Whole House Building Supply & Salvage

They were great, while it lasted… all locations closed now
they run demo sales at the site of the demo

LOVE this place. Sad that they closed. Only temporary though. They are looking for a warehouse, need 6,000−12,000 square feet. Go to their website for details. They are open on Saturdays only at 29 Vista Ave., San Mateo 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

Got up early on Sunday to go to a demolition sale. Found a mirror cabinet that would work in our bathroom, paid with a check and went home to get some tools to remove it. Later received a call and was told that the home owner changed his mind and no longer wanted to sell the cabinet. If you go shop at a store and paid for an item (to be picked up later), the sale transaction cannot be reversed. Very disappointed!

They are moving from their place in San Mateo. They are selling things for sale right now about half off. Lumber is 25 percent off.
This is a great place to get lumber molding miscellaneous building supplies. This place is not for the beginner. You need to sift through the items for what you want.
If you’re looking for inexpensive building supplies for a remodel This is the place come.
I hope they find a new place soon.

What a treasure! We came in search of well-​loved wood for an herb shelf we were building. They have everything here! Great service. And they’ll build custom items if you want. This is a treasure-hunter’s dream!

This is definitely a place for you to go if you are looking for something to fix or renovate your house. When I came here, I was expecting more like urban ore in Berkeley where I could look around and find interesting things to make something our decoration for my house (chair, table, arts, etc.). In my opinion this place only limited to building resources. Compare to the other places that I been to, this place is much smaller but the price definitely cheaper.
I would definitely come back here if I need to fix something at my house or renovate my house.

Took my first trip today. I was a little worried I might be a little disappointed because I’ve been counting down the days until I would be able to get here, but I was definitely not. They had much more inventory than I imagined they would. Prices were reasonable, and we got out for a fraction of the cost we would have if we had bought new. They helped us out a tremendous amount, by letting us borrow a tape measure on site to measure the car, bringing us a cart to load, and loading the wood for us. They had a great selection of windows, doors, wood, knobs, latches, hinges, anything you can think of. Really enjoyed my trip.

I love this place. It is a great place to use your creativity. I have purchased both mirrored and glass door panels to place in my garden. I also routinely scout for my clients who are doing renovations on their older homes. I have found beautiful French doors, mantels, cabinets and lighting.
If you are of the creative sort you can pick your way through their inventory and find all sorts of treasures.
Paul and staff and super helpful and everyone is very friendly. Keep you eye out for the freebies.

Very nice indeed, excellent service. I needed 2 slabs of marble (8×8), and went there to find it. The owner very kindly offered me a free slab of marble, but alas, could not cut it for me. I had to refuse it as I needed something immediately. Found another solution, not quite what I was after, but the great service makes me want to go back until I do find the exact pieces I am looking for. If you can’t think outside the box, don’t go there, but if you are creative and adventurous, this is a treasure trove!

I like the premise of the warehouse… recycle…put back into circulation… give others a chance to re-use…all positive ideas with regard to building supplies. Never know what you will find. Take a stroll through… almost like a museum of interesting things.

I love shopping at their warehouse. You never know what they might have. I’ve bought toilets, cabinets, windows from them. Sometimes an item is from a deconstructed house and sometimes it’s new. If you’re fond of «going green», you’ll like their business model.
Besides the warehouse, take a look at one of the homes they are deconstructing when they advertise a deconstruction. You can get an even better deal on the site before they bring it back to the warehouse. I’ve seen everything from pot bellied stoves to on-​wall instant water heaters. (Sign up for their newsletter if you want an advance look.)

Going to their local demolitions may be more useful. There are fewer these days as the slowing tear-​down market has taken it’s toll.
The yard is indeed well organized, but only the basics are in good number. If you need a toilet, door, or a distressed window pane makes a nice contrast to any plastic or particle board you feel you must buy across the street at IKEA (Get it done girl! Go funk out that carpeted townhouse a bit)
I didn’t find the customer service all that great. The guy in the yard is helps you find things sure enough, but the guys inside like to shrug and even have been a bit ornery during the colder mornings this winter. But you know, double the minimum wage might not be enough to tolerate the boredom and chill of a weekday morning. I bet they get their game on for the weekend crowds.

I did a major remodel and I tried to re-​use as much salvage materials as I could. I bought doors, door knob, lights, bathroom sink from WHBSS. It is fun buying stuff with some history to it. I bought a couple of doors from 1880 from San Francisco from a remodel on Broad street. The yard is dirty, but I expect that from a salvage yard. You have to be careful and inspect the items closely if you want good quality. They also make anything from wood (planter boxes etc) that you need.

If you have a cookie cutter house in planned community, not the place for you. If you have a cookie cutter house that you want to do a little sprucing up to/​give some personality to OR your historic home that some idiot tried to renovate themselves, and now appears to be having an identity crisis, and the city will only let you renovate (if you’re getting permits) to bring it back to it’s original state… TOTALLY the place for you!
Whole House Rocks! Every review here is 100% accurate; no nice clothes, no heels, and bring your contractor and/​or big truck with your large flatbed trailer. (If you do, be advised, there is only one driveway for the parts side, and on large turn around driveway for the lumber side, and lots of skilled backing up into tight spaces).
Not only can you find items for your vintage/​aging/​historic home, but they ALSO take donations that are tax-​deductible (boo-​ya!!). We will be donating our nice, but older kitchen cabinets once we are done renovating the floors we bought here. If there is something specific you are looking for, call ahead. We needed a specific size douglas fir plank for our 100 year old home that someone did a really bad add-​on to, and didn’t want to bother fixing the original hardwood floors. Now we are patching the holes, and laying these planks we bought throughout the house. Surprisingly, we purchase 1400 sqft, and so far I would say about 25% is unusable, but that’s totally the gamble you have to take when buying old, reclaimed flooring. BONUS. Kinda cool moment when we realized one of the planks had a old newspaper attached to the underside, from the 1800s!!!
So Courtney, why only 4 stars instead of 5? Seems like you love the place… I do! I only give 4 stars because I was fairly bummed that front door selection was limited (nothing really period specific), and when we called we were told there was the flooring we needed. When we went to pick it up, we shown something completely wrong. Thank god my contractor is THE BEST, and spotted the flooring we needed on the shelf above (being sold as sub-​floor. Technically people used to use doug fir for subfloor, but that’s a different width and thickness. The POOREST of poor people actually used it for flooring since it’s so darn cheap). I’m writing that off as a cataloguing mistake.
We will be returning in the next month of so to check out front doors again, and fireplace mantles/​surrounds. My only suggestion is to keep a better log of actual materials, but once you see the size of this place, you’ll know why that’s an impossible feat.
Way to go Whole House Building! Leading the way in «Green» building!

After walking around, I thought «OMG, I’m going to spend soooo much money here!» Then, when I saw the anti-​Israel sign on the wall, my heart sank. And then they have a contradicting «Hate-​Free Zone» sign out front! It’s OK to have one’s opinion and ideals, but risking alienating potential customers is just stupid. I WILL NEVER PURCHASE ANYTHING FROM THEM AND WILL SPREAD THE WORD.

They have moved … Still waiting for new address…2011… 1000 S. Amphlett Blvd. In San Meteo.
update 03/​16/​2011
Not for the beginners. It’s everything that Gary S. and Paintchip d. writes. They have recycle things for houses. It’s a little like a «pick and pull» for your home. If your not creative nor a contractor, then this is not the place for you and yours. You will get dirty. No heals, no white clothes no good clothes. Looking for parts from older homes give them a try.

I know WOOD, I am a Professional trust me…, The MINOR amount of extra work it takes to search here is worth it. The lumber is cheaper than Home Despot and much better quality, even though it’s been used than demolished, They have great hardware and flooring. They are also willing to help with ideas. Oh and they have Bunnies… I built an entire studio in the yard for my wife with lumber including great old cedar siding all purchased from them. Recycling is Way Cool

Ever wished you could buy pieces of someone’s crazy old house? At Whole House Building, you can. This demolition and salvage yard is well organized, open to the public, and hidden away just a few blocks from IKEA. Doors and windows, kitchen cabinets, toilets and sinks, lighting, reclaimed wood flooring, fireplaces, hardware, and random house parts galore! Because everything is used, prices are surprisingly reasonable — a great resource for finding replacement parts for vintage homes, or if you’re doing home remodels on a budget. Compared to east bay salvage yards like Urban Ore, the objects here tend to be more utilitarian than unusual.