GREAT BARRINGTON — More than 80 volunteers helped put the finishing touches on the first phase of Prosperity Way on Thursday, preparing the affordable housing development for its next round of home construction.

"It's so great," Kimberly Harriman, deputy CEO of Avangrid, said. "I think I counted 54 nails I hammered into the joints — we're a little competitive."

Thursday's volunteer efforts help wrap up the first seven homes built in the Prosperity Way development, at 385 N Plain Road, Great Barrington. This is the first phase of development for Central Berkshire Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit developer, but the modular pieces that will become the next set of homes have already arrived.

"There's a lot of people that have a lot of skills from Avangrid," said Carolyn Valli, CEO for the nonprofit housing developer. "[We] can get a lot done."

The more than 80 volunteers helped complete a variety of projects, including building siding for one of the development's traditionally-built homes. 377 Builders also had volunteers on site to help supervise construction.

The rain held for the 55 volunteers from Avangrid and its subsidiary companies, as they traded pens, laptops and air conditioning for hammers, hardhats and humidity. Another 30 volunteers, roused by Habitat for Humanity, joined Avangrid employees, flooding the development.

Most of the homes at Prosperity Way were built using modular construction, which is when a home is built mostly off-site, then transported and finished at the housing development.

Avangrid has done volunteer days with Habitat before, notably on the Gordon Deming in Pittsfield, said Chris Farrell, manager of communications for Berkshire Gas, a subsidiary of Avangrid.

Volunteers from Avangrid, the parent company of Berkshire Gas, install siding on one of the homes at Habitat for Humanity’s Prosperity Way affordable housing community build in Great Barrington.

On top of providing manpower, Avangrid's nonprofit foundation also donated money to Habitat for Humanity, Harriman said. But, "this allows our folks to kind of come out and really be part of the community in a different way."

Volunteers helped split up into several teams, with each working at different stages of building. One group was helping raise the walls for a stick-built home, another installed siding, some put the finishing paint touches in the interior and one group prepared the ground for a gazebo that will be installed this summer.

"I volunteered for the hammer swinging," Harriman said. "But what we're doing is we set the floor joists into the foundation."

The seven homes being completed all have applicants for them, Valli said. That includes two homes that have already been closed on, with one family — a father and his two teenagers — moving in next week.

Prospective buyers must be below a certain area median income threshold depending on the funder for a particular home, Valli said. There are limits at 60, 80 and 100 percent of the median income, which, for a family of four, would be $67,740, $105,200 and $112,900 respectively.

Buyers also cannot have more than $75,000 in assets, and they must complete a certain number of volunteer hours.

The homes' final purchase price range from $280,000 to $350,000, depending on how much the buyer can afford in monthly mortgage payments, Valli said.

Volunteers from Avangrid, the parent company of Berkshire Gas, install siding on one of the homes at Habitat for Humanity’s Prosperity Way affordable housing community build in Great Barrington.

The homes are significantly less expensive than market-rate housing in the area. The average home sale price in Great Barrington is $602,330, and in Housatonic, where the development is, the average is $420,322, according to Zillow. The median price for the entire county is $356,000, per Berkshire County Board of Realtors.

The homes carry a resale multiplier deed restriction on them, which keeps the homes at an affordable price forever, Valli said. That deed restriction works by limiting the resale price of a home to a calculated value, which is the area median income at the time of the sale multiplied by a number set by Habitat.

With the first phase of homes finishing up, Habitat is gearing up to begin construction on the next set of homes. That process should start in the next couple of weeks once foundations are completed, Valli said, as the pieces of the modular homes have already been delivered.

The timeline for construction of all 20 homes has also been moved up, Valli said.

"We could probably have it done by the end of or the middle of summer of 2028," she said. "So we could speed up the whole year."