Arctic Heating and Cooling Serving the Lowell Community for 40 Years
“I like to take care of people, and Lowell has been great to us,” said Bek. “For a few years, we were the only game in town, and then the contractors came into town and started, but there is enough work for everybody. Ninety-nine percent of what we do is residential. It’s fun to deal with people. A lot of good people. We go to their house, the door is unlocked, the check is on the counter. ‘Don’t let the cat out.’ That’s very nice about Lowell. We’ve been involved with the community, with the Chamber, Rotary Club and helping out with Flat River Outreach Ministries.”
Bill Lee | Contributing Writer
Forty years. That’s how long Evert and Catherine Bek have been working with, and serving, the Lowell area community as owners of Arctic Inc. Heating and Cooling. The company recently celebrated its milestone with advertisements in newspapers, and we thought it’d be a good idea to celebrate them with an article in the Ledger.
The couple’s story is a unique American story. As natives of the Netherlands, they emigrated to western Michigan in 1977 when they were in their mid-twenties. Initially, they lived with some family members in Forest Hills and Evert, who already had training in heating and air conditioning from the Netherlands, and began working for a contractor in Grand Rapids. After seven years of that, he and a friend decided to go into business together. Starting a new business is never easy, but Bek and his partner burned the midnight oil and did what most salespeople did in those days: cold calling. “It took a little bit,” said Evert Bek. “My partner and I bought two service vans and started going up and down 28th Street, knocking on doors. We had proven ourselves, working for the other company, so the word got out. We used to go to the Woodland Mall and park one of the vans there to advertise, and then the other van, we’d use to drive up the road to knock on doors. (The Woodland Mall) It was a busy intersection, so people would see your name on the truck...in the beginning, we used to call ourselves to make sure the phone was working. You can burn the candle at both ends and in the middle if you want to. I used to come home from service calls, have a quick bite to eat, change clothes and then go do sales calls... And that’s how it all started. And then one thing leads to another.”
What happened next was Evert’s in-laws moved to Lowell, and he and Catherine decided to follow them and build a home... when interest rates were at 18 percent. He joked how after his first year of payments, they only owned the front door because of the interest. At the time, Dave Clark was the only HVAC guy in the town of Lowell, and for almost two years, there was no one filling that void when Clark retired. Bek bought-out his partner, and Arctic Heating and Cooling began its run in Lowell, and the Beks, along with their daughter (who was born in the US), have enjoyed living and working in Lowell ever since. “I like to take care of people, and Lowell has been great to us,” said Bek. “For a few years, we were the only game in town, and then the contractors came into town and started, but there is enough work for everybody. Ninety-nine percent of what we do is residential. It’s fun to deal with people. A lot of good people. We go to their house, the door is unlocked, the check is on the counter. ‘Don’t let the cat out.’ That’s very nice about Lowell. We’ve been involved with the community, with the Chamber, Rotary Club and helping out with Flat River Outreach Ministries.”
Although Evert has stepped away from the physical labor part of the business, he is still involved, but has begun to hand the keys over to his son-in-law, Steven Simon. “I’m 71 so the handwriting is on the wall. I don’t know how I did everything, with working and building three houses in my spare time while I was working. Now I don’t have time to read the newspaper... It’s not like you walk away from it like you do from a company, have a retirement party. It’s still your baby and you want things to go well.”
Slowly stepping away has allowed him to pursue other passion projects, like doing community service in Lowell and working with the people of the impoverished island of Haiti. He has traveled there over 15 times in the last few years, helping to install water filters for families and work on air-conditioning units for hospitals. Also, there has been time for vacationing – he and Catherine have traveled across the United States visiting places like Yellowstone and Maine.
As he looks back on his career, he has experienced lots of challenges, whether it was dealing with high interest rates or the Covid pandemic, but also has some interesting stories, something that is bound to happen when one visits hundreds of homes over the decades. “Nothing surprises me anymore,” said Bek. “I can write a book about that. But I’m not there to judge.” Bek shared one story of a phone call he received from a man desperate to get his air-conditioning fixed. “A guy called me one time and said, ‘I’m going to have a heart attack if you don’t get here to fix my air-conditioner in the next ten minutes.’ Bek told him he called the wrong number. ‘You need to call 911 because I can’t help you with your heart attack.’ Then the man slowed down and knew that his trick didn’t work.”
With all the challenges, the Beks are glad to be business owners and are grateful for the small town that helped them, two immigrants from the Netherlands, establish their family in Lowell. “Most businesses, you’re a number. As a business owner you have nobody to blame. You either kick yourself in the butt or tap yourself on the shoulder. You control your own destiny... we’re thankful for our customers. If it wasn’t for our customers, we wouldn’t be talking here right now. There are a lot of good people. We’re thankful for the town of Lowell.”
You can find out more about Arctic Inc. Heating and Cooling by going to their Facebook page or their website www.heatingcoolingonline.com
