Paul Opp came to Sacramento in 1933. After completing a carpenter apprenticeship, he built his first home as a contractor in 1939. A native of Eureka, South Dakota, and the son of a wheat farmer, he then took a job with Dolan Lumber Company. In 1950, he established the Paul Opp Construction Company in partnership with his wife, Lee.
Paul's perfectionism and quality building, and Lee's home designs, were a natural for building custom homes. Over the years the company built some light commercial and small apartment buildings, but custom homes were the backbone and pride of Paul's 43-year building career. In the 1970's the firm became Paul Opp & Son Construction Company when Robert joined his parents' partnership.
Paul became very involved in the operations at the national, state and local levels for the building associations. Paul was President of the Building Industry Association in 1971. He was a Life Director of the National Association of Home Builders, the California Building Industry Association and the Pacific Coast Builders Conference. He was Past President of the Pacific Coast Builders Conference and the Building Industry Association of Superior California. Paul was the organizer of the Building Industry Association's Women's Auxiliary.
Paul and Lee were married for 46 years. They had three children, six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Paul passed away on December 11, 1983.