Rocky Mountain Forest Products (RMFP) is honored to be your Colorado lumber supplier for the past 44 years. Starting from humble beginnings as a fence installation company founded in 1974 to where we are now- we could not be more grateful for all of our suppliers, contractors, homeowners and employees who all play a part in the success of RMFP. We sat down with second generation, current CEO + President, Shane Hoefer to learn more about how RMFP started and where he hopes to go in the years to come.

Colorado Lumber Supplier

RMFP was founded in 1974 by Dennis Hoefer as a small fence installation company. His next-door neighbor was selling trucks, tools and a business name. The goal was initially to make an extra $50 per week. Over the years, RMFP grew into a full fence installation company and started selling materials. Fencing eventually turned into decking and siding, then fencing went by the wayside. Dennis realized that nobody gave small contractors respect, and being that most of the contractors in Colorado were smaller operations, he was able to create a business that served a niche that was desperately needed in Colorado. Not knowing much about purchasing materials from mills in a pre-internet era, he still realized that he had to buy better, he couldn’t just buy from the distributors in town. So Dennis bought a ticket to the source- the Oregon sawmills. A true old school entrepreneur, he rented a car and drove to the different saw mills in the area to see what they sold and if he could start buying from them. He visited Keller Lumber Company, run by Dan Keller for 25 years at that point, and a beautiful mentorship was created. Dan allowed Dennis to purchase from him and also gave him pointers about how to navigate this new world he was entering. RMFP really owes a lot to Keller Lumber Company, because they helped us get to another level as a Colorado lumber supplier with their mentorship and guidance.

RMFP has been successfully operating under the leadership of Dennis Hoefer for the past 4 decades and now the second generation leader, Shane Hoefer has taken over the reigns as President and CEO within the past two years. Shane has been working at RMFP since high school- for the past 22 years! He brings a different philosophy to the sales process and hopes to equip his people with all of the tools necessary to service their customers. It’s all about the intangibles- if you do the right thing, if you’re putting good out there- it’s all going to come back to you. There have been big changes from the originals days of RMFP, but the mission has always remained the same- building relationships with the small contractors and homeowners in Colorado. A lot of these changes have come through education of the customer and the sales staff. Back then, people came into RMFP and didn’t know anything about the products they wanted to purchase. Before the internet, sales people needed to establish trust one-on-one with their customers as the expert in the field. With the growth of technology, we’ve had to adapt and continually keep learning to remain a leading Colorado lumber supplier. A lot of times now, customers call up knowing more about the products we carry than their own sales person, which is great because we always want to be learning! We’re always trying to stay ahead of the consumer, whether it be with our ultra-informative website or well-trained sales staff.

Second-Generation Colorado Lumber Supplier

As for where RMFP is going in the next decade, Shane is hopeful with the driven, youthful staff that RMFP employs. We are really dedicated to accommodating the modern buyer by innovating wherever we can. Gone are the days of the lack of transparency- when you work with RMFP as your Colorado lumber supplier, everything will be upfront and honest. Our mission is and always will be to make our customers’ lives easier by any means we can. That is why we will always go to the source, to cut out the middleman to save our customers money. We truly hope to make the home improvement process less painful in anyway we can. That means we will always be innovating to cater to our customers. There are usually win-win situations where we can help our customers, while also growing our own business. Our ‘Building Relationships’ motto is a dedication to a partnership between us, our suppliers and our customers. We’re all trying to achieve something in this industry and it’s easier when we all work together towards the same end goal.

If you’re interested in building a relationship with RMFP- give us a call, send us an email or chat with us via social media about your building materials needs. We thank you for choosing us as your Colorado lumber supplier for the past 44 years!