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3D-printed neighborhood nears completion in Texas

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Re: 3D-printed neighborhood nears completion in Texas

#61

Post by bluGill »

pxmpxm wrote: post #22
brudgers wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

3D printing doesn't relieve any important construction constraints and probably raises costs because unfamiliarity increases risks and increased risk increases price. Superstructure is about the easiest and fastest part of residential construction. Sitework, finishes, and MEP systems are harder, tend to take longer, and cost more. Anyway, market rate housing sells at market rates no matter how it is built.

>Superstructure is about the easiest and fastest part of residential construction. I'm perpetually confused on that front - interior, especially drywall, is stupid labor and time intensive (have to wait for taped joints to dry). There should be huge econmomies of scale for prefab walls with electric and ducting built in, yet all we see is this sort of 3d printing stuff.

Houses are mostly prefad - everthing is a standard dimension before it arrives on site.

Re: 3D-printed neighborhood nears completion in Texas

#62

Post by ben_w »

brudgers wrote: post #60
ben_w wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand the metaphor and how it would apply to this. (But also, this feels like a Mythbusters episode challenge, and they managed to get a lead balloon flying).

Yet successful balloon building businesses don’t build balloons from lead because of the fundamental nature of the balloon building problem.

Again, I really don't understand how this metaphor fits with housing getting more or less customisation with more or less 3D printing vs. prefab vs. whatever the other option(s) is/are called at higher or lower costs.

Re: 3D-printed neighborhood nears completion in Texas

#63

Post by FrustratedMonky »

tmountain wrote: post #52
ternnoburn wrote: post #34

If you have the ability to pump concrete, and a gantry across the whole site, why wouldn't you pick and place concrete blocks or other materials rather than concrete the whole thing on site? Also, aren't these walls significantly more CO2 unfriendly than lumber, and more difficult to renovate? What if I need to get a builder in to do repairs, is there a concrete wall guy who knows how to repair them? Can it print mul…

It’s a gimmick. There is no point other than marketing.

"It’s a gimmick"

Early attempts always look gimmicki.

Putting a camera in a phone, crazy, who needs it, just a gimmick. I use my phone to dial numbers and make calls.

This looks like it has a lot of room to grow and adapt. Materials change.

Just look at how 3d printers have changed in 10 years.

Re: 3D-printed neighborhood nears completion in Texas

#64

Post by xrd »

ternnoburn wrote: post #34

If you have the ability to pump concrete, and a gantry across the whole site, why wouldn't you pick and place concrete blocks or other materials rather than concrete the whole thing on site? Also, aren't these walls significantly more CO2 unfriendly than lumber, and more difficult to renovate? What if I need to get a builder in to do repairs, is there a concrete wall guy who knows how to repair them? Can it print mul…

Is it purely that this robot never takes vacation and never asks for a raise? Feels a lot like this permits building a home largely without human labor, which I'm sure the VC class would be very excited about.

Re: 3D-printed neighborhood nears completion in Texas

#65

Post by janalsncm »

jiveturkey wrote: post #51

I think everyone is missing the real reason for this. From TFA: > requires fewer workers what TFA didn't say, and which I'm sure is also true, is that the workers can also be less skilled. I found it fascinating that interior walls are also concrete, and wifi signals are blocked. I betcha cellular doesn't fare too well either, and not easily fixed with multiple access points.

I don’t care how many workers it takes if the result still costs $600k.

Unless the houses can sell for half of traditional housing costs their main market will be building houses on the moon.

Re: 3D-printed neighborhood nears completion in Texas

#66

Post by explorigin »

pxmpxm wrote: post #22
brudgers wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

3D printing doesn't relieve any important construction constraints and probably raises costs because unfamiliarity increases risks and increased risk increases price. Superstructure is about the easiest and fastest part of residential construction. Sitework, finishes, and MEP systems are harder, tend to take longer, and cost more. Anyway, market rate housing sells at market rates no matter how it is built.

>Superstructure is about the easiest and fastest part of residential construction. I'm perpetually confused on that front - interior, especially drywall, is stupid labor and time intensive (have to wait for taped joints to dry). There should be huge econmomies of scale for prefab walls with electric and ducting built in, yet all we see is this sort of 3d printing stuff.

SIP walls are basically this. It's a foam-core panel board with chases built in for electrical.

Re: 3D-printed neighborhood nears completion in Texas

#67

Post by nullc »

userbinator wrote: post #29

3D printed concrete, to be exact; and the cost benefits over traditional cast concrete seem unclear to me.

There is a huge amount of time and materials-- for the forms-- that go into building a cast concrete structure. Those are the bulk of the cost. Additionally, shapes with voids or curves are even more expensive to form via traditional means while the printing technique can do them naturally.

Re: 3D-printed neighborhood nears completion in Texas

#68

Post by nullc »

egypturnash wrote: post #9

Oh look, a suburb printer. Thirty minutes from Austin? I wonder if there's any grocery stores or places to gather any closer. So what if it's printed? Still looks like a miserable place designed more for cars to live in than humans.

No one is going to make you live there. Other people have preferences that are different from yours and are not less valid.

Re: 3D-printed neighborhood nears completion in Texas

#70

Post by janalsncm »

9cb14c1ec0 wrote: post #23
jqpabc123 wrote: post #2

"...range in price from around $450,000 to close to $600,000." In other words, there is little economic incentive to recommend this construction method. Not much in the way of aesthetics either --- unless you want a ranch box.

That's the selling price. It doesn't say anything at all about construction costs, but more about the housing market in general.

I disagree. I checked Georgetown, TX for comparable homes in the area (3b/2ba, ~1500 sqft) and it seems many houses are going for under $400k. But “Dyce” sells for $470k.

https://www.lennar.com/new-homes/texas/austin-central-texas/...

Just as a random example, this is a comparable house (bigger in fact) and selling for $365k.

https://www.redfin.com/TX/Georgetown/346-White-River-Dr-7862...

I think this is a really cool technology but it’s not competitive yet.

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