Volunteer Opportunities
Santa Fe Build
Santa Fe College
Alachua Habitat's partnership with Santa Fe College's Charles R. Perry Construction Institute facilitates training of construction professionals and assists in Alachua Habitat's mission to provide affordable housing in our community. Each Santa Fe house is built at the college in collaboration with students and apprentices, the Student Builders Association, Alachua Habitat volunteers, and instructors from the Builders Association of North Central Florida (BANCF) Apprenticeship Program. Home construction at the college gives the students hands-on experience in their Construction Management Techniques I and II courses as part of the established curriculum.
The Santa Fe houses are built in two sections and each section is then transported to the home site separately. After the two sections of the house are in place, volunteers add a front porch, back porch, driveway, and landscaping and address any other issues for final completion.
Santa Fe House XIV
This house is the 14th build in partnership with Santa Fe College’s Charles R. Perry Construction Institute, and the 3rd to be sponsored by Charles Perry Partners, Inc. (CPPI). This house will soon be the home of Alachua Habitat Homeowner, Toikeith. After months of hard work by the Santa Fe College students, the remaining construction will be completed by Toikeith and Alachua Habitat staff and volunteers. Watch the video to learn more about this valuable partnership!
Thank You to Our Community Partners
Frequently Asked Questions
You can see our build site safety manual here.
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No! Our Site Supervisors will walk you through everything on-site.
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Yes, lunch is provided at all of our jobsites. We have vegetarian options available.
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All registered volunteers will receive the site address the week of their scheduled build. All of our current sites are located within Gainesville within a 20-minute drive of the University of Florida.
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Yes, volunteers must stay from 8:30am to 2:30pm for safety reasons.
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Volunteers should wear clothing that they don't mind getting dirty and should wear shoes that enclose the toe/heel and that have a sole similar to that of tennis shoes/hiking boots.
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Yes, we have porta-potties on all of our sites for our volunteers to use.
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We monitor the weather leading up to all of our volunteer events. The build may be cancelled if weather poses a potential safety risk or if it will impede construction progress on the site. Occasionally, this means a cancellation on the morning of the event. If it is scheduled to rain, some sites may still be able to host volunteers if the work for the day is inside the house, depending on its state in the construction process. Volunteers will be notified via email if the build is cancelled.