QCBJ Newsmakers: ‘Cool’ tech tackles housing shortage

This story is part of the QCBJ’s Newsmakers edition. This year-end wrap-up from the staff of the Quad Cities Regional Business Journal includes some of the biggest stories we brought you in 2023. It’s also a tradition by our parent company, Corridor Media Group, based in North Liberty, Iowa. This story was originally published in August 2023.

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A new era of home building technology may soon be coming to your neighborhood. The technology is called 3D-printed homes. The people spearheading this new technology say the homes will be built faster, stronger, better and less expensive than traditional stick-built homes. In fact, Businessinsider.com predicted 3D-printed homes will be the hottest trend in the home construction field with a rapid shift toward printed homes spreading across the country. Currently, the world’s largest 3D-printed home community is now under construction near Austin, Texas, in a neighborhood called Wolf Ranch. There are 100 three- and four-bedroom homes being built in that region.

 “In the future, I believe robots and drones will build entire neighborhoods, towns, and cities, and we’ll look back at the Wolf Ranch community as the place where robotic construction at scale began,” Jason Ballard, CEO of ICON, one of the companies helping build those homes, said in a statement to trendhunter.com. Thousands of more 3D-printed homes will be built across the nation and almost all parts of the world in the years to come. In fact, the global 3D-print construction market was valued at about $3 million in 2019 and is expected to increase to more than $1.5 billion by next year, according to marketsandmarkets.com. But you don’t have to travel all the way to Texas to see the potential future of home construction. You just have to look to Muscatine, Iowa, where the state’s first 3D-printed house is currently under construction. When it is complete  – probably late in the fall – the new house will be one piece of the solution to the severe housing shortage in the region. If all goes according to plan, there will be 10 3D-printed homes built in Muscatine in the coming months. At least, that’s the hope of community leaders who gathered at the construction site in May to celebrate the beginning phases of the home project. “We’re not doing this just because we can. We’re building houses because we need the houses here. But, it is cool,” said Ron Monahan, housing initiatives manager with the Community Foundation of Greater Muscatine, one of the project’s community partners.

“The first few weeks of our 3D project have been used to mobilize equipment and the construction team. Additionally, there has been prototyping and materials testing,” Mr. Monahan said.  “With mobilization and testing behind us, the pace has picked up and the exterior 3D walls are being constructed.  We expect the 3D portion of the first home to be completed in the next few weeks,” he recently told the QCBJ. Live updates on the construction of the house can be found at a livestream video at this website: www.givinggreater.org/housing. The city’s inaugural 3D-printed home hit a major milestone on Monday, July 24, when all exterior concrete walls at the home were completed.  “After allowing the concrete to cure for a few days, we will start to finish out the home. It will be completed like any other house,” Mr. Monahan said. “The trusses and roof system will be next. The interior walls will be stick built and finished with drywall,” he said, estimating a completion date in late fall or early winter. “In the meantime, the printer will be moved and readied to start printing the second home in the same subdivision,” Mr.  Monahan said.

He added that this fall, three more 3D-printed houses are planned as part of a project called  “Ignite Vitality: Mulberry.” This is a revitalization project located just north of Muscatine’s downtown area.   But Muscatine’s 3D-printed home is likely just the tip of the 3D iceberg. According to a national report released in late July, the 3D-printed housing market in North America will grow by 50% in the next five years. “North American production of 3D-printed homes has increased as a result of the tendency to construct homes that not only require fewer production hours but also have smaller carbon footprints,” according to the report in reportocean.com, a site that has market research on housing and other areas. On the local front, Mr. Monahan and about 100 other community, government and business leaders gathered Friday, May 19, on Duncan Drive in the Arbor Commons subdivision for a ceremony to  celebrate the launch of Muscatine’s first 3D-printed home construction.  “If we want to grow the community, we need housing,” said Rich Dwyer, chairman of the board of directors for the Community Foundation of Greater Muscatine. Charla Schafer, the foundation’s president, told the crowd that the goal is to build 10 houses this summer and fall in Muscatine because of its drastic housing shortage. That shortage could be seen a few months ago when only 55 homes were on the market for sale in the region, she added.  “Change is hard and sometimes uncomfortable. … But we have to be impatient. Our community can’t wait,” Ms. Schafer said.

According to information from the foundation: “A larger shortage of affordable housing is burdening residents, increasing home and rental costs, and creating economic ripple effects in residents’ lives.” At the groundbreaking ceremony, the star of the show was a massive robotic machine – called an RIC Tech 3D Printer – with an orange arm that was slowly moving on a rail system and building the exterior walls of the house by putting down one layer after another of a concrete mix to form those walls. When the robot starts to work, it’s a “conversation killer,” because everybody in the crowd stops talking and starts looking at the robot at work, said Zachary Mannheimer, founder and CEO of Iowa City-based Alquist 3D, the company doing the 3D building portion of the home. Despite the 3D robot’s presence on the job site, Mr. Mannheimer told the crowd that most of the Muscatine home will be built much like traditional stick-built homes.  In fact, skilled tradespeople still will be needed to build the home after the 3D printer gets done with the wall work. The build project will still need plumbers, roofers, HVAC workers, electricians and many others to finish the home, he added. The Muscatine 3D home will be 1,400 square feet with three bedrooms and two bathrooms, said Mr. Mannheimer. The Alquist 3D leader called the 3D technology the “natural advancement” in home building. 

But he said three factors are slowing down the new industry: 1. Older printers were big and slow. That problem is being resolved with a new generation of smaller, more agile and faster printers. 2. Some of the additive concrete materials needed for the 3D printers need to be shipped in from overseas. That problem also is being resolved with the production of local materials. 3.  Finally, more workers need to be trained for the new 3D technology. That issue is being addressed through a new training program by Muscatine Community College (MCC) that will prepare students for the 3D industry. “We sometimes have a problem getting young people into the building trades. … They don’t want to swing a hammer. They do want to play with a giant robot,”  said Mr. Mannheimer. Naomi DeWinter, president of MCC, told the groundbreaking crowd that students soon will have hands-on training in the 3D home field and can help resolve the community’s housing crisis. The campus, part of Eastern Iowa Community Colleges, has unveiled a new, eight-week certification program centered around 3D-construction printing. The curriculum is in partnership with Alquist.    

AT A GLANCE: 3D-PRINTED HOMES

• Typically, 3D-printed houses feature free-form, curvilinear shapes made out of a cement mix. Projects span from inhabitable beta prototypes under study to move-in-ready affordable housing and even high-end luxury homes. – Builtin.com
• Three-dimensional-printed houses first hit the U.S. market at the start of 2021. A 1,407-square-foot house — complete with three bedrooms, two baths and a two-car garage in Riverhead, New York — listed as “the world’s first 3D-printed home for sale” for $299,999 on Zillow.com. – Builtin.com

• 3D printing technology costs an estimated 20% less to build a home than a traditional stick build. A 3D-printed home can reduce labor costs by up to 80%. – Alquist 3D
• The base of a 3D-printed home is constructed in 12 days or less. An Alquist 3D crew has done it in as fast as 28 hours. Finishes (roofing, plumbing, electric, etc.) take another six to 10 weeks. – Alquist 3D
• Currently, 3D printers are only used to form foundations, slab floors, and exterior and interior walls. Once these are complete, workers add roofs, windows, doors, and other finishing details using traditional building techniques. – Homebuyingrealtor.com
• The walls of 3D-printed homes are thicker than traditional building materials and less likely to transfer heat or cold. Additionally, the walls often include cavities for plumbing, electrical wires, and insulation. – Homebuyingrealtor.com

• The construction market, valued at $16 trillion, continues to grow, and the construction 3D printing market is projected to reach $40 billion by 2027. – Financeyahoo.com
• In the U.S., 3D-printed homes received a major endorsement from Habitat for Humanity, the world’s largest not-for-profit home builder. The organization broke ground on two 3D printed home projects in 2021, one in Williamsburg, Virginia, and the other in Tempe, Arizona – all3dp.com

NEWSMAKERS UPDATE

3D-printed home project hits stumbling block, moves forward

MUSCATINE, Iowa – This community is on the cutting edge of technology when it comes to building new homes. It will soon have the first-in-the-state 3D-printed home. But, there has been a major stumbling block in that journey. That’s because the concrete mixture used by the 3D robotic arm in the building process has “underperformed.” The problems with that mixture will mean the walls in that first home will have to be taken down and rebuilt next year, according to information from the Community Foundation of Greater Muscatine, one of the project’s community partners. “It’s an opportunity for us to get better. … I’ve been told that when you’re on the cutting edge, you get some cuts,” said Ron Monahan, housing initiatives manager for the community foundation. “The concrete formula selected met necessary specifications in lab testing, but during continuous quality checks it was determined there were variations in the field. This could have been remedied in several different ways, but partners on the project decisively chose the most uncompromising path. The subcontractor, Alquist 3D, will replace the structure using a grade of materials that is refined to consistently perform within field standards,” according to a Community Foundation news release. The cost of the rebuild will be absorbed by the subcontractor and not reflected in the future listing price of the home. Mr. Monahan added there is also good news coming out of the setback. First, improvements will be made to the concrete mixture, needed houses will be built in the community, and work has already started on a second house using the 3D printer technology. Mr. Monahan added that construction work has begun on a new 3D-printed home at 1506 Redwood Drive, which is in the same subdivision as the first home. A new concrete mixture will be used to build the walls on this home. When that home is complete, the walls on the first home will be torn down and rebuilt. That will likely happen in the spring. Also, the Community Foundation of Greater Muscatine remains committed to helping build 10 homes in Muscatine County using 3D technology. They include three in the Arbor Commons subdivision, six located in infill lots in Muscatine in partnership with Muscatine Center for Social Action and Muscatine County Habitat for Humanity, and at least one in the nearby community of West Liberty. — Dave Thompson