Pipefitter

Pipefitter

Department: Department of Veterans Affairs

Location(s): Augusta, Maine

Salary Range: $28.5 - $33.26 Per Hour

Job Summary: The Pipefitter position is in the Facility Management Service at the VA Maine Healthcare System located at the Augusta, ME location. This position is full time at 40 hours per week.

Major Duties:

• The purpose of the Pipefitter position performs a variety of tasks involved in the maintenance of buildings, equipment and utilities systems. Primary responsibility will be in the plumbing and pipefitting trade. Duties includes, but are not limited to: Measure, cut, bend, and thread pipe and tile, and how to caulk and seal such things as elbows, union joints, tile pipe, faucets, and shower drains. Remove, clean, reinstall, or replace joints and fixtures, for example, traps, faucets, and unions. Have the skill needed to hook up equipment (for example, water heaters and disposal units) to installed systems, and replace sections of pipe and tile by following previously-used routes, hangers, and levels. Knowledge of how various supply, disposal, and utility systems and equipment, such as water and gas systems, fire sprinkler equipment, and water closets, are installed and operate. Ability to plan and lay out the installation and modification of various systems and equipment, for example, the routing, openings, slant, and level of gas and water lines, and the location and arrangement of water closets, sinks, and fire sprinkler equipment. Knowledge of how various high-pressure piping systems and equipment, such as steam heating, steam generation, and vacuum systems, radiators, and circulating pumps, are installed and operate. Know how relief valves, check valves, pressure regulators, expansion joints, and other pressure supporting and controlling devices are installed and how they operate to control increases and decreases in pressure, flow, circulation, and expansion in the systems. Able to lay out and install various kinds of piping, risers, and flexible branches at the proper level. Capable of reading blueprints, work orders, factory manual, operating instructions, etc. Work Schedule: Full time, Monday-Friday 7:00am-3:30pm Compressed/Flexible: Not authorized Telework: Not authorized Virtual: This is not a virtual position Position Description Title/PD#: Pipefitter/00290A Recruitment/Relocation Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Not authorized Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases When setting pay, a higher step rate of the appropriate grade may be determined after consideration of higher or unique qualifications or special needs of the VA (Above Minimum Rate of the Grade). Paid Time Off: 37-50 days of annual paid time offer per year (13-26 days of annual leave, 13 days of sick leave, 11 paid Federal holidays per year)Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior [work experience] or military service experience. Parental Leave: After 12 months of employment, up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave in connection with the birth, adoption, or foster care placement of a child. Child Care Subsidy: After 60 days of employment, full time employees with a total family income below $144,000 may be eligible for a childcare subsidy up to 25% of total eligible childcare costs for eligible children up to the monthly maximum of $416.66. Retirement: Traditional federal pension (5 years vesting) and federal 401K with up to 5% in contributions by VA Insurance: Federal health/vision/dental/term life/long-term care (many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement) Notifications: This position is in the Competitive Service. The incumbent may be required to travel to other VA campuses and CBOC's. Current and former Federal employees may submit copies of their most recent SF-50, (Notice of Personnel Action). The SF-50 must identify the position title, series, grade, step, tenure and type of service (Competitive or Excepted). In some cases, more than one SF-50 may be required to show a higher grade previously held. Award 50's do not provide sufficient information and will not be accepted.

Qualifications: To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement. EXPERIENCE: A specific length of training and experience is not required, but you must show evidence of training or experience of sufficient scope and quality of your ability to do the work of this position. Evidence which demonstrates you possess the knowledge, skills, and ability to perform the duties of this position must be supported by detailed descriptions of such on your resume. Applicants will be rated in accordance with the OPM Federal Wage System Qualification Standards. SCREEN-OUT ELEMENT: Your qualifications will first be evaluated against the prescribed screen out element, which usually appears as question 1 in the on-line questionnaire. Those applicants who appear to possess at least the minimal acceptable qualification requirement are considered for further rating; those who do not are rated ineligible and are eliminated. The potential eligibles are then rated against the remainder of the Job Elements: Equipment Assembly, Installation, Repair Interpret Instructions, Specifications (includes blueprint reading) Measurement and Layout Technical Practices Troubleshooting Use and Maintain Tools and Equipment Without more than normal supervision Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religions; spiritual; community; student; social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Note: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment. Physical Effort: Required to make repairs and installations from ladders, scaffolding, platforms, and other hard-to-reach places. This requires the incumbent to stand, stoop, bend, kneel, climb, and work in tiring and uncomfortable positions for prolonged periods of time. The work requires frequently lifting and carrying of tools, equipment, and parts that weigh up to 50 pounds and, less often, over 50 pounds. Working Conditions: Exposed to a variety of weather conditions, both in the winter and summer, making repairs and installations on exterior work sites. During emergency repairs, extremes of bad weather are sometimes present. Many work sites are hot, cold, slippery, wet, dirty, dusty, greasy, poorly lit, cramped, and with unpleasant odors. Work locations include elevated platforms, man-holes where they are exposed to the danger from explosions of equipment and cables, high-voltage electrical shocks and burns. Occasionally, the incumbent will be required to work in the vicinity of asbestos containing materials necessitating the wearing of protective clothing and breathing masks. They may also be called upon to work extended periods of time to support emergency situations and power outages and may also be subject to call backs. The incumbent must work in a safe manner, wear appropriate PPE, and follow all applicable safety policy and practices.

How to Apply: All applicants are encouraged to apply online. To apply for this position, you must complete the occupational questionnaire and submit the documentation specified in the Required Documents section. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (EST) on 03/13/2026 to receive consideration. To preview the questionnaire click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12842972. 1. To begin, click Apply Online to create a USAJOBS account or log in to your existing account. Follow the prompts to select your USAJOBS resume and/or other supporting documents and complete the occupational questionnaire. 2. Click Submit My Answers to submit your application package. NOTE: It is your responsibility to ensure your responses and appropriate documentation is submitted prior to the closing date. You may check the status of your application at any time by logging into your USA Jobs account and clicking on Applications. Information regarding your application status can be found in the USAJobs Help Center. Beginning September 27, 2025, Federal agencies will only accept resumes up to two pages in length to comply with the Merit Hiring Plan. Resumes longer than two pages will result in ineligibility for further consideration for the position. USAJOBS will not allow you to upload or build resumes longer than two pages, and you will need to update the resumes in your profile before applying for a job. Resumes should include information relevant to the knowledge, skills, abilities, and competencies of the position to which you are applying. VA is unable to make assumptions about qualifications if not clearly listed. Resumes must be legible so they can be reviewed for eligibility, minimum qualifications and other position requirements listed in the job announcement. If initial application submission is updated and resubmitted with a new resume, only the most current resume will be reviewed for consideration. Your resume must be 5MB or less. We recommend saving and uploading your resume as a PDF to maintain formatting and number of pages. We also accept GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, TXT, PDF, ODT or Word (DOC or DOCX). We do not accept PDF portfolio files. We recommend using a sans-serif font size like Lato, if available. Other widely available options are Calibri, Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, Open San Source Sans Pro, Roboto or Noro Sans. Make your page margins 0.5 inches. Consider using 14-point size font for titles and 10-point for the main text in your resume. The resume builder can help you create a resume using these recommendations and uses the information in your USAJOBS profile to help you get started. Helpful Hints for Creating a Two-Page Resume: Prioritize most relevant and recent experience Use concise, results focused language Align language from the job announcement Focus on demonstrating skills and competencies Remove outdated or unrelated experience Use the USAJOBS resume builder Additional guidance on this new requirement and resume building tools can be found at: https://help.usajobs.gov/faq/application/documents/resume/page-limit https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/hiring-information/merit-hiring-plan-resources/applicant-guidance-on-the-two-page-resume-limit/ To return to an incomplete application, log into your USAJOBS account and click Update Application in the vacancy announcement. You must re-select your resume and/or other documents from your USAJOBS account or your application will be incomplete.

Application Deadline: 2026-03-13