Habitat for Humanity was founded in 1976 to build "simple, decent, and affordable" housing. Homes are built using volunteer labor and Habitat for Humanity makes no profit. Habitat for Humanity has helped construct, rehabilitate or preserve more than 800,000 homes since its founding. Former President Jimmy Carter has been a well known volunteer and supporter since 1984.

Local groups round up volunteers to build in their area. This is a partly-completed example I worked on with the Montgomery community:

Volunteers do everything from framing to roofing to siding. The electrical and plumbing work is done by paid contractors. Work hours vary but typically are once a week or once every two weeks.

Once you've built a couple of houses yourself, it's a good idea to recruit the next generation of volunteers, even if they need some nudging to get them going: