Real Estate 2024: WILLIAM A. ‘BILL’ PAULETTE

In 1975, armed with $1,000 to invest, Paulette laid the foundation for what would become KBS. What started as a one-person company with an office in a sheet-metal shop has grown to a top-ranked construction firm in the mid-Atlantic, with a reach extending from its Richmond and Virginia Beach offices to Roanoke and Washington, D.C.

Its notable projects include the Virginia Department of Transportation and Virginia State Police Joint Operations Center, Richmond’s Northside YMCA renovation and the Locks Tower, a 355,000-square-foot downtown Richmond apartment development.

In May, Engineering News-Record ranked KBS No. 292 on its annual Top 400 Contractors list, up from No. 339 in 2023.

A 1969 graduate of Virginia Military Institute, Paulette is from South Hill and serves as a deacon at River Road Church, Baptist, in Richmond. He is a former member of VMI’s board of visitors and a past president of the VMI Keydet Club. Paulette also previously served on the boards of the Virginia State Board for Contractors and Make-A-Wish Greater Virginia.

In 2022, Paulette’s son, Will, succeeded him as president of the company where Paulette presides as chairman.