100 3-D Printed Houses Should Be Coming to Texas

The Austin area is projected to add 100 new 3-D printed homes to their landscape.

3-D Printed Houses are springing up all over the world from Mexico to Russia to Texas. If you think this is an odd concept, CEO of Icon construction and builder of such houses built in the Austin area Jason Ballard agrees. "We are just doing something that is just barely this side of Science Fiction!"

The 15 foot high printer squeezes out concrete in layers and Jason Ballard, CEO of Austin-based construction-tech firm ICON, says it builds a wall system for a 2 thousand square foot house in a week. He says he's trying to cut the cost of construction in half and build the homes in half the time. He explains why he thinks these houses are necessary. Sceptics say it takes traditional construction crews the same amount of time to frame a house. Ballard counters with 3-D printed homes are cheaper to build and they produce less waste.

So far, though, partner Lennar figures the houses will be the same prices as their similar homes in the market. Ballard's goal, however, is to construct houses for half the price in half the time as traditional construction. Ballard: " We need affordable starter houses, we need affordable middle-market houses. Also - Construction work is hard - and this doesn't get tired." The printer will work in the rain, and according to Ballard produces less waste than traditional construction.

They are already in demand. Ballard says, "We've gotten angry emails from people saying 'When are your guys coming to MY market?' and 'Why haven't you responded to my emails yet?' "

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