The Heeb family has been making cabinets for more than 100 years collectively, so when Scott Heeb joined Valet Custom Cabinets & Closets some 12 years ago, he had a lot of personal and tribal experience on which to draw. 

Heeb had followed in the woodworking steps of his father and his grandfather before him. His grandfather, a carpenter at a large construction firm; his father, Jay, taught woodworking at Alhambra High School in the Bay Area of California for more than three decades.

“Some of my youngest memories were of the times I spent in my father’s shop at the high school and with my younger brother when we were turning bowls on lathes,” said Heeb. “He had a fully functioning shop where they built custom furniture and some cabinet work as well. And so, I’ve been around that piece of industry for basically my entire life.”

After graduating from college in 2013 with a business degree, Heeb found himself in Southern California looking for work to support himself and his wife. “We ended up coming back to the Bay Area. I always thought Valet would be a good opportunity. I knew I could do that, and so I took a job there, basically sweeping floors, unloading  drawer boxes and cabinet doors from Decore-ative Specialties, helping install the closets.” 

Much like the legacy of his father, and his father before him, Heeb found himself amid another legacy — the Valet Custom Cabinets & Closets legacy.

Locally owned and operated for more than 47 years, Valet Custom Cabinets & Closets was the result of a 2005 union of Valet Organizers (est.1987) and Eurodesign, Ltd. (est. 1973).  Valet was one of the first companies to enter the burgeoning closet and home organization market, and Eurodesign was an early pioneer in the field of custom built-in cabinetry. Together, the combined company built a reputation as an industry leader for product innovation, design, craftsmanship, and service.

Larry and Audrey Fox, who bought the company in 2000, were supported by a dedicated team, many of whom spent their entire career with Valet and who remain on staff. 

Heeb joined the company in 2012, and over the next 12 years he moved up in the ranks before buying the company from Fox and his wife in 2024. 

His relationship with Fox remains one of the most important in his life. “The relationship I have with Larry  and the tutelage, support and overall mentorship he provided me is impossible to overstate,” said Heeb. “He gave me an opportunity and is still to this day my biggest cheerleader. He is one of my most valued and cherished friendships in my life. He took a big risk on me and I’ll never forget it.”Heeb joined the company with no career experience in management, but  eventually he moved up the ranks serving as purchasing manager, installation manager, operations manager, vice president and, ultimately, president before buying the company. 

“I found a great home; it just became a place I really wanted to work,” Heeb said. “I really follow the idea that you join a company for the salary, you leave a company because of your direct boss, and you stay for the people. And my coworkers and team were fantastic.”

Learning all facets of the business was critical to his ability to run the company. That doesn’t mean that Heeb likes more jobs than others. “I know we’re not supposed to have favorites, like kids, but install is definitely my favorite. I held that position the longest. That team is very much my team, and it’s so near and dear to me. Going through managing that team, or in some cases installing myself, it showed me what Valet really means to our customers and what Valet was doing that was special for its customers.”

It turned out that service was what was special, and set it apart from its competitors.

“Seeing customers firsthand and seeing the value that they placed on service was incredible,” Heeb added. “It was instrumental to me. Because of that, we are trying to lead this company and to further that legacy with that in mind.”
Running a business for Heeb is more than just a P&L statement. In his heart of hearts he was a manufacturer, and for him, to be a manufacturer is to manufacture locally. He could have leased a facility for “pennies on the dollar” in another area of the country that was a lot less expensive than the Bay Area of California. Instead, Heeb said he and his wife made a conscious decision to keep manufacturing in Campbell, California, in one of the higher cost-of-living areas in the country. 

“And, you think on paper, why?” he said. “Why spend the extra three, four or $500,000 a year, but it takes us back to our legacy. It takes us back to the idea that we are part of this community. We serve this community, and so we manufacture here.

“We wanted to create great jobs, providing great careers for folks in our own community, and that ultimately benefits not only our people, but our customers.”

Having manufacturing in the community means that if there is an issue with a project, or the customers need a couple extra shelves, they can make that for them on that same day.

Valet operates in a 10,000-square-foot facility in Campbell that is filled with more than $1 million in CNC equipment. 

“Again, I was a ‘wrench spinner’ right through and through — that was my side of the business and so I worked on our beam saw, our two CNC routers, and our edgebander,” he said. “All of those machines are the newest tech that gives us the precision to the 1,000th of an inch. So we’re able to not only design and create these visions that the customers want, but we can execute that with precision inside of our shop.”