Randy (Randolph) Becker

Randy (Randolph) Becker was the founder and president of Becker Construction PDR Inc. Randy impacted many people during his too-short lifetime. But a group of us have a special relationship with him—those of us who hired Randy to work on our houses and businesses.

For Pacific Palisades resident Monica Christie, that began way back in the early 2000s. Monica called Randy to help fix a few things in the spec house they moved into. At the time she could not find anyone to do small jobs, like adding doors or rails for the front entrance.

“People wanted to do huge and fancy things only, but for Randy no job was too small or insignificant.”

Randy continued working for Monica over the years. He became a family friend, helping set up Christmas trees.

“He’d fix my gate then we’d have a cup of coffee and then he’d head off to his big jobs.”

Randy had the same relationship with nearly everyone he worked for. His boundless good nature, coupled with his careful attention to detail, was Randy’s “special sauce” at work.

I bought a house in 2011 and had Randy build us a new deck, change out windows for glass doors, build bookshelves and redo our historic bathroom in a manner that was consistent with its original design. Randy remodeled a second house we bought from top to bottom, building a new bathroom and pulling up floors, always while keeping the aesthetic nature of the buildings. To say he was a joy to work with is a major understatement.

A few months into this project, we ran into a problem with a tenant at a duplex I owned with my ex-husband. The tenant was making all sorts of wild claims about minor problems at the house. Randy stepped in and calmly made things right, navigating the thorny boundaries of someone who was determined to see that things went wrong. Not many people could be entrusted with such a situation. But most people were not Randy.

Dozens of us have such fond reminders of his work and energy. Amy Green, who had Randy paint her house, said, “He always did exactly what he said he was going to do, and he did it with great humor and kindness toward me and my family. When my hot water heater broke, he came in like a hero and took care of everything.”

Carolina and Ed, who had him build a complicated garage and studio space on a steep hillside in East Los Angeles, said, “The project involved a ridiculous amount of planning, permitting and retaining wall work. Randy never ever lost his cool. Seeing him every morning was something we looked forward to. And every time we set foot in the completed space, we think of him. Randy and his very good vibes are part of our home.”

All of us who are fortunate enough to have had Randy work on our homes cherish those physical reminders of Randy Becker’s enduring good energy and talents. Randy is survived by his wife, Lesley Elwood, and his two fur babies, Lupo and Tara.

Written by Los Angeles resident Rosa Lowinger.