It might have been a few months ago, when prices of lumber reached their historical peak. Concrete houses are more expensive than wooden ones because of the material and labor costs. "Printing" might save something by removing some labor but the machine they use is not free so you need to amortize its cost. And the walls are a small part of the cost of the house so even if this construction had been significantly cheaper, it would be a small difference in the total cost.
I'm currently working as a trim carpenter, and sometimes even I think that, "oh, I could build a house someday". But then I stop and look at how much work actually goes into building a house, and check my ambitions.
For a small house, we (two of us) might spend a week and a half installing the hardwood floor, doors, baseboard, window trim, crown moulding, closet shelving, stair trim, etc. as well as the inevitable custom bit of this and that that always takes forever because they weren't accounted for in the drawings or a prior trade screwed something up (we don't do stairs, railings, or cabinetry; those are all done by other specialist tradespeople). For a large custom house, we might be there for a month.
Now multiply that by every step of the process: excavation, foundation, concrete floors, framing, exterior windows and doors, roofing, wiring, water and waste plumbing, HVAC ducting, gas plumbing, back-framing, drywall, taping, floor installation, tile work, trim, kitchen installation, stair installation, back-trim, painting, plumbing and electrical again, exterior siding and/or masonry, landscaping, connections to city services, paving, overhead garage door installation, and so on. That's a lot of people doing a lot of highly-specialised work, and structural framing is a tiny part of it.
So yeah, I'm not building my own house anytime soon. I'd sooner do a live-in renovation because those tend to be much more limited in scope. And there won't be a single breakthrough that makes building houses cheaper, because the work is by necessity highly variable and dependent on geography and local factors.
Trying to get into web development as a career, which I really enjoy. I've been doing carpentry for my dad since high school, but I don't like it and I really don't want to be crawling around the floor all day or climbing ladders when I'm 40. I've been teaching myself in my spare time over the past few years and I recently started building a polished portfolio project that I hope potential employers will hire me on in lieu of prior work experience.
Welcome to the field! It's an exciting time to join, with a lot of messy but fun technologies to try, and different companies inventing new tools and use cases all the time.
As an aside, ever since woodshop in middle school (and one time volunteering with Habitat for Humanity), I've had so much respect for carpenters... the ability to provide an essential human need (shelter) out of trees is nothing short of amazing. And it's such artistry... there's just something deeply satisfying, almost profound, about creating works that persist beyond the computer screen. Guess the grass is always greener, huh?
Anyway, almost a bit sad to hear you're leaving the field, but totally understand your rationale. Tech is so cushy it often feels like cheating. And web dev is one of those few industries available to the average person without any special birthright or education, just a few months of training. Our society doesn't have many of those.
Thank you. I'll always dabble a bit in construction here and there, either for myself or for friends when I can actually take my time and enjoy it, but doing it professionally is depressing because residential construction is notorious for "not my problem" tradespeople, and I absolutely cannot stand that.
