BUILD DAY PROGRAM

Building sustainable communities,
one day at a time.

Build Day is a collaborative project design + build initiative that brings together students, technical experts, and local leaders to create sustainable change on the community level. Students work alongside community partners to identify a local environmental problem. Students work on the design of their project with their community partners over a couple of months. The build is then completed within a day onsite.

Why is Build Day key to building a more sustainable world?

Engineers are vital to solving today's and tomorrow's biggest engineering challenges. These challenges often include ethical, social, and economic realities that can't be replicated in the classroom. Likewise, communities face pressing infrastructure needs that could be addressed through collaboration with technically minded groups such as engineers and scientists. Many engineering problems involve complex or ambiguous social, political, and economic issues. The goal is to create engineers better equipped to tackle large social problems and to understand their ethical responsibilities as technical experts.

Build Day allows the community-at-large to take part directly in the design-build process. Having engineers and community leaders work side-by-side is crucial to building a better world that's more sustainable, resilient, and socially equitable.

Apply

Please fill out the Build Day 2026/2027 application form by October 15

For a general review of our program, please review our 2026/2027 RFP

Program Benefits

  • Up to $2,500 in project materials and supplies

  • Eligibility for the Build Day Contingency Fund (up to $500) for additional resources

  • Eligibility for the Project Maintenance Fund (up to $1,000) for post-project upkeep

  • Power tools and hand tool set (to be kept by chapter)

  • Professional Project Manager and technical mentors

  • Technical design reviews from professional engineers

  • Envision credits towards an ENV SP certification

  • ESW HQ volunteer support at Build Day events

  • ESW HQ marketing and promotion for Build Day events

  • Registration grant for a team member to attend ESWcon27 in Chicago

Timeline

Phase I

Request for Proposal Released & Submissions Open [September 1]

  • ESW HQ will open Request for Proposals (RFP) and invite ESW Chapters to apply.

  • Applicants will submit a proposal through a Google form during the RFP period.

Phase II

Request for Proposal Submissions Close [October 15]

  • ESW HQ will close RFP submissions.

Phase III

Team Decisions & Successful Candidates Notified [October 18 - 24]

  • ESW HQ will review all submissions. ESW HQ may contact teams for additional information.

  • ESW HQ will decide and notify all teams of their project proposal.

Phase IV

Kickoff & Project Development [October 25 - 31]

  • ESW HQ will schedule meetings with selected teams to kick off the program and discuss their project, timeline, and challenges in more detail.

  • Build Day teams will then spend the next few months developing their project with their community partner(s).

Phase V

Budget Due [November 30]

  • Build Day teams will submit a Detailed Design Budget to ESW HQ.

Phase VI

Design Reviews [January 24 - 30]

  • ESW HQ will reach out sometime in December or January to schedule Design Review sessions.

  • Design Reviews are opportunities for teams to present their final project design to a panel of technical experts that will give valuable feedback before the actual Build Day onsite.

Phase VII

Build Day Launch [February - April]

  • Depending on their timeline, each team will host an in-person Build Day community service event. This Build Day event is where teams will “build” their project onsite and showcase the completed project.

Phase VIII

Final Project Reports Due [June 30]

  • After the project is complete, Build Day teams will submit a project report to the ESW Project Database.

Build Day Spotlights

The University of Buffalo Build Day team partnered with the Buffalo Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation to create a wheelchair-accessible tabletop garden bed with a solar-powered self-watering system. The garden will now serve as a meeting space for the residents, allowing them to partake in a healthy and therapeutic outdoor hobby.

Over six months, the ESW-UB team finalized their design, putting extra work into the electrical schematics behind the solar-powered water pumps. And with the help of a grant from the Awesome Buffalo Foundation, they were able to make their vision come to life.

On a rainy morning, the ESW-UB team trucked all of their supplies to the Buffalo Center and started to assemble their design. Over many hours, the team assembled the table/garden structure, solar panels & wiring, and the rainwater catching system. By the end of the day, the Buffalo Center was left with an amazing foundation for its outdoor space.

HOPES PROJECT

Over 80% of K-8 students in Oakland, California, are on the free and reduced meal service plan. The resilient kids at Hoover Elementary face food insecurity issues and other stresses related to living in this area. The team worked together to grow the school garden and community into a safe and educational green space. In 2018, the University of California, Berkeley Build Day team hosted a Build Day event that brought 80 community members and kids together to build a chicken coop made from recycled materials and a composter and drink bike-blended smoothies.

On their podcast, The Urban Farm interviewed ESW-HQ member and local Berekely resident Matt Kozuch on food insecurity, UCB’s Build Day project, and what it means to be an engineer.

Contact us.

programs@eswusa.org
Email the Build Day program team with your interest, ideas, and questions.