Employment | Pioneer Valley Habitat for Humanity

We are always accepting new volunteers! Check out our volunteering page for more information.

Construction Coordinator: Fall 2024

The Construction Coordinator is responsible for coordinating volunteers, subcontractors, tasks, and materials that are critical to Habitat building projects. Unlike typical general contractors, we primarily utilize volunteers and subcontractors on our construction sites. The coordinator must be excellent at collaboration, delegation and working with others while keeping the big picture in mind. We value inclusivity, safety and education on our construction sites and the coordinator helps to set this tone in their work with volunteers. We also prioritize energy efficient construction and the coordinator plays a key role in compliance with grant and certification requirements for our builds.

Time Commitment: Average 32 hours per week

Pay: $20 to $26 per hour depending on experience.

Benefits: We believe in supporting the health and well-being of our employees. To support our employees, we offer all employees working 30 hours or more per week:

Paid leave – 12 paid holidays, paid sick days, paid vacation days (pro-rated to 80% of full time)
Group health insurance with a shared contribution for premium costs
Long-term disability insurance
A 401(k) retirement plan

Reporting: The Construction Coordinator reports to the Executive Director, and works closely with volunteers and Habitat’s construction consultant.

Schedule: Group meetings occur at fixed times as set by the group, but many other hours can be flexible. Availability on some weekends and evenings required. The majority of work hours will occur during weekday business hours.

Affirmative Equity: Our organization is committed to identifying and dismantling barriers that prevent people with marginalized social identities from actualizing their full employment potential, advancing in our organization, assuming leadership roles, or from fully engaging at all levels in the workplace. We strive to operationalize policies, practices, attitudes, and actions that produce equitable power, access, and employment opportunities for all people regardless of social identity. We are committed to providing a respectful, supportive workplace culture that welcomes and celebrates the diverse social identities of our staff.

Responsibilities:

Anticipate problems and issues typical of building and proactively work to mitigate potential issues to help ensure schedules are met and work plans are achieved.
Suggest potential advantageous building practices and cost saving opportunities.
Maintain an inventory of all equipment, tools, and supplies.
Manage and document compliance with green building certification requirements (ENERGY STAR, Indoor Air Plus, DOE Zero Energy Ready, etc)
Review volunteer sign-up calendar weekly to ensure supervisors are available for all build days.
Understand elements that contribute to successful volunteers and helps ensure that volunteers have a consistently good experience thus motivating them to return.
Collaborate with staff to provide educational materials for volunteers on construction techniques.
Implement good safety practices and support Habitat’s policies and procedures with volunteers, including site specific safety plans and incident reporting procedures.
Assist the Construction Team volunteer leaders to:
- Plan tasks for upcoming build days
- Ensure that the appropriate tools, materials, and equipment are on site in advance of all build days so that the volunteers can have a productive and positive experience
- Order building materials and supplies
- Coordinate subcontractors
Investigate and track any warranty claims.

Skills Required:

Knowledge of and experience with high performance residential construction
Excellent project management skills
Ability to work with unskilled volunteers and future homeowners from a variety of backgrounds in a supportive manner
Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal
Ability to use zoom, phone, email, excel, word, and other computer tools for communication and tracking
Ability to work independently and collaboratively
Habitat for Humanity Competent Person Safety training or ability to earn within the first 60 days of employment
Knowledge of green building and energy efficiency a real plus
MA Construction Supervisor’s License or ability to earn is preferred, but not required
MA Drivers license and clean driving record required
Physical ability to navigate a construction site over uneven ground, lift and move supplies and materials, and wear appropriate PPE.

Pioneer Valley Habitat for Humanity (PVHH) builds strength, stability and self-reliance through affordable homeownership in Franklin and Hampshire Counties in western Massachusetts. Habitat is a housing ministry dedicated to strengthening communities by empowering low-income families to change their lives and the lives of future generations through homeownership opportunities. This is accomplished by working in partnership with diverse people, from all walks of life, to build simple, decent, affordable housing. Our local Habitat tries to incorporate many sustainable practices into our construction process and builds all new homes to ENERGY STAR standards. We are affiliated with Habitat for Humanity International.

Pioneer Valley Habitat is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All persons regardless of age, race, ethnicity, gender, sex, religious affiliation, or sexual orientation are encouraged to apply. Women, people of color, and LGBTQ people are strongly encouraged to apply. We require criminal background checks on all selected candidates for employment.

Interested applicants should send a resume and statement of interest to build@pvhabitat.org.

Green Building Internship: Spring 2025

The Green Building Intern for Spring 2025 would be assisting PVHH in building organizational capacity by providing support to our volunteer build team leaders and staff. Some (but not all) office work is being done remotely, with in-person work expected on construction sites and at events. The intern would be tasked in three main areas:

Participatory Learning – Act as a mentor to other volunteers and assist in the successful implementation of our construction projects through on-site work and virtual office work.
Research & Administration – The intern will work remotely assisting staff with research and administrative tasks. This helps give a broader view of the diverse work required to run a Habitat for Humanity affiliate.
Inventory – The intern will visit all job sites and storage trailers to update our inventory lists and organize as needed.

Additional tasks depending on intern skills and project needs you may also work on:

Event planning – Help plan and implement events, including fundraisers, wall raisings and dedications.
Document Construction Process – Through photographs, video, writing and other techniques document the techniques being used at our build site with an emphasis on green building techniques. Assist the build team in maintaining a list of all plan changes and incorporating sustainable practices. The goal of this documentation is both short and long term – to assist the volunteers sharing information from one week to the next and to assist the planning of future projects. Take notes at build team meetings as requested.
Volunteer & Family Education – Create educational materials for new volunteers and partner families to get up to speed quickly on the build tasks at hand. Multi-media educational materials encouraged. This may involve curating links to additional online educational materials, creating on site signage about green building details, etc.
Other project assistance as needed – PVHH is also working on DEI initiatives, new outreach efforts, and an initiative to engage Habitat for Humanity affiliates across the state of Massachusetts in conversations about building all-electric zero-net energy homes.

Qualifications

Interest in green building and energy efficient homes, experience or class work within this area preferred
Excellent writing skills – able to convey complex technical information in a simple accessible manner
Self-directed and able to work independently
High proficiency with Microsoft Word and Excel – able to use styles and indexes in Word, able to sort and use formulas in Excel
Able to effectively communicate with, listen to and learn from others
Able to work with individuals of different ages, backgrounds and life experiences
A car to be able to access job sites and meet with volunteers at locations other than the office
Graphic design or website editing skills are useful for providing project support
Photography and Video skills desirable – able to photograph or video construction, then edit into usable documents or short videos

Position Details

This position is for an average of 10-20 hours per week for up to 12 consecutive weeks from February – May 2025. Schedule will include weekend and weekday work. Pay is $17/hour for this temporary, at-will position and there are no benefits other than unpaid sick leave. Approval by the MassCEC internship program is required.

To apply you must do two things:

Apply to the MassCEC internship program and get listed in their database: https://www.masscec.com/clean-energy-internships-students
Send a resume and cover letter to jess@pvhabitat.org expressing your interest in our particular internship

Pioneer Valley Habitat for Humanity’s goal is to make home ownership possible for low-income families in Hampshire and Franklin counties. Pioneer Valley Habitat for Humanity is committed to increasing racial, class, and gender equity and is dedicated to dismantling barriers that prevent people with marginalized social identities from achieving home ownership. Through the donation of money, land, expertise, and labor, we commit ourselves to build safe, decent, affordable homes in partnership with families in need. We are affiliated with Habitat for Humanity International.