RELIABLE. RESPONSIVE. INFORMED. CARING.
As a fourth-generation, family-owned company, we understand the importance of our role as an employer and as a partner in the communities where we do business. The experience we have gained over the generations has helped us hone our role and has helped us define our vision as a company to have supportive and enthusiastic employees and customers. To have our vision realized, our mission is to strive to be the most reliable, responsive, informed and caring supplier of building materials and related products and services.
Joe grew up in the Building Materials business and he has benefited from the direction and advice of many past and present rk Miles employees. The family business turned out to be his best prospect for employment following graduation from UNH and for the past 30+ years, he has enjoyed the challenge of the business and its involvement in the communities it serves. Joe enjoys mountain biking, trail building and running.
Tammy enjoys being a part of a small family business where she feels she can make a difference whether it be for an employee, a customer or in the communities we serve. There are new challenges to conquer every day. "There is never a dull moment at rk MILES," she says. When Tammy is not working you will find her spending time with her family, gardening, boating and camping!
Henry’s favorite part about his job is the relationships he develops with customers and coworkers. “I enjoy being a part of a family business and working alongside and learning from coworkers,” he says. Henry also enjoys the day-to-day challenges and problem-solving opportunities within this industry. Some activities that Henry participates in outside of work are fly fishing, duck hunting, mountain biking, and skiing. He most recently took up trail running!
Roots in the lumber business.
rk MILES is a fourth-generation family business, though the company’s history begins five generations ago with Frederick Miles whose 1880s purchase of 800 acres of timberland on Red Mountain in Arlington, Vermont was the start of what was to become the rk MILES of today. His son, Richard K. Miles Sr. would return from being away 40 years later to the same forest land.
Richard Sr relocated his family to Arlington, Vermont where he first took up logging operations on the Red Mountain property and later purchased a water-powered sawmill operation on the Battenkill in that same town. In 1927 this milling operation moved from its riverside location to a brick-and-mortar retail establishment on Chittenden Drive in Arlington, and Miles Lumber Co. was established. The company sold lumber, hardware, fuel oil and coal to local residents and businesses and also operated a mill shop. In 1940, seeing an opportunity for a second location, Richard purchased a small lumber company in Manchester, Vermont incorporating it separately as r.k. Miles, Inc.
In the early 1950s, Richard K. Miles Jr, or Dick to all who knew him, took over the operation of rk MILES. He grew the business by supplying the local communities, including the adjacent ski areas Bromley, Stratton and Magic Mountain, with “everything to build anything.” Dick was an astute businessman who understood the need for community involvement, good service and profit. He was known to state, in matter-of-fact terms, “no profit, no business.”
After college, Dick’s son, Josiah “Joe” Miles returned to Vermont and after the untimely death of his father, took over business operations in 1992. During the 1990s through the early 2000s, the housing business was robust in Southern Vermont and rk MILES’ campus expanded to not only include more consumer goods but also a kitchen/bath design center, window showroom, and millwork department. rk MILES also expanded its footprint past Southern Vermont and between 2005 -2008 the company added locations in Middlebury, Vermont and Williamstown and Hatfield, Massachusetts. During the next decade, growth continued and in 2017, the company acquired locations in Morrisville and Stowe VT. In 2020, Joe’s son Henry was involved in the expansion into four new Vermont locations in Barre, Montpelier, St. Johnsbury and Waitsfield with the purchase of Allen Lumber Company – a 132-year-old, 5th-generation family business. In 2023, after flooding and a devastating fire, the Montpelier location was closed – that location’s customers are now serviced through our fully staffed nearby Barre location.
Now with 9 locations and the fourth generation stepping into a leadership role, rk MILES is poised to continue to build on the solid foundation of the past – a family business that values people and relationships, both with our customers and its employees.
HEALTHY BUILDING
Links to Energy Tax Credit Information, Architect & Contractor Tools, Building Science Methods, Energy Efficiency & more.
