In seven short days, the staff of ABC-TV’s "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" and a host of local volunteers completely demolished and rebuilt a new home for Blacksburg resident Carol Crawford-Smith.

"I received the initial visit from Bob Fetzer, president of Building Specialists, who was heading up the local implementation," said Ronnie Shelor, Anderson & Associates Assistant Survey Manager. "We knew time was of the essence. We were going to find out just how fast we actually could get a job done."

On the day of the kick-off meeting, A&A sprung into action on the "Home Makeover" project providing a survey crew within 30 minutes of notice. As the project developed, A&A also volunteered foundation design and site planning, as well as on-site implementation and observation, construction staking, and volume computations.

Home-owner Carol Crawford-Smith, mother of two and world-class dancer, was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis about five years ago. Her home posed many challenges, including numerous stairs that were difficult for her daily life.

Sitting on a beach in Antigua, Rick Howard made a life changing decision. He and his wife decided that he would stop working as a CAD Technician and return to school full time to earn his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering. His wife, also a civil engineer, understood that this was necessary for Rick to reach his goal of becoming a licensed professional engineer. Rick graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2005 and immediately relocated to Blacksburg.

Rick was attracted to Anderson & Associates because of the cohesive team approach the company takes. "It’s like working for a small company within a large company," Rick says. "You get the best of both worlds…your coworkers become like your family with everyone working together and assisting one another to accomplish a common goal."

Rick works in the Land Development Department at A&A and hopes to one day become a project manager. He enjoys the variety in his work and offering such a valuable service to citizens.