Exposing 5 LIES about 3D Printed Concrete Homes

It's time to cut through the 3D Printed Concrete BS! This trending construction technique is littered with fake news and hyperbole and a lack of critique. In this video, we’re going to analyze the claims made not from a pessimistic point of view, but a realistic one.

Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
0:50 Costs less than $4000
2:38 Printed in 24 hours
4:22 Eliminate all jobs
5:56 Solve homelessness
7:59 3d printing is sustainable
8:55 Tackling misconceptions

Thanks @Jarett Gross for the footage!
Thumbnail courtesy of XTree
Claim #1: 3D printed homes can be built for less than $4000.
This is a flat out lie that started circulating in 2018. Journalists misled people for the sake of clicks by claiming that ICON 3D, based in Austin, Texas had a $10,000 tiny home prototype that could cost around $3,500 or $4,000 when printed in large quantities. The cost of 3d printed homes is a hotly debated topic because it is a new field with many unknown variables. 3D printing can have lower labor costs, but there are other expenses to consider: the cost of electricity to run the machine which is exorbitant in some countries, the cost of renting or buying the printer, the cost of hiring specialists to calibrate and run the machine, etc.

Claim #2: Homes can be printed in 24 hours
3D printers create walls, not homes. There are dozens of other components that go into building a house: windows, doors, roofs, electrical wiring, plumbing, insulation, HVAC systems, interior walls and finishes, millwork, etc.

Claim #3: 3d printing will make jobs unnecessary
There’s a common thread behind all these misleading claims. The productivity of the construction industry is lagging far behind others. Outsiders from the tech field want to fix it by disrupting and automating the entire industry without having any knowledge of its intricacies. There are millions of variables at play: soil conditions, weather, local materials, culture, economy, design codes, and of course, form and function.

Claim #4: 3D printed homes can solve homelessness
The arrogance of designers and architects really shines when they talk about homeless shelters. Making a shipping container or 3D printed concrete shelter will not solve homelessness. I spoke to Nicholas Patel, the founder of Fullbore Africa. He pointed out lack of consistent power, the need for several backup generators, the carbon emissions shipping the machine to Africa, the poor infrastructure, the legal issues clearing the printers at ports, 24 hour security, cost of foreign-trained specialists, and the difficulty in getting high quality, consistent windows and doors to fit into the precise openings created by 3D printers.

Claim #5: 3D printing is sustainable
The building construction industry accounts for 40% of all energy-related carbon dioxide emissions, of which cement accounts for 8%. As much as I love the material and the solidity of concrete structures, it is one of the most destructive materials on Earth. Also, walls are a tiny portion of the entire structure. We need a holistic approach to construction to make it truly sustainable.

I don’t think the technology is a gimmick, but I despise the sensationalist coverage, misleading claims and over-promises. They generate a lot of buzz and probably help fund startups, but I think the lies cheapen its value.
Right now, 3D printing seems to be a solution looking for a problem. The technology has so much potential, but it’s in its infancy stage. I see so many parallels between the hype and media coverage of shipping container homes and 3d printed homes.
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Disclaimer: This video was created for educational/informational purposes and qualifies as Fair Use. If you are the creator or own the footage featured in this video and have reservations please notify me via Youtube comments or email and I will accommodate you
#3dprinting #3dprintedhome #concrete #gimmick #scam #construction #architecture #design #icon #icon3d #austin #stem #future #automation

[BelindaCarr]

What do you think about 3D printed concrete construction? Do you see the potential or is it just a gimmick?

[MCOGroupNews]

"The arrogance of designers and architects really shines when they talk about homelessness"

Dam, you're right though

[apex]

I never understood why 3d printing concrete walls is an advantage to preformed panels. Only thing I can think of is shipping, but the same will apply to the shipping of raw materials

[ethanallenhawley]

"The lies cheapen the value." Awesome statement.

[jeromyh]

As someone who spends a lot of time 3D printing, I get bombarded with questions about 3D printed homes all the time. I was skeptical from the beginning. 3D printing any item requires a calibration effort that is ongoing. The concrete can also be effected by weather at the time of printing too. Day time to night time temperature changes could create problems too.

[floatsomboy]

Having grown up in Africa let me put forward my two cents. the issue is not a housing issue in Africa the issue is Africans by nature tend to be semi nomadic so move to where the work resources are. I have seen traditional mud huts that were over 50 years old, they don't need some tech company to build them something they can build from the earth. They need a static place to stay with the required resources infrastructure and work. Unfortunately political issues don't always allow this.

[josephdenk]

“It seems to be a solution looking for a problem” what an eloquent way to summarize these sensationalized, ambitious trends. Thank you for being able to articulate your thoughts so well, I’m happy I found this channel.

[codetech]

"3D printing creates walls, not homes."
*YES!*

[ntp]

As a retired residential builder, I was drawn to your video about 3D Printed Homes. I know very little about them, but nothing I’ve seen has me particularly excited about the technology. Your video was an immensely impressive, articulate, tour de force on the subject of these homes and on construction in general. It was very informative and a true pleasure to watch. I rarely take the time to even sign into YouTube, but after watching this video I felt compelled to subscribe to your channel and to thank you for your contribution. Thank you!

[LucianCanad]

"Outsiders from the tech industry want to disrupt and automate the entire industry without realizing its intricacies"

That's just standard tech people mentality, not only in regards to construction.

[georgehorvath]

"I'm sure people will call me a buzz kill" — yes, and I am eternally thankful to you for doing this! Finally, not everyone is just riding a hype but actually formulating constructive criticism.

[morganahoff]

When I travelled in Ecuador, the trend in construction was to build the first floor of a house, and start living in it, and build the second floor when they had the money. There were houses all over with re-bar sticking up, anticipating the addition of a second floor. Then someone got the idea: build the second floor first, and live in a house up on stilts, until they could afford to build the first floor. This created a sheltered space beneath the house, that they could use for drying laundry, motorbike repairs, etc. This is the kind of shifts that occur in house construction techniques. Designers who think they're going to swoop in with a better way of doing things are deluded; innovation is local, situational, and incremental. Oh, and the houses with the re-bar sticking up just looked like the old way of doing things, even though the houses weren't finished yet.

[cameronturner]

I'm in the construction industry and build alot with concrete. Concrete block, poured concrete, tilt up and ICF. Not all cement is the same. The cement they are using in 3D printing is mortar mix and has no structural strength. Structural concrete gets its strength from the rock that is added in the mix it should have enough rock to break above 3500psi. I'd like to see a break test on this and see how it breaks. With no rock in it it probably breaks below 2500psi. It's like building a block wall using only stacked up mortar joints and no blocks.
Concrete can handle compression loads but does not do well with torsion loads, tension loads, shearing loads, etc. When it is used in a structure steel rebar must be added in order to handle the different loads. You can take base cement powder, just portland and wet it down and it will harden and take a compression load but it is very brittle. When you add an amount of sand it will become less brittle and tolerate a higher load, add an amount of rock and it will handle an even higher load depending on the size, shape and amount of the rock. A mix containing crushed rock will handle more load than a gravel mix because the rocks tend to lock together like pieces of a puzzle but without steel to reinforce it, it will fail.
Building a wall with only mortar mix and no steel is the worst possible way to build with cement.

[captain_context]

Ironically homelessness is NEVER about a lack of houses.

[dovahkindragonborn]

as someone who has been in charge of a few construction projects, walls are the least of my problems lol

of all the problems i need to solve, walls aren't one of them

[CurtisHendricks]

This is what is the hardest about being a grownup(i.e. mature), having to do honest talks and sometimes being a buzzkill. Still though, realistic and honest reviews of exciting technologies such as this is what I think will actually make them truly successful in a much shorter time frame that all the marketing hype. The hype in most cases have great intentions but can really lead to negative outcomes by setting unrealistic expectations. Thanks for the info and your channel Belinda, we need more like this for sure.

[yt]

If you remember back a few decades, there were foam portions of concrete forms along with rebar for pouring concrete walls instead of using concrete block. Essentially as I look at that industry in the United States, the most unreliable people who did that kind of work were masons. Not all masons, but block layers and bricklayers historically have been a problem child. As I talk to builders I find out it is the toughest thing to get them on the site and get them to do the job as contracted. I want to build a home and it was during the winter and they had a big problem being able to brick the front of the house because of the weather. I told them when you get here tomorrow morning the front of the house will be tented and there will be a heating unit in there to keep it well above freezing and well above 45°. It never occurred to them to do that kind of a job so they could work, they just wanted to work under ideal conditions for them and the hell with the job. Then the bricklayer and the concrete guy got into an argument on who was going to pour the porch floor first or after the brick job. So I just fired them both and hired a company that did brick and concrete work and let them decide in their own mind what they wanted to do first. 3-D printing to some extent tries to replace the troublemakers which are the Masons.

[InfiniteCheeseCrates]

In most areas around the world, the issue isn't housing, it's the market itself. We have the tech and labor to build highly efficient smaller homes that are affordable, it's just that no one will build them! Unless you count pre-manufactured homes, which have a stigma at least here in the US of being for those in poverty and as a result, most are only ever allowed in "trailer parks" which are often poorly maintained and tightly packed so no one really wants to live in them.

Here in ND, the only way you can get a sub 2, 300 sqft home that isn't pre-manufactured is to go for an older home, but unless you go for a home that needs remodeling, they often sell for just as much as a larger home due to them being in an "established" neighborhood. IE: My parents 1300sqft home is valued at 235k, but I can get a new home that's 2300sqft for the same price. Yet there is no one offering a brand new home under 2300sqft for nearly half the cost?

Heck, where I used to live, they straight up will deny a permit for any home that's under 1200Sqft! My Grandparents raised 7 kids in a home that's 710sqft!!!!

[Ihaveanamenowtaken]

In many parts of the world, the problem isn’t a lack of housing but its ridiculous high cost. My city is filling with apartment buildings which are unoccupied because of the extremely high rent prices.

[pillullis]

I can see why this lady gets a lot of flak from the people she criticizes: She talks facts!