Industry Expert Daniel Small on How 3D Printing Construction Is Helping to Solve the Housing Crisis

On the bleeding edge of construction technology, 3D-printed residential construction projects are gaining momentum across the globe. (What is 3D printing?) It’s no wonder, as fledgling projects have delivered on promises of efficiency, affordability, durability, and sustainability. But more than just a promising answer to age-old construction woes, industry expert Daniel Small says 3D printing construction has the potential to make a much greater impact on the world.

“I believe that 3D printing construction is going to be key in helping us address urgent housing,” Small explains. “Housing for the homeless, refugees, people displaced by disasters, those dealing with housing insecurity. These are people who currently don’t have any kind of acceptable housing options, and 3D printing can be a great solution because it’s inexpensive and fast.”

A sage expert who’s been inside some of the offsite industry’s top manufacturers, Small has spent 20 years working across all sides of the business — from engineering to marketing, sales and product development, to now innovation, consulting and strategy. But throughout that time, he’s also been fascinated with 3D printing and its implications, studying the technology thoroughly.

So we called our friend and colleague Daniel Small, founder of Da Vinci Consulting, to pick his brain about the subject, as well as learn more about his vision for the technology. 

Daniel Small on Residential 3D Printing Construction 

Where we pick up the conversation, Small explains why 3D printing technology is perfectly suited to help these underhoused populations.

Daniel Small: They need something that is durable, comfortable and built very quickly. I did a study almost a decade ago where we surmised that 1.6 billion people in the world lived in substandard housing. In addition to those, there were a hundred million people homeless. Plus 54 million refugees and 22 million people displaced by natural disasters. And that wasn’t even counting population growth. 

So I did the math, and it would take constructing nearly 100,000 new housing units every day until 2030 to house the population growth. That wasn’t even counting the people in the categories I just mentioned. And the problem is, even with offsite construction, there’s just no way we can meet that pace.

But while 3D printing construction has that potential, there are still logistical issues, like shipping these machines to sometimes remote, hard-to-reach places.

DS: That’s exactly right. And that’s probably one of the bigger challenges we’ll have in deploying 3D-printed housing for the housing insecure. There’s also the issue of materials, because a lot of them are proprietary. But there’s great work being done by some companies that have anticipated this and have figured out how to use local materials like soil. But when it comes to transporting these robots and machinery to these locations, we still have to get over that hurdle.

And when we can manage the logistics of machine delivery, what are going to be the benefits?

DS: Well, it’s interesting, because things about 3D-printed housing that are negatives for the rest of the market, actually don’t matter at all for these populations. For example, you have homeowners in America or Europe who don’t like the style. Myself? I think they look really cool. And your design flexibility is unlimited, right? And so for those living in a slum, or in need of a home, these 3D-printed houses are a real lifeline and can be designed specifically for their needs.

And while governments here in the United States are trying to catch up with the technology to create codes and regulations that are holding some of it back, in places where there’s housing insecurity, we often don’t have to worry about those things. The fact that we’re building strong, durable homes is enough.

But, the biggest benefit of 3D housing for these populations is how fast we can build them. If you’re on the street, you can’t wait six months for a home. If you flee your home in a hurricane, you don’t have weeks to wait for somewhere to go. You need something now. Even if someone says they’re going to buy you a house, you need it today. And that’s where 3D printing really shines — the fact that we can make an impact on people’s lives quickly. 

Finally, there’s the argument that 3D-printed housing actually takes jobs away from people. What do you have to say to that? 

DS: This is the eternal struggle and question we always get with progress, right? Well just like with every other time, while we will replace some jobs now, we’ll also make new ones. And the data shows that more jobs are created than taken away with these kinds of advancements.

So in terms of 3D-printed housing, we are going to get rid of some difficult, laborious and dangerous jobs. But, we’re also going to get some jobs that require more creativity and a higher level of thinking. So, everything from designers to engineers and programmers for the robotics. And we can train local people to do these jobs.

Huge thanks to Daniel Small for taking the time to speak with us about his passion and flex his expertise. He’s got lots of great stuff to talk about over on LinkedIn, so feel free to give him a follow! 

Stream Modular is a transportation logistics company specializing exclusively in modular construction. We help modular manufacturers and builders transport mods, pods and panels so they arrive on time and safely to the build site.

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