Most people picture 3D-printed construction as something experimental — a curiosity for research labs and wealthy enclaves. The reality is more straightforward. CoPrint Housing is a design-build general contractor: we design every home to be printed, then deliver it turnkey, from the first sketch to the final inspection. Here’s what that looks like on an actual project.
From Plan to Keys
1. Choose a plan. Every project starts with our library of printer-optimized floor plans — designs built from the ground up around the machine that will print them. Starting from a proven plan is what keeps timelines short and costs predictable.
2. Design and engineering. Working with our design partner Printera, Inc., the chosen plan is refined into printer-ready schematics, with geometry and layout tuned for efficient printing and full local-code compliance. A civil engineer then completes the Issued-for-Construction (IFC) package that the build will run on.
3. Permitting and approvals. The IFC package is submitted to the local building authority for master and structural permits, while subcontractors submit their trade designs for mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) permits. 3D-printed concrete moves through the same permitting path as conventional construction — it isn’t a workaround, it’s a building method.
4. Site work and foundation. The site is trenched, connected to city utilities, and the foundation is poured and cured — the same first steps any home requires.
5. Printing the structure. This is where the difference shows. Our robotic-arm printer frames the home’s walls in a concrete-mortar mix, layer by layer. A 2,200-square-foot duplex that would take a wood-framing crew of five to eight workers two to three weeks can be printed by a crew of three in three to five days. On multi-story builds, a second slab is poured and the upper floor is printed the same way.
6. Systems and finishes. Subcontractors install the MEP systems, roof, and interior finishes. Because the printed concrete envelope is fireproof, mold-resistant, and thermally efficient on its own, the build skips the siding and exterior insulation a wood-framed home depends on — removing whole categories of material and labor.
7. Final inspection and turnover. Final trim goes in, the concrete floors are polished, the Certificate of Occupancy is issued, and the finished home is turned over. From groundbreaking to occupancy, a project runs under six months — with the structural printing itself taking roughly one to one and a half.
The Technology
The printer. We build with a robotic-arm printer that a three-person crew can run. It ships in a single 20-foot container, sets up in under an hour, and moves along a set of tracks for a virtually unlimited build area. The gantry-style printers common in the industry tell the opposite story: four to seven workers, cranes, multiple transport vehicles, and days of assembly before a single wall goes up.
The material. Printed concrete produces a building envelope that is fireproof, mold-resistant, and thermally efficient. Lighter-colored, higher-albedo concrete reflects heat and reduces cooling demand, lowering utility costs for the families who live there.
The design. Every home is engineered to be printed from the first sketch. Designing for the machine — rather than adapting a traditional plan to it — is what unlocks the speed and cost savings.
What Makes This Different.
Three choices set our process apart. We design for printability from day one, so nothing is improvised on site. We’re vertically integrated — self-performing the structural frame rather than handing it to a separate framing contractor — which cuts the subcontractor coordination that derails conventional builds, where a single general contractor may juggle more than twenty trades. And because printed concrete builds much like the concrete-masonry methods most trades already know, we draw from a wide, familiar labor pool instead of a narrow specialist one.
The result is a home built in days rather than weeks, at roughly half the cost per square foot of traditional framing — and affordable housing that finally pencils out for the developers who build it.
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