Culver City, Calif.-based Azure Printed Homes Inc. is scaling up in Bennett, Colo., to take on its biggest project yet: a 100-unit development of 3D printed houses made from recycled materials.
Azure's construction technology will repurpose about 100,000 PET bottles for each modular unit, which is priced starting at $19,900 for a 100-square-foot studio and climbs to $199,900 for a 900-square-foot unit with two bedrooms, according to website prices.
In Bennett, Azure will build 1,000- to 1,200-square-foot homes and 500- to 600-square-foot accessory dwelling units (ADUs) with a formulation of recycled plastic bottles, fiberglass and an ultraviolet stabilizer as the main construction materials.
But first, the company, which has been backed to date by angel investors, crowdfunders and a state loan, must build what will be its second factory. Azure partner CR Investments LLP will construct the Bennett facility with $4.7 million raised by Azure and $2 million from the developer.
Azure also received a $3.8 million loan from the Proposition 123 Affordable Housing Financing Fund unveiled earlier this year by Colorado Gov. Jared Polis. The program offers low-cost financing options for innovative housing manufacturing facilities, including offsite 3D printed homes.
Like the Culver City site, the Bennett plant will be 20,000 square feet, equipped with three large-scale printers and staffed by about 50 employees. The printing robots are each capable of manufacturing a residential module in 24 hours, saving time and money.
Azure officials say their technology and methods allow homes to be constructed 70 percent faster and 30 percent more cost-effectively than conventional techniques.
The print material provides a durable structure with desirable properties, such as insulation, compressive and tensile strength, stiffness and impact resistance.
The structures are completed with doors, windows, electrical and mechanical fixtures, interior walls, floors, ceilings, bathrooms and kitchens. Then, the units are delivered and installed.
The first Azure homes in Bennett could be delivered as soon as 60 days after the plant is completed. The dwellings will be sold and leased.
High home prices coupled with high interest rates and limited inventory have created an urgent need for people struggling to find a place to call home, according to Azure co-founder Gene Eidelman.
The company, which aims to become a major prefabricated home manufacturer, generated more than $4 million in 2023 sales and has secured a pipeline of $30 million in preorders during 2024. The orders are from 19 states, which means the company will have to scale up again.
"We want to have a factory in every time zone but have not finalized locations in the Midwest or East Coast yet. We are looking for assistance from states and for developers interested in large-scale developments and using our products," Eidelman said in an email.
So far, by dollar volume, about half the demand is for primary residence, 25 percent for ADUs, 15 percent for glamping (glamorous camping) and short-term rentals, and 10 percent for people considered unhoused.
Another round of fundraising is underway at Wefunder.com, an online service that allows individual investors to crowdfund startup companies.
"We are addressing both the housing crisis and the dire need as a society to reduce and eliminate plastic waste," Azure CEO Ross Maguire said in a news release. "The ability to solve two of the biggest problems at once, and to do it quickly and with superb quality, has contributed greatly to our growing success."