McKinney | July 2025

Real estate

BY SHELBIE HAMILTON

Builder uses recycled steel to construct McKinney homes

Netze.Homes CEO Nejeeb Khan is working to bring specialized and sustainable home building technology to North Texas. The Lake Dallas-based company, which launched in 2022, uses technology to optimize the construction of homes, Khan said, and homes made by the company are framed in recycled steel. Housing projects from the company are underway or have been completed in McKinney, Melissa, Denton and other North Texas cities. Khan said the use of steel has multiple benets, including that it is lighter than wood, and resistant to things like mold and damage from res or weather events. The steel used is more expensive per foot than wood, Khan said, but the process includes other measures to oset the cost including reducing material waste, construction time and labor costs. “My goal is to make steel [frames] aordable for everybody, because wood is not the way to do it,” Khan said. The company started with one home built in 2022, and increased to 10 built in 2023 and 34 built in 2024. Khan said he would like to see the company complete 100 home builds in 2025.

For a 2,500-square-foot home:

6 recycled cars Netze.Homes steel frame

Over 40 mature trees Traditional wood frame

SOURCE: NETZE.HOMESCOMMUNITY IMPACT

Recycled, cold-form steel is used to frame houses built by Netze.Homes.

SHELBIE HAMILTONCOMMUNITY IMPACT

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The steel elements are printed at the compa- ny’s factory, and include precut holes for panel assembly. A panel can be printed in as little as two minutes, and a home requires around 300 panels, Khan said, noting that his factory can print the steel elements needed for a home in one day. The assembly process, both in the factory and on the site, is safer and simpler, Khan said. The process to assemble the home frame on site takes two weeks, which is about half of the time of a wood frame assembly, he said. The steel frame has a motherboard-style design that includes precut elements that reserve space for installation of heating and cooling equipment, plumbing, electrical, windows and more. “Everything is perfectly aligned,” Khan said, equating the assembly to the process of building a LEGO kit. Khan said in the next year, he wants to imple- ment robotic technology to assemble the steel frame on site, potentially reducing the construc- tion time from weeks to hours.

The Row, a Netze.Homes housing project in McKinney, includes 66 steel-framed townhomes. The two-story townhomes feature con- temporary home designs with open-concept oorplans, high ceilings and large windows, according to the company’s website. Khan said he considered the McKinney site to be an opportunity to develop a more aordable housing type using the company’s steel construction and technology.

“For the last 100 years, [we’ve been] building exactly the same way. My ultimate aim is to give

this technology to everybody.” NEJEEB KHAN, NETZE.HOMES CEO

The company is looking to continue production of homes while also nding other ways to implement the steel technology, Khan said. Other building types including commercial and retail facilities can also utilize the technology, he said, and the company is pursuing ways to share the technology with other businesses.

Netze.Homes McKinney

ANCHPKWY.

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