There he had taken silver behind a Canadian, in a competition that included competitors from Australia, China, India, Korea and Malaysia.
With the step up to the world event, the intensity increased, with most of the other contestants being professionals who compete in skills competitions for a living.
"Me and the Irish guy were the only two that had real jobs," Mr Hull said.
"I think the Canadian was a bit embarrassed, because he spent two years in a workshop, training, and Matty spent two months," said proud boss Brent Dickson, of BJ Dickson Building in Eketahuna.
The preparation involved "a lot of geometry - developing angles, weird joints that never get used anymore you had to learn how to do".
He did "heaps of training" in the boss's shed, and then a month solid at UCOL.
The competition itself involved building what Mr Dickson described as "a structure that takes in a whole lot of building skills and has no practical value".
Specifications were sent to competitors ahead of time, with the knowledge that these would be altered before the competition, but Mr Hull said the final task had "changed heaps" from the original.
Mr Hull was helped out with the donation of timber for practice, from Tumu in Masterton and ITM in Carterton.
Travelling to one of the world's most populous cities was quite an experience for a young man from Eketahuna.
He has just completed his apprenticeship with Mr Dickson, an association that goes back 13 years.
"When he first asked me for a job, he was 7," Mr Dickson recalled.
"He kept asking me every time he saw me for the next seven years. I figured if he's asked me that long, he should finish an apprenticeship."
From helping out as a young boy on that first build at his parents' house, young Matty moved on to school holiday work and a transition programme that led to the apprenticeship.
He said he loves building because "I've always liked working with my hands and seeing what I've done at the end of the day".
