guitars are real

Thanks for the update! Makes a tiny bit more sense.

Well, I double checked because I’ve done a fair amount of research and the All3DP article was literally just a random example I found off Google. A realtor interviewed for Yahoo! finance said buyers could expect to pay about $15k-$50k for a starter 3d-printed home. Doesn’t sound like I’m actually in the wrong ballpark here. How fancy you make it and where you put it will obviously influence the cost of construction. A 3d printed summer mansion for Bill Gates in the Bay Area isn’t going to be $15k, obviously.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/3d-printed-houses-cost-actually-140015971.html

They’re not a gimmick, they’re dirt cheap to build relative to the quality you get (when you’re not a pack of literal community college students using a non-load-bearing material like hempcrete, working on a learning project). Like, substantially cheaper than building and assembling modular houses.

For comparison, modular homes typically cost between $180,000-$360,000 to build and install, averaging about $270k. 3D printed homes can start around $4-$10k if you really scrimp and scrape and most examples I’ve seen average around $20-$40k.

Like, sure, there are tradeoffs probably, but I haven’t seen any that outweigh a literal order of magnitude cost savings on construction. Look at housing prices and tell me honestly you don’t see any value in kicking out starter homes for under $50k a piece.

Yeah, so two things.

• Standard hempcrete mixes don’t exist which raises the barrier to entry substantially. You have to make your own at this time or buy a custom mix off someone. It’s not surprising that they likely got it wrong, as they’re community college students who were already playing with advanced industrial processes.
• You’re not supposed to use hempcrete for load-bearing applications to start with, it lacks the structural strength!! What were they thinking!! It looks nice, has that lovely earth tone, and it has good insulating properties, but that’s it! It’s a finishing material! Here’s a page from some random builder I found on Google who specializes in hempcrete construction:

Areas of use. It can be used to build self-insulating walls, roofs and screeds It can be adapted to all types of building project including new builds and renovations. It is not a load-bearing material. Consequently, when building walls, it is cast around a primary or secondary structural frame made of timber, metal or concrete.

Anyways, as someone who’s looked into this stuff before, I’m irritated they did it like this. They were supposed to figure this out before they started printing. Where the hell was their professor?

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