The home 3d-printing machinery (e.g. Vulcan of ICON: https://www.iconbuild.com/vulcan ) is huge, it's a 10,000 lbs machine that requires specialized equipment to transport, specially trained staff to operate and maintain, and in test runs so far they're only printing the first floor, so all homes built are a hybrid of 3d-printed concrete structures with wooden ceilngs and second-floors, and concrete floors made the conventional way.
If you're thinking of making a conventional home, it'll be considerably cheaper making it the conventional way, 3d-printing it will no doubt be substantially more expensive.
But the reason why one would want 3d-printed homes (i.e. just the first-floor wall structure) is because of some interesting possibilities: extremely high energy efficiency without effort, unique designs that can whether extreme climate events, air quality (concrete doesn't invite mold like wooden structures do!) and other nifty things like futuristic and organic designs, curved and sloped walls.
I'm pleasantly surprised by what ICON has accomplished. I see potential for this to become valuable when making bespoke energy-efficient and densely-packed neighborhoods. And I think after more ideas and workflows emerge to wrap up and finish a full house, it might become a commonplace technique for developers to make use of.
Curved and sloped walls sound cool until one realizes that everything that one would want to put on those walls is meant for flat ones. TVs are flat, couches and cabinets are rectangular, etc.
Poorly insulated walls lead to water condensing in the corners. In fact, concrete buildings are more prone mold during cold winters than anything that is properly insulated.
If you're thinking of making a conventional home, it'll be considerably cheaper making it the conventional way, 3d-printing it will no doubt be substantially more expensive.
But the reason why one would want 3d-printed homes (i.e. just the first-floor wall structure) is because of some interesting possibilities: extremely high energy efficiency without effort, unique designs that can whether extreme climate events, air quality (concrete doesn't invite mold like wooden structures do!) and other nifty things like futuristic and organic designs, curved and sloped walls.
I'm pleasantly surprised by what ICON has accomplished. I see potential for this to become valuable when making bespoke energy-efficient and densely-packed neighborhoods. And I think after more ideas and workflows emerge to wrap up and finish a full house, it might become a commonplace technique for developers to make use of.