In 1911, C.V. Wilder had a strong desire to own a business and two horses, so he formed Wilder Construction Co. in Blaine. The firm's first job was a $35 contract to haul shingle bolts from the forest to a mill.

Five years later, coal and firewood distribution was added to Wilder Construction's expanding resume. Wilder used its hometown status to acquire a project to transport sand, piling and cement for construction of the Peace Arch on the U.S./Canadian border. Asphalt production and paving operations began in the 1930s, the beginning of Wilder's involvement in the asphalt paving industry.

Charles V. Wilder Jr. became president in 1963 and led Wilder through the huge interstate construction decades of the 1960s and 1970s. In 1974, Wilder expanded and became a registered contractor in the state of Alaska.

In 1989, the company transferred from a family-owned business to a management team headed by Robert M. Helsell, president and CEO.

Significant projects in the company's history include: I-90 snow shed (1950), Turnagain Arm Road construction in Alaska (1975), Paccar Renton NPL site remediation (198999), Snohomish County Regional Landfill (1991), Tacoma Tar Pits cleanup (1992-94), American President Lines dock in Dutch Harbor, Alaska (1994), Lakemont Boulevard extension in Bellevue (1998), and the High Bridge project in Snohomish County (1998).