King Of Kings Construction

Spouses Raul and Sara Valderama have been involved in the renovation and home repair industry for well over a decade. In 2018, Raul was working for a construction company while Sara worked on her master’s degree in architecture. However, by early 2019, Raul pulled the trigger on his plans and founded King Of Kings Construction.

“My husband decided he wanted to start his own business, and I joined him to be able to raise a family together with a little more freedom,” Sara said.

After looking at the state of the construction market, King Of Kings initially focused on drywall projects. The combination of demand and specialization proved a winning formula, allowing the business to gain a strong foothold in the marketplace.

“We started as drywall contractors because the demand in the market is very high,” Sara said. “We experienced high growth very quickly, along with the challenges of growing fast.”

King of Kings Construction has been in business for just over five years. In that time, it has expanded its services far beyond just drywall, adding services such as painting, flooring and tile work. Raul and Sara’s team has also started working on new construction and remodeling, incorporating Sara’s skills as an architectural designer and project manager.

To help them execute on their rapidly growing list of projects, Raul and Sara set out to hire a team of carpenters and subcontractors. In order to do that, however, they needed working capital to help pay their workers and maintain a financial cushion.

“We were looking for funding back in 2022, and we were looking for resources to help people in the community,” Sara said. “We found Neighborhood Community Development Fund, and they’ve been amazing from the beginning. [Loan officer] Stefani Smith is great. She is always open to working with us, guiding us through the process and answering our questions.”

The Valderamas were particularly pleased because they were struggling to find funding through other financial institutions, particularly traditional banks.

“We didn’t get that type of response from anybody else,” Sara said. “The doors were completely shut to us. It was great to find an entity that works with our profile.”

With this funding, Raul and Sara have built a reliable team of workers to help them achieve larger scale projects and continue their wave of expansion. Eventually, they hope to move on to purchasing and renovating blighted properties, turning abandoned buildings into new dwellings for the community.