The world’s largest 3D-printed community is taking shape in Texas, perfecting a process that the developer says is a cheaper, quicker and less wasteful option to the traditional homebuilding process.
Last summer, a robotic printer from ICON finished printing the last few homes in Wolf Ranch, a community in Georgetown, Texas, just down the road from Austin.
Now, residents are settling into their concrete homes and raving about the durability and safety.
“I feel safer in this house than any house I’ve ever lived in, because it’s so well built, it’s not going to burn down,” Holly Feekings, who has been living in her Wolf Ranch home for about a year, told CNBC.
The forward-thinking development is a collaboration project between Lennar, the U.S.’s second-largest homebuilder, and ICON, a 3D technology company.
ICON, reports Reuters, began printing walls for the community back in 2022, starting with just two 40-foot robot printers. By 2023, 11 machines were working around the clock, seven days a week, to churn out two homes per week.
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Compared to traditional construction, the company says that 3D printing homes is faster, less expensive, requires fewer workers, and minimizes construction material waste.
“It brings a lot of efficiency to the trade market,” ICON senior project manager Conner Jenkins told Reuters last summer. “So, where there were maybe five different crews coming in to build a wall system, we now have one crew and one robot.”
The walls of each home are made from a mix of concrete powder, sand, water and additives that are added to the printer and then pumped out through a nozzle, adding layer upon layer and building up the wall.
While the process looks like toothpaste being squeezed from a tube, the final product gives the walls the look of corduroy fabric.
Lennar offers eight different single-storey, three- and four-bedroom models and each home is solar-powered, meaning the power bills are shockingly low for those living there — Feekings told CNBC that her electric bill was just US$26 last month.
The concrete design of the walls also keeps the homes cool in Texas’ gruelling summer heat and warm when cooler temperatures take hold in the fall.
The only part of the homes that aren’t 3D-printed is the metal roofing.
“We have a durable product here that if you look at its wind resistance for hurricanes, its fire resistance for fire-worn areas — the ability to adapt modern product to what we need for the future in housing and building a healthier housing market is amazing,” Stuart Miller, chairman and co-CEO of Lennar, told CNBC.
Homes in Wolf Ranch start around US$400,000 (approx. C$575,000) and come with solar panels and smart home technology, features the builders say help homeowners save further on utility bills.
Miller told CNBC that his company is now planning a second 3D-printed community in Texas, but this time it will feature double the number of structures, larger homes and will be even more affordable.
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