Print-to-Rent Homes on Offer in California

Early adopters who have dreamed of living in a printed home, but don’t want to drop a big pile of cash on the experience can now do so thanks to US company Azure Printed Homes, who are printing homes to rent.

The Los Angeles-based construction company has teamed up with property developer Reinhabit to construct 10 prefabricated homes which will be rented out to occupants. What’s more is that the little houses will be printed out of recycled plastic, and according to the company, the modular components that make up one of their houses can be printed in the space of a day.

You can see an example one Azure’s prefabricated designs in the image below, being lowered into position by crane.

The 10 tiny houses will be assembled on three different sites in Southern California.

“We have been researching the market for the right homebuilder to help us build quickly and at scale. California, like many states, needs to find more innovative ways to speed up the time it takes to build,” said ReInhabit Co-Founders Rudy and Kim Dvorak.

“Azure is doing something really special with their approach to the problem. Repurposing materials and 3D printing a complete structure in a fraction of the time is something that is a game changer for us. While interest rates are rising, Azure homes can quickly generate very impressive ROI from rental income streams.”

Azure seeks to reduce waste by recycling plastic that was destined to be disposed of in landfill. Using recycled plastic such as PET can be a viable option for reducing the CO2 footprint of construction, especially when compared to cement, which as we know, is a huge contributor to global CO2 emissions.

In addition to the eco-friendly approach of using recycled plastics that would normally end up buried in a hole in the ground, the company plans to make the homes energy efficient by use of solar panels and heat pumps. Of course, plastic is non-porous (unlike concrete) so the company says that this airtight property of the material will help improve energy efficiency by reducing heat loss.

You can see the Azure Printed Homes 4-step construction process in the video below

The company had previously got the media’s attention when they 3D printed the world’s first recycled plastic backyard studio in April earlier this year.

Since then, their order book has swelled to the value of $16 million USD worth of pre-orders.

Asides from the rented 10 homes to be constructed, the company will begin printing and delivering 3D printed backyard studios by the end of 2022, and delivery of accessory dwelling units (ADUs) and homes in 2023.