‘Can You Print a House?’: God, Robots and the U.S. Housing Crisis

By: Debra Kamin

In a recent article by The New York Times exploring the rise of 3-D printed housing as a response to the national affordability crisis, Cohen Seglias partner Jason Copley shared his perspective on the promise of construction technology.

3-D printing, which builds objects layer by additive layer from a digital file, could be a solution to the beleaguered housing market, where sky-high costs, rock-bottom inventory and a shortage of skilled workers have made prices crushing for the majority of Americans. It’s cheaper than traditional construction. It requires fewer workers to build a home, and significantly less time. And the handful of upstart companies that are using it to successfully build houses say their structures are better suited to withstand hurricanes and fires, as well.

“The future is in this kind of technology,” said Jason Copley, an engineer turned lawyer who is now a partner at Cohen Seglias, a construction and business law firm in New Jersey.