3D-printed home tech now available to builders

Due to their potential for affordability, durability, and sustainability, 3D-printed homes are buzzy at the moment—but the reality of building those homes beyond a demo or two has been slower in coming. That’s about to change, though; Austin-based residential building company Sunconomy and Forge New, a residential development company based in San Francisco, have partnered to lease and license Sunconomy’s We Print Houses 3D-printing home system to builders and contractors across the country. The system includes a mobile platform and all the corresponding mechanical systems needed to construct its designs.

According to press materials and the We Print Homes website, the concrete homes are designed to meet International Building Code and are energy-efficient, low-maintenances, and built to be resistant to fire, hurricane-force and tornadic winds, earthquakes measuring 8 points and higher, hail, and flooding.

The homes can be constructed in “a matter of weeks” said We Print Houses’s Larry Haines, saving builders time and labor expenses.

In addition to making the technology available on a larger scale, We Print Houses will require licensees participate in a two-week training and certification program on a construction site of Genesis, which it calls the “first home in the U.S. to be designed, engineered, permitted, built, appraised, and sold using this technology.” The home will be built on a sloped, 100 x 120-foot lot in Lago Vista, Texas, to illustrate the adaptability of the designs. Construction on the home is set to begin in February.