For the 3D-Printing Industry, Standardization Is the Future

3D-printed home construction is still a young industry, and right now different companies build homes in different, incompatible ways. Texas-based ICON, a leader in 3D-printed housing, uses its own proprietary printing material and robotic printer as a closed system, with its own catalog and design competitions. That approach has made ICON well known, but it also means the company's methods don't necessarily line up with what other builders in the field are doing.

Colorado-based RIC Robotics is pushing in the opposite direction. Its CEO, Ryan Cox, wants the industry to adopt shared standards so the printing process and equipment work the same way across companies, rather than each builder using its own proprietary system. The idea echoes earlier moments in industrial history, like the 1920s push, led by then-Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover, to standardize measurements and parts (including the 60-degree screw thread that became the U.S. norm in 1924). Standard specs made it easier for different manufacturers and builders to work together and for technology to spread widely.

For homeowners, this is mostly background on where 3D-printed home construction is headed rather than something with immediate bearing on your house. If the industry does settle on shared standards the way conventional building materials have, it could eventually make 3D-printed homes more widely available and easier to compare between builders. For now, it remains a small, developing corner of home construction to watch rather than an option most homeowners will encounter for a renovation or new build in the near term.