New residential construction
Ground-up single-family homes built to your plans or ours, sited carefully for Portland's lots and light.
Kora is a second-generation general contractor serving the Portland metro and the Willamette Valley. New construction, whole-home remodels, additions, and the small jobs that other crews won't show up for.
We self-perform framing, finish carpentry, tile, and cabinetry — and keep long-standing relationships with the electricians, plumbers, and architects we trust on every job. That means fewer hand-offs, tighter schedules, and one person responsible for the result.
Ground-up single-family homes built to your plans or ours, sited carefully for Portland's lots and light.
Down-to-the-studs renovations of bungalows, Tudors, and mid-century homes. Old bones, modern systems.
Custom cabinetry, stone, and tile from our own shop in Milwaukie. Typically 8–14 weeks on site.
Second stories, primary-suite bump-outs, detached ADUs. We handle permitting through the BDS.
Cedar, ipe, and composite decks built for thirty PNW winters. Pergolas, fences, and outdoor kitchens.
Standing-seam metal, architectural shingle, siding, gutters. Tear-offs done in-house, never subbed out.
Restaurants, offices, retail build-outs across the metro. Night and weekend work to keep you open.
One contract, one team, from first sketch to final walk-through. Our in-house designers work alongside the crew.
One-of-a-kind houses, built to last generations. Typical build window 12–18 months.
Project galleries from the last three years. Every one was photographed on the day we handed back the keys — no staging, no rendering.
A 1923 craftsman taken back to studs. New foundation, opened plan, original Douglas fir trim re-milled and reinstalled.
A three-bedroom infill on a 50-foot lot. Standing-seam metal roof, board-and-batten cedar, passive ventilation.
680 sq ft detached studio above a two-car garage.
Quarter-sawn white oak, soapstone, and a single-slab walnut island.
A 2,200 sq ft restaurant build-out, opened 41 days after permit.
No surprise invoices, no mystery sub-contractors, no “we'll figure it out on site.” You meet the people building your house, and we tell you what things actually cost.
We walk the property with you, talk through what you want, and listen to what the house is telling us. About 90 minutes, no charge.
Within two weeks you get a line-item estimate — every door, every fixture, every linear foot of trim — so you can change your mind early.
Our in-house designer (or your architect) takes it to construction documents. We file with the City of Portland on your behalf.
A single project lead is on site every day. Weekly walk-throughs, a clean job site every Friday, and a two-year workmanship warranty.
Eero Korhonen framed his first Portland house in the summer of 1987. Forty years later, his daughter Anni runs the shop, his son Mikko leads the crew, and Eero still shows up most Tuesdays to argue about joinery.
We are deliberately small. Three project leads, eleven full-time carpenters, one office manager who knows everyone's kids' names. We take on roughly twenty projects a year — enough to stay sharp, few enough that we never miss a Friday walk-through.
Every Kora project carries a two-year workmanship warranty and a phone number that rings the lead on your job. Not a call center. Not a form. The person who hung the doors.
From a few of the families and business owners we've worked with around the Portland metro.
They treated our 1908 farmhouse like it belonged to their own grandmother. Three estimates were lower. None of them would have built it the way Kora did.Marisol & Devon T. · Alameda, NE Portland
Mikko's crew was on site at 7 a.m. for six months and we still miss them. The bid was the bill — to the dollar.The Okafor family · Sellwood-Moreland
We've used Kora for three restaurants now. They're the only GC I'd hand the keys to and go on vacation.Jeremy P. · Owner, Division St. hospitality group
The kitchen finished a week early and under budget — I genuinely didn't know that was something contractors did.Hannah R. · Laurelhurst
A real human reads every message — usually Anni — and you'll hear back within one business day. For active jobsite emergencies, please call the line below.