
First-of-its-kind 3D-printed home set to hit the market in Tapping, Perth
The house in Tapping, a suburb north of Perth, has not been built, but was 3D printed.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: First of its kind 3D home about to go up for sale in Perth.
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Robot arms used to pipe the concrete walls out like icing are the same you would find in BMW and Mercedes car factories, and allow for a lot of architectural freedom, from curved walls to 3D prints on wall faces.
It is accurate and efficient, with walls that take a week to put up done in just hours.
Australian company Contec said it is three-times stronger than brick, safer to build and easier on the wallet.
'It's 22 per cent cheaper just on materials,' Contec founder Mark D'Alessandro told 7NEWS.
'That's not factoring in the savings on less scaffolding requirements, and also the savings you have in delivering the project quicker.'
The company behind the technology say it could play an important role in solving the housing backlog.
Just a slab just five months ago, the completed house will go on the market next week.
Under a normal construction timeline, it likely would not even be at lock up yet.
Smaller housing companies are already showing interest, but brickies have been told not to worry.
'It does have it's place, but it's very much still in its infancy and very much still a cottage industry,' Master Builders chief executive Matthew Pollock told 7NEWS.
'I'd be more worried if I was a paralegal these days just going through uni and AI taking my job.'

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The Age
29 minutes ago
- The Age
Signs are already not good for Chalmers' productivity testament
This week, the festival of productivity kicked off in Canberra. The quasi-religious ritual will culminate in a productivity roundtable, at which an anointed few will gather to chant the catechism of economic reform. Policy festivus is celebrated in Australia when a political party is ascendent but its courage is in retrograde. This cargo cult-style ceremony mimics the Accord, a revered moment in Australian political lore when the Hawke-Keating government brought together the heads of the unions and business to reach a groundbreaking arrangement which, it is widely agreed, set Australia on the path of prosperity. The Albanese government has shown itself to be a great devotee of the Cult of the Accord. In its first term, it held the Jobs and Skills Summit, which lined up all the key players and ideas to simulate the process. Thanks to meticulous planning, the Rites of Full Employment performed at the summit confirmed the government in its conviction that it is the key player in creating jobs. Those who lack faith say that it is doubtful that the summit has led to actual employment outcomes. Aglow from its success, Treasurer Jim Chalmers launched his next project, ' Measuring What Matters', or the wellbeing budget. But Measuring What Matters had a problematic feature: it opened a window into a deeper theology. Namely, the question of what exactly wellbeing might be. If there is one thing the Albanese government, dominated by Labor Left, will not tolerate, it is the idea that there might be different conceptions of wellbeing than the one which it preaches. By the October 2022 out-of-cycle budget, wellbeing had been reduced to a tiny addendum. The following May, it was gone entirely, and the addendum from October had been scrubbed from the previous year's budget papers online. In July 2023, Treasury put the completed paper up online without fanfare. Measuring What Matters was shrunk and sunk. Not to be deterred – and it is quite refreshing to see a politician doggedly attempt to do his actual job rather than just play politics – Chalmers requested that the Productivity Commission produce a set of proposals for improving Australia's prosperity. This week the first of these dropped, marking the official start of the festival of productivity. Loading It's a doozy. The interim report on ' Creating a more dynamic and resilient economy' is brief (under 100 pages), simple and bold. It proposes lowering the tax on companies with revenue below $1 billion from 30 per cent to 20 per cent, replacing the resulting decrease in tax take with a 5 per cent tax on cashflow. Companies with a turnover above $1 billion would continue on the 30 per cent tax rate, as well as paying the cashflow tax. Regardless of size, all companies could immediately deduct capital investment – for instance in equipment needed to grow the business – against the cashflow tax. The genius of the cashflow tax, which would be the first of its kind in the world, is that it would encourage companies to buy what they need in Australia, creating a further benefit to the economy. In particular, overseas companies with revenue over $1 billion – those that could undertake their procurement anywhere in the world – would have an incentive to make their acquisitions in Australia in order to reduce their tax bills.

Sydney Morning Herald
29 minutes ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Signs are already not good for Chalmers' productivity testament
This week, the festival of productivity kicked off in Canberra. The quasi-religious ritual will culminate in a productivity roundtable, at which an anointed few will gather to chant the catechism of economic reform. Policy festivus is celebrated in Australia when a political party is ascendent but its courage is in retrograde. This cargo cult-style ceremony mimics the Accord, a revered moment in Australian political lore when the Hawke-Keating government brought together the heads of the unions and business to reach a groundbreaking arrangement which, it is widely agreed, set Australia on the path of prosperity. The Albanese government has shown itself to be a great devotee of the Cult of the Accord. In its first term, it held the Jobs and Skills Summit, which lined up all the key players and ideas to simulate the process. Thanks to meticulous planning, the Rites of Full Employment performed at the summit confirmed the government in its conviction that it is the key player in creating jobs. Those who lack faith say that it is doubtful that the summit has led to actual employment outcomes. Aglow from its success, Treasurer Jim Chalmers launched his next project, ' Measuring What Matters', or the wellbeing budget. But Measuring What Matters had a problematic feature: it opened a window into a deeper theology. Namely, the question of what exactly wellbeing might be. If there is one thing the Albanese government, dominated by Labor Left, will not tolerate, it is the idea that there might be different conceptions of wellbeing than the one which it preaches. By the October 2022 out-of-cycle budget, wellbeing had been reduced to a tiny addendum. The following May, it was gone entirely, and the addendum from October had been scrubbed from the previous year's budget papers online. In July 2023, Treasury put the completed paper up online without fanfare. Measuring What Matters was shrunk and sunk. Not to be deterred – and it is quite refreshing to see a politician doggedly attempt to do his actual job rather than just play politics – Chalmers requested that the Productivity Commission produce a set of proposals for improving Australia's prosperity. This week the first of these dropped, marking the official start of the festival of productivity. Loading It's a doozy. The interim report on ' Creating a more dynamic and resilient economy' is brief (under 100 pages), simple and bold. It proposes lowering the tax on companies with revenue below $1 billion from 30 per cent to 20 per cent, replacing the resulting decrease in tax take with a 5 per cent tax on cashflow. Companies with a turnover above $1 billion would continue on the 30 per cent tax rate, as well as paying the cashflow tax. Regardless of size, all companies could immediately deduct capital investment – for instance in equipment needed to grow the business – against the cashflow tax. The genius of the cashflow tax, which would be the first of its kind in the world, is that it would encourage companies to buy what they need in Australia, creating a further benefit to the economy. In particular, overseas companies with revenue over $1 billion – those that could undertake their procurement anywhere in the world – would have an incentive to make their acquisitions in Australia in order to reduce their tax bills.

Sydney Morning Herald
10 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Australians are working more hours, and it might be hurting our living standards
Australian workers could be putting in nearly half the hours they were 45 years ago but have instead tended to work longer hours to upgrade their lifestyles, sacrificing work-life balance for more income. Productivity Commission research economist Rusha Das found average working hours for Australians had shrunk only modestly from about 34 to 31 hours a week over the past few decades, while incomes had risen significantly. 'Overall, Australians have opted to use their [increased productivity] to upgrade their lifestyles, like buying fancier coffee and taking more expensive holidays, rather than shorten their workdays,' Das said in the commission's June bulletin. She noted that, with the growth in productivity since 1980, Australians could have instead worked an average of 15 hours less each week without lowering consumption levels. But given productivity – the amount of goods and services produced for a given level of resources, including hours worked – has stagnated over the past decade, Australians may be compensating by putting in more legwork. Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers, who has said productivity is the primary focus of his second term in government, will host a roundtable this month in Canberra with representatives from industry, unions and government to find ways to lift the country's living standards. The Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union and the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation have called for shorter working hours and more annual leave in return for productivity gains ahead of the roundtable. AMWU national secretary Steve Murphy told The Australian that 'productivity can't be at the expense of the wellbeing of workers'. Cronulla real estate agent Domenico Santaguida, 24, works 7am to 6pm on weekdays and 7am to 5pm on Saturdays while fielding calls and questions from buyers and sellers around the clock.