3D printing's new challenge: Solving the U.S. housing shortage

A new generation of startups wants to disrupt the way houses are built by automating production with industrial 3D printers.

3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, uses machines to deposit thin layers of plastic, metal, concrete and other materials atop one another, eventually producing three-dimensional objects from the bottom up. In recent years, 3D printers have mostly been used to create small quantities of specialized items such as car parts or prosthetic limbs, allowing consumers or businesses to produce just what they need using the machines at home or work.

Now a small number of startups around the world are applying 3D printing to home construction, arguing that it's faster, cheaper and more sustainable than traditional construction. They say these technologies could help address severe housing shortages that have led to soaring home prices, overcrowding, evictions and homelessness across the country.

But 3D home construction is still in the early stage of development. Most startups in this field are developing new technologies and not building homes yet.

An LI experiment

On Long Island, an open house at a 3D-printed model home in Calverton drew interest this winter. The listing agent, Stephen King, of Realty Connect USA, said a Riverhead house is under contract to be built by summer along the lines of the model. The buyers are a "mature married couple" who currently live in Manhattan and Suffolk County. "This will allow them to retire on Long Island and stay here," King said. Bidding wars pushed the sale price "well over the $300,000 asking price," he said.

The builder, SQ4D Inc. of Patchogue, uses robots to build on-site, and an executive for the firm said at the time of the open house, "With our machine we’re going to meet a global demand to produce affordable and sustainable homes."

Similarly, two of the highest profile and best-financed companies in the country – Mighty Buildings and ICON – have hopes of filling that niche in the market, though they have delivered fewer than 100 houses between them.

To move beyond a niche market, construction firms will need to significantly ramp up production and persuade home buyers, developers and regulators that 3D printed houses are safe, durable and pleasing to the eye. They’ll also need to train workers to operate the machines and install the homes.

"To the extent that 3D printing can offer a faster, cheaper way to build even single family housing units or small units, it can address a portion of the problem," said Michelle Boyd, who directs the Housing Lab at the University of California-Berkeley’s Terner Center for Housing Innovation.

24-hour-a-day potential

Jason Ballard, CEO and co-founder of a 3D printing construction startup called ICON, said its 3D printing system can do the work of 10 to 20 workers in five or six different trades. And unlike humans, the machines can work up to 24 hours a day.

In Mighty Buildings’ factory warehouse in Oakland, Calif., a 3D printer deposits thin layers of a stone-like material that quickly hardens under ultraviolet light and resists fire and water. Wall panels are printed one layer at a time and then filled with an insulating foam.

The wall panels that can easily assembled with simple tools, the company said. So far the company has delivered six units and has another 30 under contract, starting at $115,000 each, which doesn’t include the cost of installation and site work.

Austin, Texas-based ICON has used 3D printing technology to produce low-cost housing for the chronically homeless in Austin as well as for poor families in Nacajuca, Mexico. Instead of producing homes in factories, it brings its Vulcan printer to work on-site.

"The factory comes to you," said Jason Ballard, ICON’s CEO and co-founder.

With Jim Merritt