Industries around the world are constantly innovating, however, the construction industry has been slow to adopt new technologies. Mighty Buildings is changing all that with the development of a concrete-replacement known as light-stone material (LSM) used to 3D print a home in less than 24 hours.
The company aims to solve four challenges within the construction industry. The first: lack of workers. Currently, countless construction jobs remain vacant, which means construction is slowed or halted altogether. 3D printing technology supplements this labor shortage by requiring 90% to 95% less labor.
The second issue is materials. Wood is a renewable material, but it takes time, a lot of it, to grow new trees. LSM replaces the need for timber or concrete, so there’s no environmental or animal habitat damage from harvesting.
The third issue is time. The housing need is dire in many parts of the country. Being able to print a house in a day provides a production-line approach for housing shortages. Mighty Buildings currently has two models of homes. One is completely 3D printed, while the other is reinforced with steel to meet building code requirements and is considered a hybrid build. At this time, the new technology is being released incrementally in order to give time for the code changes to keep up.
Lastly, construction waste is challenge within the construction industry. While traditional stick-built houses leave behind concrete, wood and other waste, the 3D-printed homes eliminate nearly 100% of excess waste. The units are modular with a base size of 350 square feet. A larger unit is two units together, equaling 700 square feet. Since designs are computerized, making changes simply means tweaking a digital file. That’s much easier than reframing walls by hand.
Mighty Buildings isn’t looking to compete with the construction industry. Rather, they offer solutions for customers who want smaller homes delivered with minimal site impact in a quick and efficient manner