Banckes worked under Sir Christopher Wren at numerous projects, including six of Wren's City Churches, for which he supplied the carpentry, and at Trinity College Library, Cambridge, where he produced the elaborately trussed flooring that supported the weighty collection of books.
His apprentice John James had a successful career as architect, having spent ten years in Banckes' employ.
Bancks's son Henry was a stonemason by trade, with contracts at Blenheim Palace, Marlborough House, London, and Cannons.
His son Matthew was responsible for much of the carpentry at Blenheim, and for the centering of the arch of the Palladian Bridge there.
His daughters' marriages are examples of the network of family ties at the top ranks of the building trades: to Charles Hopson, Master Joiner to the Office of Works, to John Churchill, master carpenter, and to Henry Wise, gardener, the partner of George London.