Want a home in the shape of a four-leaf clover with the stem as a hallway?
That’s a specific and perhaps unusual dream, but Richardson-based My Robot Builds Robotics can make it happen, extruding concrete walls from a 3D printer like a soft-serve ice cream machine.
Company president Craig Pettit has invested in real estate since 1977. He was about to put his UT Dallas computer science degree to work with a homebuilding venture when a friend passed along an email about 3D concrete house printing.
Pettit was intrigued.
“This technology represents new levels of freedom for the average homeowner to design homes that were never possible before,” Pettit told Daltxrealestate.com. “Until now, home construction and architecture has remained largely the same for centuries. Masterful, unique designs could only be afforded by the wealthy. Now, one’s imagination is the only limitation. The cost to print completely unique designs versus traditional square structures is simply not significant in either programming, material, or labor.”
MRB Robotics Builds Near Cedar Creek Lake
Now with the first 3D-printed home in North Texas near Cedar Creek Lake in the Cedar Cove subdivision of Mabank, MRB Robotics is living the American small-business dream of self-funding a brilliant innovation.
“Our company has a printer that is probably one of the first of three in the nation that has printed a house that someone currently lives in,” Pettit said. “The other printer manufacturers were massively well-funded. We did this using our own funds. That speaks highly of the ability for small entrepreneurs to compete in this space. The innovations will be incredible in the very near future simply because these small companies have the ability to compete. These machines essentially create a ‘factory on wheels’ that small companies can afford.”
The Mabank concrete home was featured last month by the Dallas Builders Association.
“With the wild ride that we’ve been on with lumber prices and a labor shortage that is going to persist for the foreseeable future, there’s every incentive in the world for technology like this to emerge,” said Dallas Builders Association Executive Officer Phil Crone. “This home may provide a glimpse of what’s to come for housing, especially if the technology can continue to advance in a way where it can handle the intricacy and complexity of modern building plans.”
What is a 3D-Printed Home?
A 3D-printed home is “really a bizarre phrase because all homes are [three-dimensional],” Pettit explained.
The term is used for the homes constructed at MRB Robotics because a 3D concrete printer is employed. It’s a large machine that uses computers, hardware, software, wiring, motors, and pumps that, when working together, allow for the walls of a home or building to be created in new and unique ways, Pettit said.
“In reality, it is quite simply no different from the desktop models used by children and hobbyists, except that it is huge and emits concrete along the path of the floor plan,” Pettit said. “It adds layer upon layer until the walls are the desired height.”
A home can be built in the shape of a sports logo, an anchor, an airplane, or the State of Texas.
While the walls are printed by a machine, the roof, cabinets, plumbing, electrical, doors, and windows are built in the traditional manner, Pettit explained.
Imaginations Gone Wild
The Cedar Creek Lake home is about 1,250 square feet with three bedrooms and two baths. The floor plan includes a large open kitchen, dining, and living area with 9-foot ceilings and — you guessed it — concrete walls on the inside and out.
The homes are resistant to wind, fire, termites, mold, and even bullets, engineered to maximize strength and energy efficiency. It takes about the same amount of time to build as a standard tract-like home unless special features like curved walls, circular bathrooms, and art-like shapes emerging from walls are incorporated. In that case, 3D concrete printing is significantly faster than traditional construction, Pettit said.
“Once all the normal construction items have been completed, the machine and material are brought to the construction site and assembled, and printing can begin,” he said.
The cost per square foot is also similar to that of a traditional home of the same size.
“The next home we build will be slightly less and should continue to improve as subcontractors and vendors begin to understand how to work with concrete walls,” Pettit said.
What’s Next For 3D-Printed Homes?
Are concrete-printed walls the wave of the future? Probably, but not the immediate future, Pettit said.
“Like all technology, the adoption starts out slow, then explodes,” he said. “The robots will get cheaper, faster, and better.”
In addition to the house on Cedar Creek Lake, MRB Robotics is printing a 14-unit self-storage facility in Mabank. The 1,750-square-foot building features a 25-foot S-curved wall with contours.
“The same robot can be used for single-family homes, retail, garages, or a host of other structural applications,” Pettit said.
The company’s plans for 2023 include acquiring residential lots and acreage in the greater Dallas-Fort Worth area.
“We’ll continue to push the limits of architectural and structural capabilities while improving on the technology,” Pettit said. “We are locating some strategic building partners to help create products and efficiencies on the installation of the other components of a home.”
The most stimulating component of building with a 3D concrete printer isn’t the cost or the time, he explained, but the opportunity to be creative.
“This signifies a revolution for the entrepreneurial spirit of the American dream,” he said. “My grandson prints toys with a desktop 3D printer. Soon, anyone will be able to rent a machine and they can print their own house. You’ll see home after home where people have been freed to let their imaginations run wild.”
