Bikers and beers. In most parts of the country, those two elements may be reasons to move elsewhere. But in the foothills of Colorado's Front Range, bikers mean cyclists: Fort Collins has 29 miles of well-used trails.
As for beers, this town has become a high-end microbrew mecca. New Belgium Brewery (maker of Fat Tire) is based in this entrepreneurial town, and competitors are moving in.
People here aren't slackers either. Bolstered by Colorado State University, which employs 7,000, "the Fort" is a center of economic activity. Hewlett-Packard, the city's second-largest employer, announced worldwide layoffs in June, but they won't affect Fort Collins. In fact, the company is adding jobs here.
This idyllic town -- No. 1 in 2006 -- would rank even higher but for one thing. (No, it's not last summer's Balloon Boy hoax, perpetrated by the local Heene family.) Colorado schools are hurting. After the state sliced public schools budget this year, Fort Collins's Poudre School District laid off 139 full-time employees. --Pieter van Noordennen
ABD's Customer Satisfaction and Reporting
We feel it is important for a customer to feel comfortable and be honest about their experience working with ABD. ABD contracts with a third party survey company, Guild Quality, to contact our customers and report back to us their findings. Following each project, it is our policy to submit the projects basic information to Guild Quality, including personnel names assigned to the project, for evaluation. The questions ask range from satisfaction with contracts, design selections, budget, construction quality, communication, project management, schedules, to final outcome. And of course a recommendation and option to add in their own words any comments. We urge you to go to the website, www.guildquality.com, "Find a Guildmember", by state use Colorado, and then click on Associates in Building and Design to view overall ratings by our customers on ABD. We are proud of our customer satisfaction!
Things You Never Knew Your Cell Phone Could Do
Have you seen the email going around the last few months on this? These may come in handy:
1) Emergency: The Emergency number worldwide for mobile is 112. If you are out of coverage area of your network, dial 112 and the mobile will search any existing network to establish the emergency number for you.
2) Have you locked your keys in the car? Does your car have remote keyless entry? If you lock your keys in the car and the spare keys are at home, call someone at home on their cell phone from your cell and hold yours about a foot from your car door. Have the person at your home press the unlock button, holding it near the mobile phone on their end. Your car will unlock. Distance is no object. You could be hundreds of miles away.
3) Hidden battery power: If your cell bettery is very low, to activate, press the keys *3370#. Your cell phone will restart with this reserve and the instrument will show a 50% increase in battery.
4) How to disable a stolen mobile phone? To check your mobile phone's serial number, key in the following Digits on your phone: *06#. A 15-digit code will appear on the screen. This number is unique to your handset. Write it down and keep it somewhere safe. If your phone gets stolen, you can phone your service provider and give them this code. They will then be able to block your handset so even if the thief changes the SIM card, your phone will be totally useless.
5) Free directory service for cells: Cell phone companies are charging us $1.00 to $1.75 or more for 411 information calls when they don't have to. When you need to use the 411 information option, simply dial: (800)FREE411, or (800)373-3411 without incurring any charge at all. Program this into your cell phone now!
Happy Summer!
ABD hopes you are enjoying our beautiful Fort Collins and surrounding areas, just like Money Magazine, we believe ABD is in the top ten places to live in America! Are you considering moving to Fort Collins and need a professional design/build company OR are you thinking of upgrading your existing home? Be it interior design, remodel, an addition, patio living, basement finish, painting, or even a new home - please call us at ABD, 970.225.2323 and let us help you. (Or go to the Contact Us page to email.) We appreciate your business!