Costs 3D printed house
3D printed houses have recently been touted in the media as some sort of miracle, which is able to fix all the housing problems we have in our modern world. While many might be a little bit too quick to judge, there is definitely some potential for the future of 3D printed houses. The current housing crisis is a good place to start: We have many people, little room, and little interested in the exhausting field of construction. Combine this with the rising cost of material and you quickly come to realize why buying a house nowadays is so expensive. 3D printing houses might be a solution, but there is a lot of conflicting and misleading information out there, so today I am going to talk about the question:
How much is a 3D printed home?
Because of the lowered material cost, less required workers and increased speed, a small 3D printed house can cost around 10 000 Dollars, in the near future prices of under 4000 Dollars might be possible. Bigger houses have not yet been 3D printed too often, but leading companies estimate the total reduction in cost here to be around 40 percent compared to traditional construction methods. The first habited 3D printed house in France cost over 200 000 Dollars to build, nevertheless the owners state that even in this pilot project the cost was 20 percent less than if they would have relied on more common ways to build it.
Reasons for the low price
When I first heard about this insane cost reduction, I was surprised. Wasn’t a construction scale 3D printed expensive? Not even mentioning the trained workers who had to operate it and the ones who know enough about 3D printing to write some sort of code for the 3D printed… Well, I was right. As of now all of those things are very expensive. The reason why it is still fairly inexpensive to 3D print your house is that all the material is cheap and can be used without wasting any. The one worker who knows how to operate the printer might be expensive, but still less expensive than 20 workers who need breaks, vacation, insurance, retirement provision… A 3D printed simply builds so fast and without any stops, it is hard for the humam counterparts to stay even slightly in competition.
Incidental costs
What you have to consider when you hear the offers of most 3D printed housing company, is that the process of 3D printing is normally only used to build the walls. Floors, ceilings, ´walls, wiring, interior decoration, everything made out of woor… All those are things which are going to cost you extra. Still, in the aforementioned prices this is usually already taken into account and there is still a big decrease in costs noticeable. The company “Mighty Buildings” for example creates 3D printed buildings with everything you need already installed. A ready-to-use 3D printed studio apartment in your backyard is going to cost you around 100 000 Dollars, which is according to their CEO still 45 percent less than the same building would be utilizing traditional construction. Another big factor you might have to consider is your location. If you live in cities such as Boston, San Francisco or Amsterdam… Well you are in luck. These cities are renown for their 3D printing companies. Nevertheless, depending on the company you might have to pay extra, if they have to transport the printer and all the extra gadgets very far. Maybe just check if there is any major trustworthy construction company in your area that 3D prints houses, or contact other major ones and try to work out a deal.
Cost breakdown
There is a couple things that make up the price for a 3D printed house. A lot of these things might become cheaper overtime though, so in a few years the 3D printed house might cost even less.
The construction 3D printer:
A construction scale 3D printed can be very expensive. The general range here is somewhere between 180 000 Dollars and 1 000 000 Dollars.
Although it might be tempting, dont be fooled by the price. Its not always an
accurate reflection of how good the printer actually is. Some of the first 3D
printed structures in Europe were actually printed with a 3D printer, which is
on the lower end regarding costs, with around 200 000 Dollars.
Again, you should do serious research or have a construction company whom you
can fully trust to make the right choices for you.
The material:
Material costs can differ vastly as well. Obviously, there have been houses printed with nothing but soil, mud and sand. This is probably not a viable solution for most of you though. Usually, the material cost is round 1000 Dollars for a small 3D printed house. Many chinese companies claim it can be even much lower, since 3D construction printers can literally use materials froma landfill to build new houses and establish some kind of recycling cycle. Anyways, I am very intrigued by what the future of 3D printed construction holds in store for use, considering the great leaps it has taken over the last few years.
The workers:
Now, here you have to consider that 3D printing technology is fairly new and there are not many experts who can operatea 3D printer. On the other hand you need way less workers than with traditional methods, so all in all I think there still is a significant decrease in worker costs. Still, this is not a place to save a lot of money. Since there aren’t many regulaltions, you need experts by your side who know how to print sustainably. Otherwise this can cost you significant amounts of money in the long run because of reparations, dangerous foams from the construction or even problems with the building code. Nevertheless you save a good amount of money here, compared to traditional building, when you think about all the time you save, the vacation payments, the insurance for the workers and so much more…
Conclusion
While there are definitely ways to save a lot of money while building a 3D printed house, you should know where to save the money. Who better to tell you this, than an expert by your side who exactlay knows the field? So as soon as you find someone you can trust, you can relax a little bit and trust the process. The material, the work hours and the speed all help you to build a very inexpensive house. For a full-sized 3D printed house you might pay around 100 000 Dollars as of now, smaller houses start at 4000 Dollars. Just find someone you trust, and talk about all your plans and ideas with them.