It's cool tech for sure, but I doubt it will take off as there are some major issues with the idea that go beyond the construction costs of housing.

Obviously, 3d printing concrete houses would naturally lend itself to cheaper housing, as those with the money to afford anything more than a very basic house would likely not be interested in the kind of housing this technology is capable of constructing - but building huge subdivisions of cheap housing dozens of miles from job centers, forcing residents to drive thousands of miles per year to participate in the economy, is a pretty major cost that offsets the cheaper construction costs.

The issue with housing affordability in the US isn't that we don't have enough housing - it's that all new housing is being built in undesirable, economically distant areas that require ostensibly 'low income' people to spend thousands of dollars per year on transportation costs that renders the low capital costs of the house useless, since the 'operating' costs of the house (rent/mortage + costs associated with your job, raising children etc) out of reach of a low income anyway. Even a free house would be unaffordable if you have to spend your entire income on car payments and gasoline just to get to work, so lowering the construction costs can only help so much.

The only solution to the housing crisis in the US is for cities and towns to allow things other than single family homes to be built - even duplexes and triplexes can fit nicely into existing neighborhoods that are much closer to job centers, reducing transportation costs and making construction costs affordable by splitting them between 2-3 families instead of just one.

1 minute ago, StAgre said:

The only solution to the housing crisis in the US is for cities and towns to allow things other than single family homes to be built - even duplexes and triplexes can fit nicely into existing neighborhoods that are much closer to job centers, reducing transportation costs and making construction costs affordable by splitting them between 2-3 families instead of just one.

It's also about protecting the prime farmland surrounding the population centres.

1 minute ago, dmwalker said:

It's also about protecting the prime farmland surrounding the population centres.

Oh there's so many reasons that these ever sprawling subdivisions are terrible, but to mention them all here would take several pages of posts 😂

50 minutes ago, StAgre said:

It's cool tech for sure, but I doubt it will take off as there are some major issues with the idea that go beyond the construction costs of housing.

 

I thinks it depends on how you define "take off". Currently, there are numerous projects around the world, and entire neighborhoods being built. Kenya, China, a number of states in the US, Germany, China, South America, a project in the UK has just commenced, France, Italy, Holland, all over the place. Certainly not ubiquitous, but I think we could say they are "starting" to take off. And this is just the beginning, its early days for the technology. 

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/12/3d-printed-housing-developments-suddenly-take-off-heres-what-they-look-like.html

“We are going to be graduating from homes by the dozen to homes by the hundred,” said Jason Ballard, CEO of ICON."

 

50 minutes ago, StAgre said:

Obviously, 3d printing concrete houses would naturally lend itself to cheaper housing, as those with the money to afford anything more than a very basic house would likely not be interested in the kind of housing this technology is capable of constructing - but building huge subdivisions of cheap housing dozens of miles from job centers, forcing residents to drive thousands of miles per year to participate in the economy, is a pretty major cost that offsets the cheaper construction costs.

 

Actually, no, at the moment the cost of constructing a 3D printed house is not much different to a conventional home, and construction time is pretty much the same. This will change of course, as the technology matures. And these aren't just basic cheap houses, luxury 3D printed homes are being built too, in fact its possible to build with architectural complexity that you cant with conventional methods.. Not sure why you think they would be built dozens of miles from job centers. They are being built where land is available, like all housing.

 

50 minutes ago, StAgre said:

The issue with housing affordability in the US isn't that we don't have enough housing - it's that all new housing is being built in undesirable, economically distant areas that require ostensibly 'low income' people to spend thousands of dollars per year on transportation costs that renders the low capital costs of the house useless, since the 'operating' costs of the house (rent/mortage + costs associated with your job, raising children etc) out of reach of a low income anyway. Even a free house would be unaffordable if you have to spend your entire income on car payments and gasoline just to get to work, so lowering the construction costs can only help so much.

The only solution to the housing crisis in the US is for cities and towns to allow things other than single family homes to be built - even duplexes and triplexes can fit nicely into existing neighborhoods that are much closer to job centers, reducing transportation costs and making construction costs affordable by splitting them between 2-3 families instead of just one.

 

We don't all live in the US. 3D printed homes are being built all over the world. Sometimes I think you guys in the US forget that the rest of us are out here. But yes, globally, I think I would sate that 3D printed houses are "starting" to take off.

Sorry for the multiple quotes, but it was the best way to address your points. 

 

Edited April 7, 20233 yr by martin-w

Although it's just single storey buildings just now, I imagine the process could eventually be used to construct multi-storey buildings.

Biodegradable 3D printed house! What will they think of next?

https://www.dezeen.com/2019/02/27/gaia-wasp-3d-printed-house-biodegradable-video/

2 hours ago, dmwalker said:

Although it's just single storey buildings just now, I imagine the process could eventually be used to construct multi-storey buildings.

 

It's not. There are multi storey buildings. There are many.

Two stories 4000 square feet.

 

Edited April 7, 20233 yr by martin-w

5 hours ago, martin-w said:

 

I thinks it depends on how you define "take off". Currently, there are numerous projects around the world, and entire neighborhoods being built. Kenya, China, a number of states in the US, Germany, China, South America, a project in the UK has just commenced, France, Italy, Holland, all over the place. Certainly not ubiquitous, but I think we could say they are "starting" to take off. And this is just the beginning, its early days for the technology. 

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/12/3d-printed-housing-developments-suddenly-take-off-heres-what-they-look-like.html

“We are going to be graduating from homes by the dozen to homes by the hundred,” said Jason Ballard, CEO of ICON."

 

 

Actually, no, at the moment the cost of constructing a 3D printed house is not much different to a conventional home, and construction time is pretty much the same. This will change of course, as the technology matures. And these aren't just basic cheap houses, luxury 3D printed homes are being built too, in fact its possible to build with architectural complexity that you cant with conventional methods.. Not sure why you think they would be built dozens of miles from job centers. They are being built where land is available, like all housing.

 

 

We don't all live in the US. 3D printed homes are being built all over the world. Sometimes I think you guys in the US forget that the rest of us are out here. But yes, globally, I think I would sate that 3D printed houses are "starting" to take off.

Sorry for the multiple quotes, but it was the best way to address your points. 

 

Touche, the US mindset does permeate this forum and so sucks me in as well 😅

I'd be curious to see if the technology could expand into more urban environments - the pictures I see seem to suggest it requires a relatively large buffer of space around the actual printing area, though perhaps that's an aspect of the technology that could be improved in the future to facilitate construction of things like terraced housing or townhouses, especially here in New York or other older major cities in the US and Europe where construction labor is extremely expensive. Since the finished houses have an almost brick-like quality to them with the patterned concrete walls, I actually think the 3d printed construction could fit in nicely in the more traditional brick and stone housing you often see in older urban areas.

What a great way to put carpenters, bricklayers and stone masons out of work.

Noel

Seems difficult to separate the hype from a real analysis compared to common US stick-built home. But my brother is in the concrete biz, so might be nice for him.

 

scott s.

.

 

 

6 hours ago, birdguy said:

What a great way to put carpenters, bricklayers and stone masons out of work.

Noel

 

Bricklayers yes. Carpenters are still required for internal partitions, boxing in, and roofing, along with electricians, plumbers, landscape gardeners etc. Advances in technology often modify the tradesman's landscape. Adding required trades and deleting some. 

Myth 6 in the video below is that it takes away jobs.

 

8 hours ago, StAgre said:

I'd be curious to see if the technology could expand into more urban environments - the pictures I see seem to suggest it requires a relatively large buffer of space around the actual printing area, though perhaps that's an aspect of the technology that could be improved in the future to facilitate construction of things like terraced housing or townhouses, especially here in New York or other older major cities in the US and Europe where construction labor is extremely expensive. Since the finished houses have an almost brick-like quality to them with the patterned concrete walls, I actually think the 3d printed construction could fit in nicely in the more traditional brick and stone housing you often see in older urban areas.

 

I don't think there's much space required around the structure, the printing gantry doesn't take up much space. There are a number of estates under construction that are compact. For example the new UK project. 

As for the ribbed finish. Customers can have it smoothed over or retain the raw printed look. In fact  some companies are using printer heads that smooth as they lay. Exterior walls can also be cladded of course. Interior walls can be painted, plastered or dry lined. 

 

6 hours ago, scott967 said:

Seems difficult to separate the hype from a real analysis compared to common US stick-built home

 

Yes, there's quite a bit of hype around. When they talk about speed, they refer to just the walls, not including setting up the printer, delivering the grout, tweaking the proprietary grout for the environment the printers is in. Most of the construction time is in terms of the rest of the build, roofers, electricians, plumbers, decorators landscapers etc.  So yes, just the wall construction is fast, but the entire build often isn't much faster than a conventional home. Speed will improve over time though, along with cost.

There's a good video below that covers some of the myths.

 

 

Edited April 8, 20233 yr by martin-w

18 hours ago, StAgre said:

I actually think the 3d printed construction could fit in nicely in the more traditional brick and stone housing you often see in older urban areas.

It would be a trival matter to apply a facade of "bricks" using faux bricks.

3 hours ago, n4gix said:

It would be a trival matter to apply a facade of "bricks" using faux bricks.

Would that be better than using real bricks?

Noel

I think a laser printed neighborhood would be ripe territory for an aluminum siding salesman.

Noel