Construction Industry in Saudi Arabia: Draemar to Open the Biggest Marble Factory in the Middle East

Interview with Nadim Al Droubi, CEO of Draemar Marble and Granite

What is your overview of Draemar Marble and Granite and your activities?

At the Draemar Marble and Granite factory, we manufacture from the very first point of marble and granite. There are different types of dealers in marble and granite – you have people who are just selling tiles, you have people who are selling slabs, and then you have people who are selling blocks which come from quarries. Marble and granite are natural materials. We take them from mountains and from different quarries in multiple locations all around the world. We also work exclusively with many different quarries and we bring that raw material from all around the world into Saudi Arabia. We process the material from beginning to end. Additionally, we sell slabs to suppliers in the Kingdom and throughout the GCC. We also do high luxury projects. If there is a certain project or a certain hotel that is getting built up in Saudi Arabia, we usually bid for it.

What variety of materials do you specialize in?

The marble world is mostly located in Italy in Carrara. We also have exclusive white material that comes from Italy that we deal with a lot in Saudi Arabia called Bianco Carrara, and we also have Statuario and Cremo Delicato. Because we have been in the business for so long – for over 30 years – we have certain knowledge about how we can quarry this material, which parts of the blocks are good, which ones have cracks in them, which ones give the best output when you process the material. Furthermore, in Turkey, there are travertine quarries that we work with for exclusive material. Travertine is one of the best sellers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. We are usually importing thousands of tons into Saudi and processing it. We offer exclusive options that are quite different from our competitors. It is a much whiter color with smaller holes. Travertine is a very famous material. It has been used throughout the Roman Empire for thousands of years and you can still find it in Rome even today.

How has Vision 2030 impacted and driven the sector?

Vision 2030 is an incredible vision which the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia set up. Ever since it was first announced in 2015, we have seen incredible change. Everything is booming and all projects are running. Obviously, COVID slowed this down a bit and the sector came to a standstill for about a year. But in 2022, everything opened up again. There are projects running like NEOM, AMAALA, and all the luxury resorts going up at the Red Sea. There are many five-star hotels coming in and building, for example, Mövenpick, Marriott, now in Riyadh the Mandarin Oriental. There is the new SkyRise going up in Jeddah, the Corniche. All that did not exist before Vision 2030. Furthermore, you have the whole port area of Saudi Arabia in Jeddah and you have around 300 million square meters of land that will be built up soon. After they start the construction and start going up with the concrete it is going to be our time to go in. But at the moment in Riyadh, the projects are incredible. For example, at King Abdullah Financial Center, which opened up a couple of years ago, buildings are still going up there. There are renovation projects throughout Riyadh. All the hotels are trying to meet the new vision and they are trying to advance, open up, and expand. Everyone is working towards it.

What products and services do you offer?

Draemar started off in 1975. We were the first people in the Western region of Saudi Arabia to import waterjet machines, gangsaw machines, polishing machines, and everything necessary for a production line for marble and granite. What we offer to our customers that is very special is the ability to take a project – no matter what your designer designs or whatever you need – and we are able to manufacture it because we have the ability, we have the machinery, we have everything that the project needs. We do waterjet machinery, medallions, we cut stone as thick as you want, if you need sculptures or you want Michelangelos, whatever it is that you need we are able to do it. We have been expanding year over year, adding new machinery, adding different materials, different types of marble and granite. Right now, we are working with over 950 different types of marble and granite. We can do all thicknesses – usually it is 2 cm, 3 cm, but we sometimes do 4 cm, 5 cm, sometimes even 10 cm thick. We are able to carve out of blocks. We are able to take a whole 20 ton block of marble and make a marble bathtub out of it. We can do whatever you like. As much as you can imagine, we can do it.

What are some of your most successful or unique projects that you have worked on?

Most recently, we worked on the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Riyadh. It was an incredible project because it had one of the most expensive types of marble to exist in the world called Cremo Delicato. With that type of marble, we had 6 mm thickness of brass inlays throughout the marble. It was a very difficult job, mostly because the marble does not usually come calibrated. When we had to put the brass in it was incredibly precise. Mandarin Oriental has its own name and it is a very exclusive brand of hotels. Obviously, they have very high standards. It was an incredible project to work on.

Who is your clientele? Do you work more with residential, hospitality, or government?

Currently, we serve mostly hospitality and big palaces. Here in Saudi Arabia, there are a lot of palaces, big houses, big villas by the beach. Our factory does mostly exclusive work and we are working with exclusive materials. It is not something that you can go into a shopping mall and find. For government projects, we might do the lounge in the airport or the VIP section of the train station. This is mostly because we do not cut standard tile dimensions. You cannot just come into our factory and walk out with some material. You have to sit down with our designers, you have to talk about what you need, have a vision, have a plan, and then we begin work.

Would you be interested in expanding into a more made for consumer market?

We do have an expansion plan for that. Currently, we have been granted land (around 120,000 square meters) in a new industrial area in Jeddah and we have been working since COVID to build up the new factory plan. We are expanding year over year and we are doing quite well. At the moment, we do have a lot of customers that come in with some small houses who are looking for something exclusive – a certain room, a certain bedroom, or washroom that they are looking to make out of exclusive marble – and we offer it to them. What we are mostly looking to expand into from here is standardized tiles. Because these projects are huge, obviously, they are bigger than exclusive projects. We are also launching our own marble furniture line including marble tables, vases, etc. We used to do these only as per demand, but now we are coming up with our own line of furniture items.

What current projects are you working on at Draemar?

We are working on two towers in Jeddah going up right now by the beach called Aqua Raffles. These two towers are the biggest project in Jeddah. We are currently on the shortlist for Four Seasons going up in Jeddah. We have the Mandarin Oriental in Riyadh. We just completed cutting for the Marriot Hotel in Riyadh. Just before COVID ended we did the Hilton in Riyadh. Right now, we have another Hilton in Khobar going up, Hilton Causeway Street. We also have a lot of private palaces going up around Saudi. These ones are quite exclusive projects. Some of these houses going up here, even though they are private, are as exclusive as a hotel.

What awards or recognitions have you received?

We have multiple recognitions. We are ISO 9001 certified. We have recognition for projects in completing hotels from IHG Group. We also work very closely on certifications from Nesma Group. We have government recognition and a lot of government awards for completing certain projects. We also have a shipping line recognition. In 2005 and 2007, we were the biggest importer in number of containers for this category of material.

What is your competitive advantage? What makes you stand out from the other players in the sector?

Our experience in the market is not matched anywhere in the GCC. When we started in this business a long time ago, we were in Italy in the mines, in the quarries. We were there from the very beginning. Our projects are very exclusive. We have a reputation in the streets that if something cannot be done, come to us. Our prices are not cheap. They are higher than our competition, but there is a reason for it. It is because we are able to do things that not everyone can do. Also, we were one of the first in Saudi Arabia to import waterjet machines. We received recognition from Flow machinery, which is a Boeing Company, back in the 80s for bringing the first waterjet machine to Saudi Arabia. For almost 40 years we have been using waterjet machines. Obviously, we have experience that you cannot just build overnight.

What is your vision for the company in the medium term, three to five years? What do you hope to achieve?

In terms of our three to five year vision, we are looking to open a new factory. We have just been granted land of around 120,000 square meters in the new industrial area. Once we have that operation open, it will be the biggest marble factory in the Middle East.

What is it like being part of a family business?

We have always been a family-based business. Our family is into more than just marble and granite. We have roofing tiles, ceramics, construction, cars, trucks. We are in the construction industry as a whole. I hold the marble and granite factory but each one of us holds a different sector. We all support and work with each other. For example, my uncle is running UCCL. At the moment, they are one of the biggest concrete pouring companies in Jeddah and in the Western region. When they pour concrete, it is my time to go in. Then, if they want to do washrooms, my other family members go in with the ceramics, roofing tiles, HVACs. It is all different members of the family. That is another power that you have being in the business for 30 years. We know everyone in the market. If somebody has a project and you are not sure of where to get a product, where to source a certain wood, or how to install a certain type of marble, we have it all covered because of the experience that we have built. We know when someone does a good job and when someone does a bad job. We can give references and we vouch for him.

What is your inspiration? What drives you to do what you do?

This is not a business where you can just work from home. We discovered that during COVID. It is something that you have to be there every day in the morning and leave late at night. So, you need a lot of motivation for it. Honestly, my motivation comes from my family. Ever since I was a young child, I used to see them always running, running, running, never stopping. One time I asked my father, “Why do you keep on running? You already made enough money to go relax by the beach,” and he told me, “The day that I stop running is the day that I die.” I have been running all my life. I cannot just sit down and relax. Even though since a young age I was set out and I could have been whatever I wanted to be, I just really love this business. I used to go with my father to the factory at a young age. That is where I learned how to drive. I drove forklifts at 12 or 14 and heavy machinery from the age of 15 or 16. I was driving 20 and 30 ton machines. When I go to the office, a lot of people think when I go to meetings that I am usually the guy sitting behind the table, but I am actually not. I am inside the factory. I am inside the machines. I do everything. I am not just the person who sits at a computer. I am there hustling every day. I love it, but it takes a lot. It is really a type of job where if you are not passionate, you cannot do it. You have to be completely motivated to do it because sometimes it can get very hectic. This is especially true with marble where it is a natural material. It is not like a production line where you are just printing out paper where every product is the exact same. You have to keep an eye out. You have to make sure that you love it. Especially with the customers that you work with, you have to make sure that they love it too, because it is a natural material. We always say that with marble and granite no two pieces are ever identical.

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