3D-Printed Home of The Future

By Jack Levy, Staff Writer

Is the future of construction here? A non-profit organization called Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI), has constructed a house partially by a 3D printer. 

The 1600 square foot residence is located on Wicks Road in Brentwood, NY and was built as part of HFHI’s “300 Hours of Sweat Equity” program. The program helps low-income aspiring homeowners purchase a home as long as they contribute 300 hours of volunteer work on their new home and other homes built in the program.

According to HFHI, each home costs half of what a typical family’s home costs and took only two weeks to complete.

While 3D-printers have recently been used to assist in the construction of homes, HFHI claims that the home’s concrete foundation, walls, and insulation, are all hurricane-proof.

The 3D printed home will be occupied by a family of immigrants from the Dominican Republic.

The United States (US) is currently in a housing crisis. According to a survey by the US Conference of Mayors, there is currently a shortage of between four and seven million homes in the United States and 70 percent of voters are concerned about the price of homes. 

Senior Mike McGurk, who is an intern at Schimenti Construction, thinks that 3D homes may be a viable option to solve the housing crisis.

“The option to print building materials or print large portions of a house is going to save a lot of time and labor,” McGurk said. “If hundreds of houses can be built with a small labor force and only take weeks to finish, it’s going to change the housing market.”

According to US Census data, the average price of a home has gone from $20,000 in 1965 to 420,800 in 2024. Even when the price is adjusted for inflation it is still more than double the 1965 price.

Senior business administration major Kyle Schmitt believes that this new way to construct homes will improve the housing market.. 

“I think a big fear for people our age is that we won’t be able to afford to buy a house,” Schmitt said. “If we can use 3D printing to build houses faster and cheaper it can really help our generation buy homes when we’re ready.”

Many companies are looking to this new construction technology. The largest community of 3D printed houses was constructed over the summer in Austin, Texas where over 100 homes were built.

Dubai currently has the largest 3D-printed structure in the world and aims to have 25 percent of buildings, by 2030, based on 3D-printing technology.

Because there are some concerns over physical job loss, there are concerns when it comes to this new technology.

“If this becomes mainstream, a lot of people will have work shortages. There’s a lot of people involved in a construction project. Companies that make materials, companies that distribute the materials, carpenters, electricians, plumbers,” McGurk said. “If most of these jobs can be done cheaper by a machine then these people will be out of work.”

While it will not happen overnight, construction workers, like workers of many other industries, are in danger of being replaced by machines.

3D-printed buildings have already been constructed worldwide at a limited scale and many construction companies have plans to begin using this technology in the near future.

HFHI has used 3D printing technology to build homes since 2022 when unveiling their first printed house in Va.

It is too early to determine if this new construction aid will be successful. There are many concerns about how these homes will hold up in natural disasters compared to homes built using traditional methods. Even so, Legislators in N.Y. have  proposed the creation of a 3D-Printed Housing and Infrastructure task force.