Arlington Car Free Diet

The Car-Free Diet Skeptics Challenge is designed for Arlington County residents that currently drive their cars frequently, but are willing to attempt car-free living for 30 days. You do not have to go 100% car-free for the entire 30 days, but you do have to try. If you are chosen as one of the final Skeptics, you will communicate online about all of your transportation experiences during the 30-day challenge. You’ll be given several items to use during the challenge that will make going car free easier. And if you successfully complete the challenge, you’ll receive more car free related items. If you are already on the Car-Free Diet, but know a friend, neighbor, or family member who needs to go on the diet, be sure to tell them about this challenge.
How to apply
You’ll need to create a 30 second to 2 minute video that shows why you would make the perfect Car-Free Diet Skeptic and fill out an online application. Video applications are being accepted through February 28, 2010.

How are the Skeptics chosen?
From March 1 – 31, 2010, all eligible entries will appear on carfreediet.com. During this time you can vote online for your favorite Skeptic candidate. At the end of the voting period, two Skeptics will be chosen to go on the Car-Free Diet for 30 days beginning April 22.

Skeptics Challenge
The chosen Skeptics will document their challenge online via videos, blogs, Tweets, and Facebook entries. If the Skeptics successfully complete the challenge, they’ll get everything needed to travel car free around Arlington and the Washington, DC region for a whole year.

FW&D Receives EPA Certification

FW&D LLC Remodeling Services received the following message from the EPA.

As an EPA Lead-Safe Certified Firm, if you choose, you are now authorized to use and display the attached custom logo with your certification number.
The Lead-Safe Certified Firm Logo identifies a firm as certified under the Renovation, Repair, and Painting (RRP) Rule.

Snowstorm Press Release

With the recent snowstorms that hit Northern Virginia and Washington, DC, FW&D Remodeling chose to put people over products. In case you missed the story of how owner Ned Overton and staff helped out his Fairlington neighbors in a time of need, check out the press release.

The response has been overwhelming. Fairlington residents who got help from the FW&D crews digging out their cars were incredibly appreciative. Listen to neighbor Lou Dipalma’s review.

With the cold weather we’ve been having…it’s that kind of thing that warms our hearts.

Connecting with Your Contractor

Remodeling requires a lot of communication. You, the homeowner, have to communicate your vision and dream to us, the contractor. FW&D Remodeling believes in the power of connecting with our homeowners, and loves welcoming back past clients again and again.

FW&D recently finished a bathroom remodel project with Arlington resident Rick Kelly. This was not our first job with the retired Marine Corp General; back in September we replaced all the windows in one of Mr. Kelly’s rental units. When he was looking at Arlington window and remodeling companies, his first concern was “that the window replacement be done in a top quality manner”, which, of course, is always our concern too! We install superior class products that qualify for the federal and Virginia tax-credit.

But Mr. Kelly ended up not basing his decision solely on product quality. While he had received another estimate, he “chose FW&D based on the personal engagement of the owner.”

This is where our main focus lies. We want to not only give our clients in Northern Virginal beautiful, quality products and craftsmanship, but to also guarantee that the whole experience is as pleasant and personable as possible. Our hands-on approach gives homeowners comfort and confidence, which we think is necessary throughout the life of a remodel project.

So for his recent bathroom remodel, Mr. Kelly did not get a second estimate. He knew about our work and he knew our personnel. We were excited to work on his project and finished on budget and ahead of schedule. Mr. Kelly was pleased that his tenants were able to move in about a week before originally planned.

Remodeling projects are inevitably going to disrupt the lives of the homeowners a bit…there will be crews coming in, probably some demolition, and a space of your home that is temporarily out of use. But it shouldn’t be a situation where you feel helpless or out-of-the-loop. You can and should feel comfortable going to your contractor with your questions and concerns. We try to open that line of communication – check in with you before you have to come to us. It’s your home – we’re just there to make it more beautiful.

Listen to Rick Kelly's full testimonial about FW&D Remodeling.

Fairlington Neighborhood Business

One of the advantages of having a neighborhood business is when friends and neighbors stop by the office to visit.

Being A Good Fairlington Neighbor

At FW&D, we want more than to simply be the contractor for your remodel project. We want to be people that you can trust when you are in need. This winter has definitely caused some needs in the Northern Virginia area! We started off the season with a wallop – December 19^th turned out a record snowstorm, with some areas seeing as much as two feet of snow. The snow numbers continued to creep up with occasional flurries and inches left on the ground.

This past weekend we had another big one come through – and I mean BIG. This record-breaking storm dropped over 32 inches at Dulles airport, skyrocketing this season’s numbers, closing schools and businesses, and shutting down roads.

With all this snow, many people were snow-bound. Even after the plows came through, cars were buried under feet of snow. Check out this car in Fairlington – you can’t even make out the make or model!

We here at FW&D saw a lot of people that were not able or equipped to get their cars cleared from the snow. Owner Ned Overton could not stand to see his Fairlington neighbors stranded. So Sunday morning, he called up our crews. While these guys normally spend their time artfully applying new tile in bathrooms or installing gorgeous cabinets in new kitchens, Mr. Overton was asking that they work to help out in a time of need. Many crew members were snow-bound as well, but those able braved the elements and treacherous road conditions to help Fairlington residents “de-snow” their cars. The crews worked Sunday and Monday, digging out over thirty cars. Remember that car above? The one that you couldn’t even make out? Check out how it looked after the FW&D crew got finished with it.

That’s what we believe in here at FW&D – that helping out a community is more important than pushing a product, that friends are better than clients, and that being a good neighbor is really what it’s all about.

At the start of 2011, FW&D was contacted by the Window & Door Dealers Alliance regarding the 2011 Tax Credit.

We hope you find this information helpful when considering your projects throughout this year. The tax credit limits have changed, and there is now a lifetime limit for “any combination of all tax credit qualifying products”. There have been other changes, and both WDDA and WDMA (Window and Door Manufacturer's Association) note that additional information from the government (www.energystar.gov and www.irs.gov) will soon be available, though no deadlines have been set at this time. Please see the below links for more information.

WDDA FAQ’s
WDMA's fact sheet
WDDA 2011 tax credit article

This blog article is from FW&D.

We do Kitchen Remodeling, Bathrooms, Roofing, Doors, and more.

Call us at 703-933-8900

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