So I ran out of lumber working on my house. So whatever, I'll buy some more. I go to Riverwood and spend about an hour RLT looking around for the dude. Tried waiting for 24 hours IGT, tried looking at all different points in the day. Never found him. SO I go do this at every damn lumber mill I know of. Never find one of the [censored] people. Does anyone know what the hell this is about? It is annoying as [censored]. First time this has ever happened to me. It has happened at one place before. But I just assumed that he was killed in a dragon attack and moved on.

Here's a tip that might help, especially in Riverwood. Go up to the mill, load a log in it. Then go to the pull bar and pull it. The log will start sawing and it seems to summon the mill owner. If you watch you should see the owner approaching up the road soon (as long as you do it during normal daylight hours). Unless they are all dead, in which case I can't help you.

If you're not using the unofficial patch, then the Riverwood guy at the least has a bug where he doesn't leave his house until you enter his house.

Thanks! That worked!

FYI, when you get a house carl, you can ask them to buy lumber for you without ever leaving the property.