Delays push back completion of Florida's first 3D printed house in Tallahassee

More than eight months after construction began on Florida's first 3D printed house, it remains a shell of what its finished form will look like due to a series of delays.

Kyndra Light, the co-owner of the company behind the project, Precision Building and Renovating, said a combination of COVID-19 pausing construction and shipping delays have pushed the completion date from February to the end May.

"It was a perfect storm," she told the Democrat Thursday about the house in the center of the Griffin Heights neighborhood. "We're hopeful that we'll be done in the next month."

The three-bedroom, two-bath house, which will have a listing price of $225,000, still needs electric wiring, appliances, paint, flooring and kitchen furnishings before being ready for its first open house.

Initial coverage:A new way to build houses: Florida's first 3D printed house is being built in Tallahassee

The "printing" was done by Printed Farms, a Florida startup that has access to the Danish manufacturer COBOD's construction 3D printer.

The initial wall pouring was done in under two weeks. By the following month, the house's shingle roof, chosen to fit with the style of the neighborhood, was installed.

One of the house's most distinct features are its curved interior and exterior walls. The rounded look, Light said, will still shine through, but not in a way that attracts too much attention.

People from across the globe including Russia, Japan, the Netherlands and Israel have called and visited the house, which Light says she expects it be bought quickly after being put on the market.

And now that Light and her team know the cost, scheduling and materials from their first 3D printed structure, they are planning to develop others.

"We'd love to do many more of these," she said, adding that the 3D printing technology is not limited to housing: "We can do infrastructure projects, build things like public restrooms, benches or a large facility, so the sky is the limit."

Contact Christopher Cann at [email protected] and follow @ChrisCannFL on Twitter.

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