Where The Wicked Good Deals Come From

Here at Uncle Hilde's, many times our customers ask us how we are able to offer such great pricing on our products.
I often respond by saying simply "It's not what you know, it's who you know".
Prior to opening Uncle Hilde's 8 years ago, I had worked in the wholesale lumber business for nearly 25 years. For the bulk of those years I worked as a buyer; making many trips to mills to the West Coast, South America, and Canada. As time went by I developed very close relationships with most of the mill owners. I count many of them as my friends to this day.
When I decided to leave the wholesale business back in the early '90's, I stayed in touch with my old friends in the industry. One of them actually hired me to be his buyer for Brazilian hardwood decking. But I had this idea to do something else burning in my head, and moved on.
That idea I had was to open a retail yard specializing in excess and/or obsolete inventory that I could buy directly from the mills at a huge discount. My old friends supported me 100%, and Uncle Hilde's Lumber Outlet was born.
For the past 8 years I have been buying full truckloads of wood flooring, wood shingles, and decking directly from the manufacturers, often at below wholesale prices. Over time my inventory has slowly evolved from "seconds" to "1st quality". Some of it, such as PVC decking, might be last year's color or grain pattern. Sometimes I get offered 1st quality Brazilian hardwood decking with an off spec tally (like 6'-12' instead of the usual 8-20') at a significant discount. But I'd say about 90% of what I buy nowadays is 1st quality material.
The linchpin to Uncle Hilde's success has been the relationships I have built with my vendors over the past 35 years.
It's not what you know - it's who you know.

Mark Hildebrand
Owner