3D Printed House Project

Alquist, a 3D printing home construction company, and Habitat for Humanity Peninsula and Greater Williamsburg partnered to build a 3D printed home in Williamsburg. The project represented Habitat for Humanity’s first completed 3D printed home in the country.

This partnership between Alquist and Habitat for Humanity Peninsula and Greater Williamsburg is a step forward in addressing the lack of affordable homes in the U.S.

Alquist uses concrete to 3D print its homes, saving up to 15% per square foot in building costs based on preliminary estimates. Concrete also confers additional long-term savings because it better retains temperature, saving on heating and cooling costs. It is resistant to tornado and hurricane damage.

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This 3D home is approximately 1,200-square-feet, with three bedrooms and two full bathrooms. Every new home built by Habitat for Humanity Peninsula and Greater Williamsburg is EarthCraft certified. EarthCraft is a voluntary green building program that serves as a blueprint for healthy, comfortable homes and works to both reduce utility bills and minimize environmental impacts.

Construction of each home built by Habitat for Humanity Peninsula and Greater Williamsburg is a cooperative effort between volunteers, house sponsors, and the buyers of the home. Participating families provide at least 300 hours of work toward building their own and other families’ homes, called sweat equity.

This home was sold to April and her family of two. Although April has worked at a local hotel for years supervising the laundry facilities, her income was still less than 80% of the area median income, which has made it difficult to save enough to become a homeowner. 

April’s home purchase resulted in monthly mortgage payments of no more than 30 percent of her income, including her real estate taxes and homeowner’s insurance.

The U.S. gravely needs homes that are affordable because of the housing shortage caused by the pandemic, climate change, and economic migration. Bidding wars have pushed entire populations out of the housing market. In fact, for every $1,000 increase in the price of a home, 153,967 families are priced out (National Association of Home Builders). Skyrocketing lumber prices (300% since April 2020 – NAHB) have increased the average price of a single-family home by almost $36,000. This puts new houses out of the purchasing range of more than 5.5 million families.

Each Alquist home comes equipped with Virginia Tech’s proprietary Raspberry Pi-based monitoring system, which monitors the indoor environment, provides security and emergency management, optimizes energy consumption, and analyzes occupant comfort and space utilization. Alquist’s future projects include 3D printed homes in rural communities in Arkansas, California, Iowa, North Carolina, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, and others.


Want to invest in the community?

We help as many families as we can, but the lack of decent and affordable housing remains a critical problem in our area. By donating, you will provide upfront funding for building materials and services that makes interest-free loans to Habitat partner families possible. Habitat partner families help to build their own homes – alongside volunteers – and pay an affordable mortgage. Your monetary donations enable us to continue building strength, stability and independence for future local families.

Media

Meet April, the 3D Printed Habitat Homebuyer!

Watch Construction Begin on the FIRST 3D Printed Habitat Home on the East Coast!

Watch a Sample Video of the Printer in Action!

Want to Sponsor this Home Construction? Download the sponsorship packet.

Sponsors

Wells Fargo logo
Grand Rental Station
One of Habitat's top supporters is Abbitt Realty Company logo
Custom Vinyl Products logo
Langley Federal Credit Union
VIcom logo
Beacon logo
Bethel Restoration Center
James City County
Park Stone
Prestige Cabinets
Quikrete
Silestone
Bruton Parish
Peach Custom Art LLC
Humanist

3D House In the News

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Want to invest in the community?

DONATE NOW

We help as many families as we can, but the lack of decent and affordable housing remains a critical problem in our area. By donating, you will provide upfront funding for building materials and services that makes interest-free loans to Habitat partner families possible. Habitat partner families help to build their own homes - alongside volunteers - and pay an affordable mortgage. Your monetary donations enable us to continue building strength, stability and independence for future local families.