I have decided that this coming year I am going to do 365 intentional acts of kindness. Please join me in making our world a little brighter for others. #rocktownresilient #365actsofkindness
This year has been filled with a lot of negativity and challenges. On a personal level, I know I am blessed to have enough, maybe even more than enough. I did not go hungry. I have a home. I have stayed healthy. While work slowed tremendously for a few months our small business is surviving. While 2020 was filled with negative things, there were lots of silver linings and blessings.
The opportunity to work from home, spending more time with my girls this year, is incredible. I am still able to serve my clients and be with my family more than I ever imagined possible. The interactions I have had with friends this year have been special, whether through zoom or distanced in-person. Not having the ability to see anyone anytime makes the few meetings much sweeter. There have been so many positives in this year.
Finding ways to support others this year also has brought me incredible joy. Rotary Club of Rockingham County has not had in-person meetings since March and many of our service projects were cancelled. However, that did not stop our #serviceaboveself. I was fortunate to be able to deliver meals once a week to First Step on behalf of our club for a couple of months. I participated in a food drive for Our Community Place, cleaned up a highway, picked up trash along blacks run near Purcell Park, helped hand out food to Harrisonburg school families, and planted tulips at First Step and NENA Community Center. I supported local business by eating at locally owned area restaurants once a week at least and showing love to the servers and delivery drivers.
I also wrote positive online reviews for local companies, donated to local fundraisers and food pantries, purchased music and swag from local bands, and sent notes of appreciation to essential workers. I have tried to remember every day to wish a Happy Birthday to friends on Facebook and have sent out more thank you notes and gift cards this year than any other year before. I helped install solar panels at Eastern Mennonite School in a solar barn raising project. I found places to help others by creating online resources for home schooling, researched and published tips to make buildings safer, and created stress relief coloring pages. I also created amonthly young professionals networking group and hosted monthly education sessions for other architects. In order to support the local arts community I designed an outdoor stage that was used by both EMS and Harrisonburg High School.
I had not thought about all the good that these actions were doing for me until I watched this Ted talk that Nadia posted to Facebook.
So now after seeing this video, I am going to be intentional this coming year about putting #serviceaboveself. I will pledge to do #365actsofkindness over the coming year. Please join me and help spread kindness through the world and bring yourself happiness through action.
New home construction and remodels are some of the biggest and most intensive projects homeowners undertake. Construction and remodeling trends change rapidly, and now that 2020 has kicked off a new decade, people are looking to update their homes now more than ever. Today’s homes look nothing like they did 20 years ago.
Gaines Group Architects participated in the survey as one of the most prominent experts in the Home Construction Industry in 2020. Fixr also asked other experts to weigh in on what they think the latest trends in home construction and remodeling are. Their insights can help homeowners and designers alike to strike balance in their home designs and stay ahead of the curve for the years to come.
Some of the key findings include:
Open floor plan and two story homes represent the most popular layouts
Smart homes rank first among the most popular design choices
Most homeowners make accessibility modifications to their home for future personal use
Low energy homes are among the top designs for green construction
Outdoor kitchens are the most popular outdoor living addition to a home
Married couples with children are most likely to both build and invest in outdoor living spaces
Contemporary and modern will be the most common styles used in modular construction
Tight building envelopes will be the most common way to prevent energy transfer on home exteriors
The results were compiled based on 51 subject matter experts’ responses to a series of multiple choice and open-ended questions. To help you better understand the data, our team has organized the answers and edited them for clarity.
Each of the survey participants was selected based on their standing in the home construction industry, their previous professional achievements, their social media reach and influence, and prior industry awards and recognition. The experts all appear on Fixr’s 2020 Home Construction Expert List, and they represent a wide range of expertise in the industry, including construction, design, manufacturing, and publishing.
Gaines Group Architects is a small firm with a big idea – design can build a better community, enhance livability, reduce construction and operation costs, and protect our environment. Design matters. We work hard to understand the best practices in the industry so we can provide our clients with functional, affordable, and beautiful design solutions. We do this through a focus on quality, value, building science, and timeless beauty. Gaines Group Architects is located in Harrisonburg and Charlottesville, Virginia. We serve a wide range of clients from custom homes, renovations, additions, commercial, retail, industrial, ecclesiastical, and non-profits.
Mission statement: Through design we want to build a stronger more vibrant community. We want to design solutions that make positive changes for everyone in our community.
Why we do it: Because we want a better future for our clients, community, and world.
About Fixr:
Fixr is a home improvement resource with the mission of helping consumers make the best remodeling decisions. Fixr provides unbiased, thorough and updated cost guides, price comparisons, and cheat sheets for hundreds of remodeling, installation, and repair projects. When the homeowner is equipped with the necessary knowledge, Fixr helps connect homeowners with the best matching pros in their area to begin their home improvement projects.
For further information about the report: press@fixr.com
To contact Gaines Group Architects: charles (at) thegainesgroup.com
Charles Hendricks was named a top home construction expert in 2020. This is the fourth year in a row that Mr. Hendricks has been included on this list.
The annual Top 200 Home Construction Experts, presented by Fixr, is a prestigious list that recognizes excellence and innovation in the home remodeling and construction industry. Fixr employs a rigorous methodology to assemble this exclusive compilation of industry visionaries, based on innovation, expertise and influence in the industry. Fixr’s methodology analyzes each expert’s social media and online presence, awards and recognition received, and overall industry contributions.
The list includes home remodeling and construction experts in construction, architecture, publishing, and other related fields. “Inclusion in this list is a testament to the professional achievements of each expert,” said Yuka Kato, industry analyst at Fixr. In an industry constantly evolving based on environmental concerns, new smart home technologies, an aging population, and many other outside influences, “these experts have specialized and stayed relevant, and their efforts and accomplishments deserve recognition.”
By earning a spot on this list, Fixr confirms that Charles Hendricks has shown creativity and exceptional prowess in the home remodeling and construction industry, and Charles Hendricks’s professional efforts have advanced the field and shaped industry trends going forward into 2020.
About Fixr
Fixr is a home improvement resource with the mission of helping consumers make the best remodeling decisions. Fixr provides unbiased, thorough and updated cost guides, price comparisons, and cheat sheets for hundreds of remodeling, installation, and repair projects. When the homeowner is equipped with the necessary knowledge, Fixr helps connect homeowners with the best matches in their area to begin their home improvement projects.
For the complete list of the Top 200 Home Construction Experts, visit fixr.com.
As we stand at the edge and look towards the future, I wonder if we will start to build bridges or continue to erode the banks. As we continue to borrow against our future, our children’s future, we are damaging the fabric needed for success. We fight for things that benefit ourselves right now without thinking through the issues in a holistic manner. We throw insults and accusations at those in leadership to discredit them often simply because they are not on our ‘team’. We shove people in a category because they have voiced an opinion about one issue, at one time, concerning one matter. We are ripping away the power of thoughtful discussion and compromise. We are tearing down the pathways to unity and power all in the name of money, taxes, ‘freedom’. As we stand at the edge I wonder if you will reach out your hand to help me up or continue on your way without looking back.
Every decision we make has an impact. You can choose to support those looking to build community or those looking to build themselves. What do you want our future to look like? What do you want to pass down to our children? Will you stand up for those making decisions that do not benefit you today, but rather benefit us in the long run? Will you make changes to your lifestyle today that reduces air and water pollution in the future? Will you change your shopping patterns to support your neighbors even though it may cost you more cash today? Will you stop spreading hate so that your children can experience a world that puts respect, conversation, and community as a top priority?
I don’t have the answers and I struggle to make the right changes myself. I am always looking for a better way, but often fall short. We are standing at the edge of an ecological disaster, a financial meltdown, an energy nightmare. We are facing serious climate change issues, over fishing, agricultural deprivation of soil, polluting chemical companies, ozone layer deprivation, waste disposal problems, energy production issues, energy grid failures, overpopulation, food shortages, water pollution, poor fiscal policy, political lobby groups, and communication failures just to name a few. How can we ever overcome all these challenges? How can we get past the political maneuvering of those with money and power and make a real change in our community? We only have one option that can provide success – we have to come together, as a community, as a nation, and as a family and work towards a positive future. We need to stop fighting for power and instead work to help each other.
“The encouraging thing is that every time you meet a situation, though you may think at the time it is an impossibility and you go through the tortures of the damned, once you have met it and lived through it you find that forever after you are freer than you ever were before. If you can live through that you can live through anything. You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, `I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ The danger lies in refusing to face the fear, in not daring to come to grips with it. If you fail anywhere along the line, it will take away your confidence. You must make yourself succeed every time. You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”
The SVBA is hosting a nationally recognized certification program in Harrisonburg this week. The building industry professionals taking this course have come from Harrisonburg, Charlottesville, and as far away as Lynchburg and Baltimore. This training will provide the knowledge and training for those attending to better serve the community by offering solutions for people to live more comfortably in their homes with comfort, security, and dignity. Aging in Place is not about designing for a disability, it is about designing solutions that work for all abilities. CAPS certification is a recognized, understood, and respected designation that you can trust when selecting professionals to help you live better.
The Certified Aging-in-place specialist (CAPS) designation was developed by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Remodelors Council, in collaboration with the AARP, NAHB Research Center, and NAHB Seniors Housing Council.
This program was developed to provide professionals training that would enable them to accommodate the needs of people over the age of 50, as well as the knowledge they would need to modify their homes for aging in place.
The program focuses specifically on the customer service skills, technical information, and business management training needed to properly serve the needs of older adults.
In other words, the CAPS certified professional is trained on the unique needs of the baby boomer generation by modifying homes so someone can live there longer as they age addressing the most common barriers in a home.
I have been accused many times of not sleeping in order to do the amount of work that I accomplish each week. I promise you that while I am involved in many activities, events, and efforts, I do get plenty of sleep. I do worry though that I am sacrificing things in my life that I will regret later. I worry about the little things that I don’t spend time doing, like attending social events to better get to know people in the community. Anyone that has seen me knows that I have not given proper attention to being healthy. While I don’t have many of the vices that one may suffer with in modern society, I do have a lack of desire for exercise and eating healthy and I worry what this will result in over the coming years. However, My biggest fear is that I am not spending enough time with my family. I struggle with balancing life: being Dad.
Over the past several weeks there has been a change in the normal pattern that I hope to continue. I have worked hard to get the garden set up. The girls have helped me with the process, sometimes actively, sometimes taking breaks, sometimes forgetting completely about the garden and just running around the yard. We have also enjoyed several family outings these last several weeks that were focused on my daughters. Last Saturday, the girls dressed up like Thing 1 and Thing 2 and we drove 1 1/2 hours to Hooville (Charlottesville) to meet the Cat in the Hat and watch a 30 minute cartoon on the big screen at the Paramount Theater. A couple of weeks ago we attended Annie at Four County Players, staying up very late for the girls and also me, but I will never forget the way they both had their eyes glued to the stage the entire time. Even better, thanks to our friend, Tracie Skipper, the girls got to meet the amazing actress that played Annie after the play. (by the way, I highly recommend making a trip to Barboursville to see a play at Four County Players, they do an incredible job). It is hard to find balance in life to be the best dad, best architect, best husband, best committee member, but that is my goal. While I know something always has to give, I can assure you that I will never give up trying to be the best.
