3D Printing and Construction: House of the Future

The house in question was built by SQ4D — the company that used their proprietary self-developed construction 3D printer that was designed for using cement mixes and concrete. The house is well maintained and allegedly costs half the price of similar properties in the same district.

For those who haven’t heard about the SQ4D (S-Squared) company, here’s a short overview: it’s based in Long Island, New York and initially was developing desktop FDM 3D printers. They showed their new project — a small building with 3D printed walls produced on their self-developed machine.

At this time the company also announced their plan to use the technology for building a living house. They optimistically planned to complete the project by the end of 2019, but better late than never. To be exact, the building was complete in time and the result was published in January of 2020 (see the picture below), but it was obvious that it wasn’t ready for being sold on the market.

It seems that the company has since solved all of the bureaucratic issues and for the first time put up a 3D printed house for sale. The residential property is located in Long Island, the same place where the company is headquartered. The house is priced at just $300,000, which according to the real estate agent Stephen King (not to be confused with the writer) is half the price of a similar house in this area.

What does this house offer? Around 140 square meters of a living area, including two bedrooms and two fully-equipped bathrooms. Additionally, there’s a garage for two cars connected to the house. There are also 1,000 square meters of land.

Building this 3D printed ‘box’ took around 48 machine hours over the course of eight workdays but the crew are sure that they can optimize the process and cut the times in half. 

3D printers require three workers to operate, and they provide 41 percent of overall labor. The materials allegedly don’t cost more than $6,000.