3D-printed housing developments take off suddenly – here’s what it looks like

Just a month ago, a 3D-printed house went on sale to the public for the first time in the US

Now, a small 3D printed community in Texas is doing the same. Another larger community in California is also in the process.

In other words, 3D printed real estate is taking off to a great extent.

That first house that was sold for sale has not yet been built. The company, SQ4D, printed a house model in a concrete garden on Long Island, New York, and hosted more than a hundred screenings. The new home will be printed on a nearby lot.

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

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

The city of Austin, one of the fastest growing metropolitan markets in the country, has already adopted the concept of 3D-printed homes, so the zoning and licensing process was relatively straightforward, O’Dell said.

“We built four homes in the configuration we did because we could do it in the existing zoning,” he added.

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

“We’re going to graduate from homes by the dozens to percent homes,” said Jason Ballard, ICON CEO.

ICON prints the homes on site, using its Vulcan construction system, which spits out a “proprietary extrudable concrete,” according to Ballard, who added that this is the highest-speed, lowest-cost method. It also allows for greater flexibility in floor plans.

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

“It’s the fastest path of imagination to built-in options,” Ballard said. “You can produce things that look very high and very high, but aren’t more expensive to deliver than what a straight wall would be.”

Ballard said housing construction is between 10% and 30% cheaper and several months faster than conventional construction. This is especially important given the rising costs that builders see for conventional building materials, such as steel, aluminum and especially wood.

“Housing has been a bright economic point in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, but the potential of the industry to drive the economy is limited as long as building materials are expensive and scarce,” researchers from the National Association of Home Builders earlier this month. “Builders are doing everything they can to prevent consumers from leaving prices from home, while maintaining the competitive prices needed to run their businesses.”

There is also a shortage of labor in the housing construction industry. 3D-printed homes require very few workers, as the printer does most of the construction.

The Texas ICON community may be the first, but to perfection there is a much larger community that is planning in Rancho Mirage, California, competitor Mighty Buildings.

Together with developer Palari Group, the company has just announced that it will install 15 3D-printed homes in what it considers “the world’s first planned 3D-printed housing community … focused on integrating technology and sustainability “.

Mighty Builders claims that the 3D printing production process removes 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 house into panels from a factory and then moved them, 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, chief operating officer of Mighty Buildings. “We are aiming to achieve a net zero energy standard for each unit. Our material has a lower thermal conductivity. There is no heat and cold loss between inside and outside.

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

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

“I didn’t even know there were any until I raised the blinds,” Shea said. “It’s amazing. I can only deliver a lot of adjectives, but it’s a fantastic place. It’s the most unique place I’ve ever lived. Houses, apartments, I’m like a pin on a carpet in this place.”

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

Mighty Buildings is still evaluating whether its material is strong enough to withstand hurricane winds, as it appears to expand its geographic footprint.

“We have some interest in Florida and the East Coast,” Dubov said. “We’re at the service of customers across California, so we’re 100% sure our homes can withstand the earthquake or the wind. The only exception is that hurricane testing hasn’t been completed.”

With the demand for 3D printed homes now so strong, the biggest challenge for these companies is how to scale 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 a workforce of more than 100 this year.

ICON announced a $ 35 million series. A round of financing led by Moderne Ventures in August 2020. The investment brings ICON’s total funding since its launch in 2018 to $ 44 million. Investors in the seed round 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 supply is restricted. We have more people asking us to build houses that we don’t know what to do now,” Ballard said. “All the construction systems we have are reserved for the next 24 months.” He calls it a “champagne” problem.

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