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EARLY RELEASE
The 3D Printing Skeptics Were Wrong
Stephan Mansour isn't a tech evangelist who wandered into construction. He's a 20-year construction veteran who led a pilot project for Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Housing, then spent two and a half years building the international standards that are now opening insurance markets, unlocking financing, and forcing regulators to take additive construction seriously.
In this conversation, Stephan breaks down why the "perfect storm" of labor shortages, supply chain chaos, and climate disasters is making 3D printing impossible to ignore, and what separates the companies gaining real traction from the ones generating YouTube hype before disappearing.
In this episode, you’ll:
Learn why buying a printer based on Instagram popularity is the most expensive mistake you can make and the step-by-step path from pilot project to profitable scale
Understand the standards framework (ISO, ASTM, ICCS) that's quietly unlocking insurance, mortgages, and building code approval by 2027
Discover how insurance companies in Texas are now advocating for 3D printing after realizing they can't keep underwriting homes that burn down every fire season
Hear the real cost breakdown: why your first house takes three weeks, but subsequent builds get dramatically faster and cheaper
Get the insider view on which project types, military, disaster recovery, and multi-story residential, are driving adoption right now
Chapters:
00:00 - Why the most connected person in advanced construction recommended Stephan
02:29 - What you'd actually see on a 3D printing construction site today
04:40 - The "perfect storm" making 2026 a potential inflection point
06:00 - From Dubai mega-projects to Canadian standards: Stephan's unlikely path
08:34 - Why standards aren't blocking innovation—they're enabling it
11:41 - The real reason construction appears resistant to new technology
13:16 - How 3D printing actually works: layer by layer, no magic
21:05 - Climate resilience: the insurance argument no one's talking about
24:20 - Why Texas dominates US adoption (and what's different there)
26:05 - Dubai's 25% mandate: realistic target or forcing function?
30:58 - The $2M mistake: why buying a printer first is backwards
33:06 - The smarter path: subcontractor first, investment later
36:21 - Real cost economics: pilot projects vs. scale
47:07 - Material science challenges still being solved
49:34 - Key players to watch: Printerra, Icon, Peri, 14Trees
54:28 - 2030 predictions: when the dam breaks
55:35 - Why the US Army is betting big on additive construction
59:05 - Straight talk for homebuilders, GCs, and specialty contractors
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