Virginia Housing Innovation Investments Shine at Habitat Builds in Toano and Beyond
Pictured above: Virginia Housing volunteers take a break after framing a Habitat for Humanity home using prefabricated walls.
June 17, 2026In May, Virginia Housing associates volunteered at a Habitat for Humanity build in Toano, where the home they helped build showcases two construction methods that are making homebuilding easier and less expensive: the interior was framed using prefabricated walls, while the exterior walls were printed using a 3D printer.
The volunteers used prefabricated walls to frame the home’s interior, an approach that is the bedrock of a project known as Prefabricated Approaches and Volunteer-based Enhancements (PAVE) for Virginia Nonprofit Builders. Meanwhile, use of the 3D concrete printer is part of an effort to test the technology and train partners from across the Commonwealth on how to use it. Both projects hinge on a partnership between Virginia Tech’s Virginia Center for Housing Research and Habitat for Humanity Peninsula and Greater Williamsburg (Habitat PGW), and each was made possible by funding from Virginia Housing.
With PAVE, Volunteers Can More Easily Support Framing
Framing a home – the process of erecting interior walls – is among the costliest aspects of residential homebuilding. Between expensive materials and the time it takes skilled workers to measure, cut and assemble them, framing accounts for over 16% of construction expenses. These high costs result in fewer homes being built and higher sales prices for those that are constructed.
The challenges of framing are particularly acute for Habitat for Humanity chapters, as most rely largely on unskilled volunteers to augment just a few paid staff. Habitat PGW, however, has developed an approach to framing that uses prefabricated walls (also called modular walls), relying on volunteers to assemble the walls in a warehouse and install them at build sites. A decade ago, framing a home took Habitat PGW volunteers a few weeks. Today, Habitat PGW can build the walls and completely frame a home in just eight days.
“The morning of the build, we got there to just a foundation and a trailer full of pre-built walls,” said Virginia Housing Senior Strategic Housing Officer Chris McNamara, one of the volunteers in Toano. “We were given a floor plan of the house that had numbered labels for which walls went where, and all we had to do was pull the walls off the trailer, look at the number and match it to the number on the floor plan, and put the nails and screws in. Nobody needed any advanced skills.”
PAVE’s ultimate objective is to formalize and share Habitat PGW’s framing process with other Habitat affiliates and similar organizations. The Virginia Tech research team is documenting Habitat PGW’s methods and creating training videos and lectures that will be accessible through an online portal. After refining those materials, the team will work with Habitat for Humanity Virginia to support five local affiliates with implementing modular framing.
PAVE was funded through a $400,000 Virginia Housing Innovation Grant, which supports breakthroughs in housing affordability and housing services for residents in Virginia. The award specifically fell under the Innovative Construction sub-category, which funds innovative construction methods that reduce costs and construction time through the development of affordable materials or new techniques that conserve resources while improving quality and efficiency.
3D Printing Technology Continues to Advance
The next step after framing the Toano home was erecting its exterior walls, which were made using the Tvasta SIRA RC 20 3D concrete printer that Virginia Tech purchased using a $1.1 million grant from Virginia Housing awarded in 2024.
3D printers create walls by distributing concrete through a nozzle, with crews using computer software to calibrate exact height and thicknesses. Though the 3D printing approach is not meant to replace conventional building methods, it is a valuable construction tool because it allows some home components to be built faster and with less labor, both of which translate to more affordable prices once homes are built. The technology also offers longevity, durability and high energy efficiency. 3D-printed homes also meet existing building codes and can be purchased using a traditional mortgage.
Virginia Housing’s involvement in 3D-printed construction began in 2021, when it awarded a $500,000 Innovation Grant to Virginia Tech to import a large gantry-style printer from Denmark and research how to incorporate the technology into homebuilding. This early effort included using of the 3D printer to build a home in Richmond. Habitat PGW Chief Construction Officer Craig Meadows served as an advisor for this endeavor, making a continued partnership between Virginia Tech and Habitat PGW an ideal fit for the Tvasta printer.
Having learned how to use 3D printing at the Richmond build, the project team’s major focus with the Tvasta printer is transferring knowledge to industry partners. The Tvasta printer is being used to build 10 homes around the state, and the team is studying each build site to better understand how the technology impacts production costs, timelines and labor demands. The team is also helping private-sector partners develop models that incorporate 3D printing. Finally, while all of the walls that it has printed to date have been printed in a warehouse, plans are in place to take advantage of the Tvasta printer’s compact size and portability to begin printing walls at building sites.
The next stop for both the PAVE method and the 3D printer is Henrico County, where Virginia Tech and Habitat PGW will work with Richmond Metropolitan Habitat for Humanity to begin construction on homes later this summer.
“Virginia Housing is fortunate to have innovative partners like Virginia Tech and Habitat for Humanity,” said Director of Strategic Housing Chris Thompson. “These organizations share our mission and drive to create quality and affordable housing, and these efforts to collaborate on cutting-edge approaches to framing and construction are showing the way in terms of saving time and cutting costs. They’re also bringing knowledge to others, meaning the entire Commonwealth is benefiting.”