easy to expand the pre-engineered building because of its simple connection design. | It requires heavy budget and also difficult to expand the building. | Future expansion has to be planned from the foundation stage itself. Provision has to be left for proper bonding for the structure to act as whole. |
| Erection Simplicity | Erection of PEB members is so simple and faster. Light equipment is enough. | Erection in this case is slower and demands more labor. Heavy equipment is necessary. | Erection requires constant supervision & testing for quality at site. |