‘Where a handshake means something’

Matthew Day

Staff

May 19, 2025

SUAMICO – A Northeast Wisconsin-based cabinetry company is approaching its fourth decade of custom woodwork and design. 

Headquartered in Suamico, President Lucas Becks said Becks Quality Cabinets has designed, built, stained/painted and installed cabinetry throughout Wisconsin, Upper Michigan, the Upper Midwest and beyond since 1986. 

The company’s endurance, Lucas said, can be attributed to the enduring cabinets it creates. 

“Our niche is providing craftsmanship in the woodworking industry that is built to last,” he said. “We like transforming custom spaces for people’s unique needs.” 

Lucas said about 80% of Becks’ projects are residential – “mid- to higher-end homes… (mostly) ranging between $1-5 million home value.” 

The other 20%, he said, are commercial – “more your unique, one-off clinical (projects), a lot of healthcare (facility work) and your unique, one-off situations where they’re design-build, not real architect-driven stuff.” 

Lucas said a range of customers and contractors choose Becks in part for the company’s flexibility. 

“We’re not extremely rigid in how we operate things, whether it’s from scheduling to layout to install,” he said. “(Customers) might need fast turn(-around time)s… We’ve become very flexible for them, understanding of their needs, (recognizing) why they need things a certain way and giving them quality service (and) dependability.” 

Residential or commercial, and regardless of budget, Lucas said each Becks project begins with a consultation and ends with a handshake. 

“We’re very much built on old-school values, where a handshake means something,” he said. “When we say we’re going to do something, we do it.” 

Going way back with Becks 

Lucas said his history with Becks Quality Cabinets is likewise old school – grade school, to be exact. 

From an early age, he said he began helping his father, Gerald – who founded the company – around the shop however he could. 

“I was probably eight, nine years old when I started,” he said. “My dad made me get very proficient in each area, from sweeping the floor, to building, to laying out stuff, to sanding, to finishing – the whole manufacturing side and installation side of it. Then I started learning (about) the office and those things, and then kind of took it from there.” 

Lucas said he always knew he wanted a career at Becks when he grew up, and focused on going full-time with the company as soon as possible.  

By orienting his high school schedule to only have two classes as a junior and one as a senior, he said he was able to get an early start on that full-time work at Becks. 

By then, it was 1998, he said – 12 years after his dad had decided to start the company. 

Lucas said Gerald, a seasoned cabinetry installer, founded Becks in order to offer a higher level of service than competitors. 

“He wanted to look at some quality aspects and do some things a little differently,” he said. “He wanted to strive to do things a little bit better, from a service (and) dependability (standpoint), be a little bit more homegrown and (have) some freedom just to be on his own.” 

The move to independence was successful, Lucas said, as his dad moved the company out of his small garage and built a customer base and capabilities. 

Lucas said his own competency and involvement likewise grew with Becks, as he increasingly took on responsibilities in preparation for succeeding his father as president one day. 

“While my dad owned (Becks), he let me start to make decisions and things, knowing that that’s what I was going to lead into,” Lucas said of his development. 

By the time he purchased the company in 2012, Lucas said he’d been “pretty much running it” for four years, to where very little transition was needed. 

With a firm grasp on prior operations, he said he sought to employ new technology that Gerald – about whom Lucas laughed “still to this day doesn’t know how to turn on a computer” – had disregarded. 

“I wanted to grow from a drawing standpoint, machine and tool standpoint, to have more automation, more precision (and) better quality on the machining side of things,” he said. “We converted a lot of (projects) to all being drafted completely, 100% on the computers, and the computers sending (the plans) right to the machine, and the machine cutting (wood) all (based) off the software, etc.” 

Building the business 

After the ownership transition, Lucas said Gerald “stayed involved a little bit,” and remains a wise resource to him and to the company to this day. 

Beyond learning from his father and the business itself, Lucas said he also enrolled in various college classes and continued his development with various mentors and coaches, as he built upon what his dad started. 

“If you’re not continuously learning, it’s not a good thing – even if you went to college or not,” he said. “To me… if you’re a leader, you’re a reader and a learner, and continue to go to classes and continue to learn and develop, always.” 

Among his efforts to enhance the company, Lucas said advertising has not been a prominent factor, rather, customers often come to Becks by way recommendation of “general contractors that have heard of us through different avenues.” 

“So,(it’s) a lot of (contractor recommendations), and a lot of word of mouth from friends, family, (suggesting), ‘Hey, they did a project for us,’” he said. “Very, very few (projects) are driven through marketing.” 

What keeps customers and contractors choosing Becks over competitors, Lucas said, stems from the consultation, when his team ascertains exactly how a given space – whether residential or commercial – will be used. 

“We don’t want to just design something that fits a look and/or what we feel is good for them,” he said. “We want to understand how they use the space. Are they baking a lot? Are they cooking a lot? Do they use it a lot for makeup? Do they hang stuff in their laundry rooms for drying? Things like that.” 

This diligence, Lucas said, has driven Becks’ business, necessitating an expansion in 2020 to its current manufacturing plant, showroom and design center in Suamico. 

As the company’s building partners and contractors saw increases in projects in northern Wisconsin, he said Becks decided to build and staff a new showroom and design center in Minocqua. 

Between the two locations, Lucas said the company’s full team is close to 70 employees. 

Becks’ growth, he said, has persisted despite contemporary challenges, from staffing to staying on top of technological and systems advancements. 

However, Lucas said the struggles make the work all the more rewarding. 

“When (customers) see (their project) at the end and it all comes together, the excitement on their face and how happy they are with how it functions and aesthetically pleasing it is for them and their families and/or their clients and their staff to enjoy, (that’s rewarding),” he said. “That’s on the client end, but on the builder end – who are our main clients, our general contractors – helping service them and really taking care of them and making it as easy as we possibly can is very rewarding.”  

Becks’ successes, Lucas said, are likewise savored by its employees 

“Our team members – that’s a bigger part of (the reward), seeing them thoroughly enjoy what they do, and being very passionate about what they do, how they do it and why they do it,” he said. 

Pride and joy 

Grateful for all of Becks’ business over the years, Lucas said it’s been important to him to contribute to the communities that have supported him. 

“If you don’t give back to the industry, it’s not going to give to you,” he said. “If you don’t take care of it and mentor it, it’s not going to be there for you for the long term.” 

For him, and on Becks’ behalf, Lucas said his contributions to the industry involve membership in a number of associations and committees, including: 

• National Home Builders Association 
• Wisconsin Builders Association 
• Brown County Home Builders Association 
• Home Builders Association of the Fox Cities 
• Wausau Area Builders Association 
• Headwaters Builders Association 
• Howard-Suamico Business and Professional Association  
• Minocqua Area Chamber of Commerce 

Lucas said he’s also a member of the advisory committee for the woodworking program at Fox Valley Technical College, as he’s motivated to show learners – who, like him, have an aptitude for hands-on work – that they don’t necessarily need a four-year degree to find success. 

“(I) can help get that (message) out there, so younger people in middle school (and) high school know there are other options, and you can make a very viable living doing (woodworking), and a rewarding living, at that,” he said. 

Lindsay Tafelski, business development specialist at Becks, said in his two and a half years at the company, he’s been struck by how proud the employees are of their work. 

It’s therefore fitting, Tafelski said, that the company is located at 1903 Pride Terrace. 

He said the team’s work is also proudly displayed each year during the Brown County Home Builders Association’s twice-annual Showcase of Homes, as well as during the Home Builders Association of the Fox Cities’ twice-annual Parade of Homes. 

However, Becks’ pride never veers into boastfulness, as Lucas said the company is rooted in humility – particularly as he upholds the hard work his father founded. 

“I am very humbled to be able to have this opportunity, and to be sitting doing what we are doing,” he said. “(It) doesn’t just happen from me, though – it happens from our whole team… So, we’re trying to build a team of people who really work around our culture and our core values of who we are, and everybody keeps instilling that in everybody, every day.” 

To learn more about Becks Quality Cabinets, visit the website or find them on social media.