California startup can automate 80% of construction process

Mighty Buildings, a San Francisco-based startup, is promising to automate as much as 80% of the construction of new homes through a combination of 3D printing, prefab techniques and the use of innovative materials activated by UV light.

The company has recently launched after two years spent raising $30 million (€25.5 million) from investors. Having developed its production-as-a-service platform, which heavily relies on automated additive manufacturing to produce the housing components, Mighty Buildings claims its techniques can reduce labour hours by up to 95% and with ten times less waste.

A 350-square-foot (32 square-metres) studio unit can be printed in under 24 hours, the company claims, at a market price of around $100,000 (€85,000).

3D printing has been used increasingly by many construction OEMs to print spare parts, as well as by building contractors to print smaller structures, but the technology has evolved rapidly in recent years.

With the construction industry facing a skills shortage, as well as coming under increasing pressure to "green up" its act, there is great potential for the technology to change the construction industry in a significant way.

Mighty Buildings is certified under California’s Factory Built Housing program to create units utilising 3D printing, and was the first company to achieve certification under the UL 3401 standard for evaluating 3D-printed building structures and assemblies.

UL is a US company that develops and publishes technical and safety standards.

“Because we’re building homes for people to live in, we’ve been very deliberate in carrying out our vision to make housing better. This isn’t software that can be debugged on the fly,” explained Slava Solonitsyn, the company’s CEO and co-founder.

“We’re now ready to scale our production with full confidence in our certifications and code compliance for both our material and technology.”

Due to its technique and cost-saving elements, Mighty Buildings claims to reduce the cost of homes by as much as 45%.

Eric Migicovsky, partner at Y Combinator, an investor in Mighty Buildings, says: “With a strong foundation in robotics, manufacturing, and sustainability, the Mighty Buildings founding team knows the different facets of the issues that face modern housing.

“Accessory dwelling units are just the start in further building out their unique approach to building.”

According to McKinsey, the construction sector misses out on up to $1.6 trillion of value per year that could be unlocked with higher productivity, which is where Mighty Buildings says it can contribute.

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