WILLIAMSBURG — April Springfield, her 13-year-old son, and their puppy will be able to celebrate the holidays together in their new 3D printed home in Williamsburg.
Habitat for Humanity Peninsula and Greater Williamsburg held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Dec. 21, 2021, to celebrate the completion of their first-ever 3D printed home. The ribbon-cutting took place four days before Christmas.
April’s journey to get to this point has taken about three years. She previously applied to the homebuyer program multiple times, and once she finally got into the program she still had to provide at least 300 volunteer hours of “sweat equity”; volunteer hours that Habitat for Humanity requires from all of their home buyers. In April’s case, she went to the construction site and helped put up the walls and frames. She expressed her gratitude in an interview with WYDaily.
“It feels great! I’ve been waiting patiently. Habitat is great. They work with you, and I can finally give my son that backyard. It just feels great, ” said Springfield. “I just want to say thank you to Habitat. They’re awesome for making my dreams come true. This is one of my dreams, to finally be a homeowner, and to give my son that back yard, or a space to play, and we also have a puppy so the puppy can run and play in the backyard.”
WYDaily last reported construction updates on the house on Oct. 30, 2021. About a month and a half later, the house is complete and ready for April and her loved ones to move in.
The house was built in partnership with Alquist, a 3D printing home construction company that has provided the state-of-the-art COBOD 3D Printer. The dissembled frame for the 3D printer was found decorated with holiday garland.
The 3D home is approximately 1,200-square-feet, with three bedrooms and two full bathrooms. All of the outer walls of the house have been 3D-printed using concrete as the preferred material of choice. Early in the construction process, the 3D printer literally printed out the walls of the home, layer on top of the layer until the outer frame was finished.
“You guys get to be the first homeowners of this technology. It’s absolutely amazing,” said CEO of Alquist Zack Mannheimer to Springfield and her son at the dedication ceremony. “We are so excited about where this is going to go from here. I also want to mention the foresight and the courage to even look at this, and that’s the state of Virginia and Virginia housing. Virginia is the leader in 3D printing home construction. Hands down, nobody else can take that away from you.”
This home not only holds historic value for Virginia, but it also a very strong sentimental meaning for Springfield. She grew up with her grandmother who also lived in a concrete home.
“I always wanted to be a homeowner. I work hard, as you all know I work at Great Wolf Lodge. During the pandemic I made everything work,” said Springfield at the podium during the homeowner’s remarks. “Having good credit and keeping good credit throughout the process. It’s hard work raising my son, but I think I’m doing a good job trying to show him that if you believe in something you can get through it. Also, when I was growing up, my grandmother had worked long hours. She also lived in a concrete home.”
Springfield encourages anyone who thinks they would benefit from this program to just keep trying and to never give up on your dreams of one day owning a home.
“Don’t give up and just keep pushing. I tried for two or three years. Just don’t give up, and keep trying. Look what happened to me,” said Springfield.
Also in attendance were:
- The Rev. Deborah Dalton Dail, Denbigh Presbyterian Church
- James City County Board of Supervisors Chair Michael J. Hipple, Powhatan District
- Vaughn Poller, Neighborhood Development Administrator, James City County
- Amanda Batten, Delegate 96th House District
- Marcia “Cia” Price, Delegate 95th House District
- Susan F. Dewey, CEO, Virginia Housing
- Keith D. Vander Vennet, Senior Vice President for East Region, Ferguson
- Evette Roots, Senior Community Relations Consultant for Virginia, Wells Fargo
- Charlie Henderson, Market President, Bank of America
- Barry Taylor, President/Owner, Custom Vinyl Products
- Robin Lawson, Director, marketing Strategy & Operations, LL Flooring
- Zachary Mannheimer, Founder & CEO, Alquist
- Andrew P. McCoy, Ph.D., Director, Virginia Center for Housing Research at Virginia Tech
- Apostle John N. Gray, Bethel Restoration Center
