3D printed housing developments take off suddenly – that’s what they look like

Just a month ago, a 3D printed house was listed for sale to the public for the first time in the United States.

Now, a small 3D printed community in Texas is following suit. Another larger community in California is also in the works.

In other words, 3D printed properties are taking off.

That first house that was put up for sale hasn’t even been built yet. The company, SQ4D, printed a model house in a concrete courtyard on Long Island, New York, and hosted more than 100 exhibits. The new house will be printed on a nearby lot.

ICON, a pioneer in 3D printed residences in the United States, has just completed four residences in East Austin, Texas. In partnership with Kansas City-based developer 3Strands, two- and four-bedroom homes are now on the market, starting in the $ 400,000 range.

“Demand has been off the charts, even difficult to manage,” said Gary O’Dell, co-founder and CEO of 3Strands. “The feedback could not have been more positive.”

The city of Austin, one of the fastest growing metropolitan markets in the country, has already embraced the concept of 3D printed residences, so zoning and the licensing process were relatively easy, said O’Dell.

“We built four houses in the configuration we made because we could do them in the existing zoning,” he added.

A year ago, ICON printed seven one-story, 400-square-foot homes in Austin, in collaboration with Mobile Loaves & Fishes, a nonprofit organization in Austin. The houses are part of a community for homeless people. This experience, along with the printing of about a dozen homes on another project in Mexico, gave ICON all the knowledge it needed to move quickly into the new larger homes that are now on sale.

“We are going to move from houses by the tens to houses by the hundreds,” said Jason Ballard, ICON’s CEO.

ICON prints the houses on site, using its Vulcan construction system, which dumps “proprietary extrudable concrete”, according to Ballard, who added that this is the fastest and lowest cost method. It also allows for greater flexibility in floor plans.

In the new development, ICON 3D printed the first floor and then built the second floor in a conventional manner, but this allowed them to certify the wall system for the two-story construction.

“It’s the quickest route from the imagination to the options built,” said Ballard. “You can produce things that look very high and sophisticated, but are not more expensive to deliver than a straight wall would be.”

Ballard said home construction is 10% to 30% cheaper and several months faster than conventional construction. This is especially important due to the rising costs that builders are seeing for conventional building materials, such as steel, aluminum and especially sawn wood.

“Housing has been an economic strength in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, but the industry’s potential to boost the economy is limited, as long as building materials remain expensive and scarce,” wrote researchers at the National Association of Home Builders earlier this month. “Builders are doing everything possible to prevent consumers from leaving their homes, while maintaining the competitive prices needed to operate their businesses.”

There is also a severe shortage of labor in the residential construction industry. 3D printed houses require very few workers, as the printer does most of the building.

The ICON community in Texas may be the first, but right after that a much larger community is being planned in Rancho Mirage, California, by competitor Mighty Buildings.

Together with developer Palari Group, the company has just announced that it will place 15 3D printed residences in what it considers “the world’s first planned 3D printed residency community … centered on the integration of technology and sustainability”.

Mighty Builders claims that the 3D printing production process eliminates 99% of construction waste and is 30-40% cheaper than traditional construction. It will also use solar energy.

Mighty Builders started in 2017, inventing a polymer compound that could be compared to synthetic stone. He made the paneled house in a factory and then moved it, but for the Rancho Mirage community, the houses will be printed on site.

“This is totally different from concrete because our material is thermally efficient,” said Alex Dubov, director of operations at Mighty Buildings. “Our goal is to reach a net zero energy standard for each unit. Our material has lower thermal conductivity. There is no loss of heat and cold between the interior and the exterior.

Whether made of concrete or polymer, these houses have proven to be much more energy efficient, sustainable and resilient than conventional wooden houses.

Just ask Tim Shea, 70, who lives in one of the ICON homes built for the homeless in Austin. He withstood the recent cold and ice storm without problems.

“I didn’t even know there was one until I lifted the curtains,” said Shea. “It is incredible. I can only say a number of adjectives, but it is a fantastic place. It is the most unique place I have ever lived. Houses, apartments, I am like an insect on a carpet in this place.”

ICON houses in Mexico have already withstood a major earthquake without damage. Because they are made of concrete, the houses are resistant to mold, termites, water and rot.

Mighty Buildings is still evaluating whether its material is strong enough to withstand hurricane-force winds, while intending to expand its geographic footprint.

“We have some interest from Florida and the East Coast,” said Dubov. “We are serving customers across California, so we are 100% sure that our homes can withstand earthquakes or winds. The only exception is that hurricane tests have not been completed.”

With the demand for 3D printed homes now so strong, the biggest challenge for these companies is how to scale up quickly. ICON has four printing systems and is already building more. Ballard, who now employs 40 people, said he expects the company to grow to more than 100 employees this year.

ICON announced a $ 35 million series A financing round led by Moderne Ventures in August 2020. The investment brings ICON’s total funding since its launch in 2018 to $ 44 million. Seed round investors included Oakhouse Partners, Cielo Property Group, the country’s largest home builder, DR Horton and Emaar, among others.

“The biggest challenge for ICON is that we have supply restrictions. We have more people asking us to build houses than we know what to do now,” said Ballard. “Every building system we have is in store for the next 24 months.” He calls it a “champagne” problem.

“It’s every entrepreneur’s dream,” he said.