Design-build remodeling, with our own cabinet shop
Built for the way this house wants to live
We are a third-generation Madison design-build shop. Every project gets cabinetry built in our own workshop on Atwood Ave, a fixed price you approve before demo, and a warranty that waits out your first Wisconsin winter.
Why we are different
Three promises no one else on your shortlist is making
Cabinetry from our own shop
We do not order boxes from a catalog. Gus and his crew build your cabinets a mile from your house, in our workshop on Atwood, sized to your walls instead of the other way around.
The Second Winter Warranty
Wisconsin houses move. Fourteen months after we finish, once your remodel has been through a full freeze and thaw, we come back and make right anything that shifted. In writing, on every project.
Straight answers on price
We publish real price ranges for every service, and in our first conversation you get an honest read on where your project lands. No mystery, no anchoring games.
What we do
What we design and build
Kitchens
Shop-built cabinetry, honest materials, and layouts that survive a school morning.
Explore kitchens →
Bathrooms
From hardworking hall baths to wet rooms that make a small footprint feel generous.
Explore bathrooms →
Whole-home
Gut renovations that keep a house’s soul and fix everything else.
Explore whole-home →
Additions
More house that looks like it was always there.
Explore additions →
Basements
Dry first. Beautiful second. In that order.
Explore basements →
The Cabinet Shop
The reason everything else we build fits.
Explore the cabinet shop →Case studies
Houses we know by name
Vilas
The Baker kitchen
A 1918 bungalow galley opened to the dining room, with a nine-foot white oak island and a pantry built into the old back-stair volume.
5 weeks design · 9 weeks build
Read the case study →
Marquette
The Alvarez galley
A worker’s cottage kitchen that stayed a galley on purpose, done in deep green with butcher block and twice the storage.
4 weeks design · 6 weeks build
Read the case study →
Tenney-Lapham
The Okafor wet room
A five-by-nine hall bath rebuilt as a curbless wet room, with terracotta zellige and a floating oak vanity from the shop.
3 weeks design · 5 weeks build
Read the case study →
“Standing in their shop next to our half-built cabinets was the moment this stopped feeling like a leap of faith.”
How it works
How a project runs
- 01
Walk the house
We meet at your home, talk scope and budget honestly, and tell you on the spot if we are not the right fit.
- 02
Design in the shop
Drawings, 3D previews, and materials you can hold, in the studio attached to our workshop. Ends with a fixed price.
- 03
Build it once
A posted calendar, a dust wall, a broom-clean site every night, and cabinetry arriving from a mile away instead of a freight dock.
- 04
Come back in winter
Final walkthrough, then the Second Winter visit 14 months later to make right anything the seasons moved.
Why us
What working with Fourlakes is like
One team, one contract
Design, cabinetry, and construction under one roof. When something needs deciding, the decider is already on your job.
A fixed price before demo
You approve one number after design. It changes only if you change the scope, and we tell you the cost of a change before you make it.
Friday updates, every Friday
Photos, what happened this week, what happens next week, and any decisions we need from you. At 4pm, without fail.
The Second Winter Warranty
We come back after 14 months, once the house has been through a full freeze-thaw, and fix whatever moved. Nobody else in town offers this.
Reviews
Rated 4.9 stars across 116+ reviews
“The island panels shifted over the winter, exactly like they warned us they might. They came back in February and fixed it without being asked twice. Who does that?”
“We interviewed four firms. Fourlakes was the only one that told us our budget would not cover our wish list, then showed us which two-thirds of it mattered.”
“Friday, 4pm, every week: photos and a plan. I never once called to ask what was happening in my own house.”
“Standing in their shop next to our half-built cabinets was the moment this stopped feeling like a leap of faith.”
“The addition matches so well that our neighbor of nine years asked if we had repainted. That is it. That is the review.”
“Their first estimate and the final invoice were the same number. In this industry that fact alone deserves five stars.”
Good to know
Common questions
What do projects cost?
Kitchens mostly land between $80k and $160k, hall baths $38k to $55k, primary suites $60k to $110k, and additions $420 to $560 per square foot. Ranges, because every house is different, but real ranges from the last two years of projects. We will give you an honest read on your project in the first conversation.
What is the Second Winter Warranty, exactly?
Fourteen months after completion, after your remodel has been through a full Wisconsin freeze-thaw cycle, we schedule a return visit and repair anything that moved: trim gaps, miter openings, doors that seasoned out of square. It is written into every contract, on top of the standard two-year workmanship warranty.
Do you really build the cabinets yourselves?
Yes, in our workshop at 2117 Atwood Ave. Clients are welcome to visit mid-project and see their cabinetry on the bench. The shop is the reason our built-ins fit the way they do.
How far out are you booking?
Design typically starts within three to five weeks. Construction slots are currently booking about four months out. The shop takes standalone cabinetry commissions two to three months out.
Do you handle permits and engineering?
Always, in-house, including City of Madison permits, structural engineering, and lakefront setback reviews where they apply.
What do you not do?
Roof-only, siding-only, and insurance-restoration work; quick flips; and projects where price is the only question that matters. We are the wrong fit for those, and we will say so early.
Ready when you are
Tell us what isn’t working about your home. We’ll tell you honestly what it takes to fix it.