There's another company out of Florida that looks like set-up would be a lot less involved. Their printer is a single pedestal with an articulated arm. They just set it on the slab and it rotates 360.

They can place multiple printers on a slab and do larger odd shaped more complex floor plans with less equipment. Mainly they eliminate the huge gantry crane apparatus that has to be leveled and sits outside the slab.

Seems like it would be easier to do multi story buildings like this as well. Just lift it up to the next slab by the job site crane.

If they can prove the concept, that company would definitely have the advantage in commercial / multi family / industrial construction if they were cheaper than tilt wall.

Apis Cor is the outfit in Florida. They can transport the equipment in a bumper pull enclosed trailer.

https://hubs.la/Q01ymxBb0

Edit: not sure why it goes to that site. They used to have a showroom. Maybe they are already defunct. Too bad, it was pretty cool. I think the robots were tracked and just unloaded themselves and climbed up on the slab.

Edit #2 . It looks like they were involved with alchemist. Is that one of the FTX scam companies? I can't keep track.

Bradley.Kohr.II said:

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A) If they are looking for investors, I'm sure more than a few of us are interested.

B) Anyone know if they can do 2-3 stories?

C) I agree about the aesthetics - personally, I'd want the walls smoothed out.

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https://abc13.com/3d-printing-printed-homes-spring-branch-home-built-with-cive/12850103/

A different outfit has a 2-story house being built in Houston. I think this is a neat technology. They are dog dooky ugly though lol. Some of these front elevations look like they didn't remember to include a roof in the drawings and threw a standing seam hat on top of the structure! I bet these are super durable and functional though!

https://www.lennar.com/new-homes/texas/austin-central-texas/georgetown/wolf-ranch-3d-printed-homes/nola

I want a house built out of the same material as Yeti Cooler.....can we do that?

O.G. said:

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I want a house built out of the same material as Yeti Cooler.....can we do that?

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Close cell foam insulate a traditional stick framed house.

I don't see how this will ever be cheaper than a traditionally built wood framed house…

A) Lumber has gotten quite expensive

B) Demographic collapse has already started in the trades.

C) Once utility costs and insurance costs get factored in, it changes in a hurry - I'm not sure you can stick build in FL/at least not unless you want to pay a huge premium in insurance. (Coastal Carolina's still stick builds, but that's more due to a lack of skill set among the local builders. I know lots of developers interested in 3D printing.)

D) There was some Australian outfit doing 2 story "brick" structures, and working on 3 stories. They used very large bricks, since the weight/size didn't matter too much to the machine.

The systems on a single pivot seem ideal, but ICON seems to be the only group in actual commercial production, so I'm assuming there's a reason why the pivot ones didn't take off.

It opens up really interesting design possibilities - tiling a postage stamp neighborhood width a variety of floor plans to maximize privacy, etc.

No more worrying about f'n termites

There are a lot of advantages to this, I am sure that they'll take storms much better and are likely much more efficient.

However, there are downsides. Patching holes in drywall if you move a picture is easy. This is likely just as easy to patch, but likely harder to match the texture.

Also, as pointed out, you can added new outlets, but moving and covering the old one is likely more difficult. Also, styles change, it seems like it would be tough to move walls around on the interior. What is great today may not be what people want in 30 years.

That said, eliminate termites, also likely eliminates many of the openings that insects and rodents use to enter a home. Seems like if you punch a wall, you won't have to repair drywall, but your hand may fair much worse.

There is plenty of good things about this, but drawbacks as well. I'm sure as the tech develops, many of the current drawbacks will be overcome.

EMY92 said:

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There are a lot of advantages to this, I am sure that they'll take storms much better and are likely much more efficient.

However, there are downsides. Patching holes in drywall if you move a picture is easy. This is likely just as easy to patch, but likely harder to match the texture.

Also, as pointed out, you can added new outlets, but moving and covering the old one is likely more difficult. Also, styles change, it seems like it would be tough to move walls around on the interior. What is great today may not be what people want in 30 years.

That said, eliminate termites, also likely eliminates many of the openings that insects and rodents use to enter a home. Seems like if you punch a wall, you won't have to repair drywall, but your hand may fair much worse.

There is plenty of good things about this, but drawbacks as well. I'm sure as the tech develops, many of the current drawbacks will be overcome.

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Waterproofing the exterior would be my main concern.

Going to rely on homeowners to maintain the exterior coating every couple years?

Good luck with that.

cryption said:

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What I don't understand - shouldn't concrete all be poured at the same time for the best strength? So like if they're using concrete - it dries and then they add more - will there be weakness?

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from my quick viewing; each bead is a continuous/monolithic pour, and successive beads are laid on top, presumably while concrete is still pretty wet (otherwise this seems like it would take forever).

So all in all, this is a relatively monolithic pour it seems.

I certainly don't like a beaded look for interior.. would be really hard to clean/dust.
Are we still tiling wet areas, or is the concrete sealed in those areas?

fourth deck said:

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No more worrying about f'n termites

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Or flood damage/ rot in wet / humid environments. It's why Florida has gone to cmu or tilt wall.

62strat said:

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would be really hard to clean/dust.

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Very good point.

AgLA06 said:

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So I take it you won't live in a stucco, tilt wall, or CMU house either?

In some cases that limits your ability to live in the state of Florida.

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No, wouldn't want to live in any of those style structures either. Don't find them to be appealing to look at.

As far as Florida, I am fine living in Texas.

Want. I'm an engineer and this is what I have always wanted.

$450k for a 1600 square foot house seems a bit high. How does this compare to a normal wood framed home?

I'm guessing you could knock $20-30k off by not going solar and maybe another $20k by going to a shingled roof? And if the tech continues to prove itself sounds like labor is going to be cut down by a large margin.

UninformedInternetBlogger said:

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Want. I'm an engineer and this is what I have always wanted.

$450k for a 1600 square foot house seems a bit high. How does this compare to a normal wood framed home?

I'm guessing you could knock $20-30k off by not going solar and maybe another $20k by going to a shingled roof? And if the tech continues to prove itself sounds like labor is going to be cut down by a large margin.

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I didn't watch the whole video but does that number include land cost?

Walls with ridges that are bumpy on top of it sound like a massive pain to clean and repaint. I'd rather have them plastered over but I'd image there would be a fair amount of labor getting that done.

What happens when someone wants to remodel their 3D-printed home?

fav13andac1)c said:

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What happens when someone wants to remodel their 3D-printed home?

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it's been discussed.. interior walls aren't structural, only exterior.
So you can knock down walls and build new ones if you wanted.

Adding on to the exterior (and looking the same) would be a challenge, but I'm sure these companies can make smaller/portable printers for this kind of stuff.

Bradley.Kohr.II said:

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62strat said:

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would be really hard to clean/dust.

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Very good point.

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We've all wanted to be able to clean our house with a leaf blower. Here's your chance.

AgLA06 said:

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Bradley.Kohr.II said:

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62strat said:

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would be really hard to clean/dust.

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Very good point.

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We've all wanted to be able to clean our house with a leaf blower. Here's your chance.

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Seriously....I'm at least partially interested in this. Single dude, kids are grown, this looks low maintenance.

Not only that, but it's almost bomb proof.

There isn't a party that house can't hold up to (windows and plumbing excluded).

AgLA06 said:

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Not only that, but it's almost bomb proof.

There isn't a party that house can't hold up to (windows and plumbing excluded).

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Those walls will definitely tell an angry drunk to cool down if he decides to take a swing at one of them

They should be marketing these in every college town in America.

How would these house handle differential movement (i.e.- Houston)?

Well, they say they are rated in hurricane and high wind zones. That specifically wasn't discussed. It appears they are built on whatever concrete foundation you want. Which is really the question.

Here is a listing for one of their small floor plans for sale.

https://homes.iconbuild.com/wolf-ranch/explore/116-rough-creek-road/tour/exterior/

AgLA06 said:

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Not only that, but it's almost bomb proof.

There isn't a party that house can't hold up to (windows and plumbing excluded).

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uggghh well as long as your out of range of whatever the russian's are sending!

P.H. Dexippus said:

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How would these house handle differential movement (i.e.- Houston)?

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That would really be a matter of how the foundation was designed for the soils. However, if the foundation was inadequate, having the roof tied to the slab via 5/8" rebar might be problematic if the soils start shifting. Or it might be a factor in strengthening the slab against movement. The soild concrete walls would probably do better than wood and sheet rock at resisting deformation due to slab movement, but any failures would probably translate to weak spots like doorways and window frames.

B-1 83 said:

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I cannot wrap my 61 year old brain around this…….

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Pooping concrete in a predefined line. Dry/repeat.

Oof. $300/sq ft. That's a high end price.

In Austin? I doubt that.

"In April 2023, the median listing home price in Austin, TX was $635K, trending up 4.3% year-over-year. The median listing home price per square foot was $356."

According to Realtor.com that now $376 sq/ft today.

ConfidentAg said:

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I don't see how this will ever be cheaper than a traditionally built wood framed house…

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1. Labor. They have 7 printers currently on site. That means 7 homes being printed at once. When was the last time you say a builder throwing up 7 homes in a neighborhood at once? No builder has 7 framing crews out there at a time. Not to mention time on site. As long as weather holds, you program the machine and it does its thing, day or night.

2. Inventory availability. This means builders like Lennar, David Weekly, or whomever can move from community to community quicker to build and sell inventory. More inventory drives down housing prices.

3. Concrete is cheaper than lumber at current prices if Im not mistaken. Now, I have no idea what kind of concrete mix they are using, so that has to be accounted for obviously.


Bonus to buyers: Options. This one community has 48 different home options on only 4 different floor plans. You arent doing that with traditional wood frame homes.

flomoAG said:

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ConfidentAg said:

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I don't see how this will ever be cheaper than a traditionally built wood framed house…

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1. Labor. They have 7 printers currently on site. That means 7 homes being printed at once. When was the last time you say a builder throwing up 7 homes in a neighborhood at once? No builder has 7 framing crews out there at a time. Not to mention time on site. As long as weather holds, you program the machine and it does its thing, day or night.

2. Inventory availability. This means builders like Lennar, David Weekly, or whomever can move from community to community quicker to build and sell inventory. More inventory drives down housing prices.

3. Concrete is cheaper than lumber at current prices if Im not mistaken. Now, I have no idea what kind of concrete mix they are using, so that has to be accounted for obviously.


Bonus to buyers: Options. This one community has 48 different home options on only 4 different floor plans. You arent doing that with traditional wood frame homes.

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Seems like they are trying to solve the easiest part of building houses. The framing….

To my knowledge the only time that was an issue was during covid which is a wild one off event

The quality, structural strength, and lack of deterioration (rot) at a similar cost of wood is the selling point.

Go look at framing jobs today and you'll understand why everyone involved would appreciate the accuracy and quality of this instead.

If you're a young buyer purchasing one of these you plan to live in long term and possibly renovated as trends change, I can see the hesitation. Older buyer building or buying their forever home, it would totally be worth the investment.

The one thing I don't think they can currently do is build these up on pilings for beach houses which is where they would really be a value. probably too much weight to support up in the air. If they could figure that out, they could really thrive in coastal towns all around the the US.