Fresh off the press: 3D-printed homes hit the market for $275k

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could print out a house as easily as you fire off a few copies of that work presentation? This is now a reality at HiveASMBLD, which just broke ground on the world’s first hybrid 3D-printed affordable housing development. Zuri Gardens, a 13-acre community in Houston, features 80 printer-built homes for sale, starting at $275,000—well below the local average (plus many buyers are eligible to receive credits ranging between $50k and $125k through grant programs that can whittle down that price further). Here’s more about how this game-changing technology from the company’s co-founder and co-CEO, Timothy Lankau.

Q: How did you get involved in 3D-printing homes? “Co-founder Ethan Wong and I were traditional homebuilders interested in bringing more automation into the process to address cost escalation. There are not many promising technologies other than 3D printing, so we dove into it along with some of the first movers in 2021.”

Q: What are the hurdles to this technology taking off? “The main challenge has been whether we can move the needle on cost and production time savings. At this point, quite a few companies can 3D-print a house. But we are not aware of any company other than ours that has 3D-printed multiple houses that have sold on the market at true cost savings passed onto homeowners. We think there is an unlimited market for these homes so long as they are at or below the cost of stick-framed homes. But if they are more expensive, even by a little, it is a limited market because homes are already too expensive.”

Q: How have you made 3D-printed homes affordable? “It has helped that we have never had tens of millions of dollars to develop our technology; this has forced us to develop a practical system, focusing on a smaller footprint system and less expensive mortars. And the more volume we can do on a given site, the lower our costs. Zuri Gardens is our opportunity to show how this technology can work on a larger scale to push costs down. We estimate that there are between 200 and 300 of these homes worldwide. We have contracted to do about 100 this year, and think this may make us the highest-volume builder of 3D-printed homes in the world by the end of 2026.”

Q: Have you ever lived in a 3D-printed home, and what’s it like? “I have. They are more energy efficient due to their well-sealed envelopes. Their thick concrete walls are more soundproof, so they are quieter on the inside. Overall, it just feels safer and more solid to me. There are also not many limits on what printers can do architecturally in terms of layout, size, or look. For investors, we think these homes are great for rentals due to their lower cost and higher durability.”