Houston has good hardwood suppliers — we'll be the first to say that. But we're built for a specific customer: the trade professional who wants a wholesale partner with named reps, published pricing, and proprietary European Oak collections. Here's how we honestly compare.
Green = where we differ. Red = a category we don't lead. Honest, not marketing.
| Capability | Jamail Hardwoods | Schenck & Company | Real Wood Floors / RW Supply | European Floors | Hardwood Bargains | Custom Floors Unlimited | Designer Floors of Houston | Roberts Carpet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| B2B trade-only | YES | Mixed | B2B distributor | Mixed | Mixed | Mixed | Mixed | Retail |
| Published trade pricing tiers | YES | — | — | — | Some | — | — | — |
| Named reps per channel | 5 named | Owner-led | National team | — | — | — | — | — |
| Multi-family vertical (dedicated rep) | Aly Champagne | — | Commercial team | — | — | — | — | — |
| Proprietary European Oak collections | 3 collections | Generalist | Catalog | Some | Some | Custom | Some | Broadline |
| Houston-specific content library | 7+ posts | — | Generic | — | — | — | — | — |
| Physical Houston showroom | 2643 Colquitt St | N Main St | Westview Dr | Closed | S Shepherd | Sowden Rd | Yes | Yes |
| Install + restoration | In-house | Core service | Supply only | Yes | Supply mostly | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Refinishing / sanding / custom millwork | In-house | Yes | — | Partial | — | Custom marquetry | — | — |
| Major design publications featured | Building | — | — | — | — | AD, Veranda, HB | — | — |
| NWFA Floor of the Year award | Pursuing | — | — | — | — | 2025 winner | — | — |
| Years in Houston | Decades | Since 1982 | Merged 2024 | — | 18+ | Since 1995 | 15+ | Decades |
Not "we're the best at everything." Specific places where we built advantages our competitors haven't.
We don't sell to retail consumers. Every minute of our showroom time, every email, every install coordination is for designers, builders, architects, and multi-family. No competing for our attention with weekend walk-ins.
Designer, Builder, Architect, and Multi-Family channels each have their own pricing tier — published on our /trade-pricing page. You can budget projects before the first conversation. No "request a quote" wall.
Patrick or Ashley for designers. Ashley for builders. Samin for architects. Aly for multi-family developers. Direct phone and email. You won't get bounced through a general inquiry line.
We have a dedicated multi-family developer rep. No one else in Houston does. If your firm runs apartment, condo, or production-builder projects, Aly Champagne owns the relationship end-to-end.
Seven Houston-specific blog posts on humidity, slab-on-grade, plank widths, white oak vs red oak, engineered vs solid. The reference library you send to clients. No other Houston supplier has built this.
The honest read on each major Houston competitor — what they're good at, where we're different.
Schenck is a respected Houston install + restoration shop with 40+ years of credibility. Jamail difference: we offer the same install + restoration capability AND we're a B2B supplier with proprietary European Oak collections (Mercury Character, Cotton Elite, Max Pearl Select), published trade pricing tiers, named reps per channel, and a dedicated multi-family vertical (Aly). If your project needs both wholesale supply and in-house install on one accountable account, that's our lane.
RW is the merged Real Wood Floors distributor with 17 stores nationally and a Houston warehouse at 5821 Westview Dr. They serve builders, designers, retailers, and commercial PMs. Jamail difference: we're Houston-rooted vs national chain. Named reps per channel vs general support. Multi-family vertical with named lead. Published trade pricing tiers vs catalog-driven quoting.
European Floors closed their Kirby Dr location and is no longer operating. Their website is still live but the showroom is shuttered. Jamail difference: we're the active European Oak trade supplier in Houston. Same product category, real showroom at 2643 Colquitt, named reps, published trade pricing.
Hardwood Bargains is a value-tier player on S Shepherd with 18+ years and 4.9★ on Google. Their positioning is price-competitive retail. Jamail difference: we're premium positioning — wide-plank European Oak, character grade, designer-spec finishes. Their lane is volume retail; our lane is designer-led trade.
Custom Floors Unlimited won NWFA Floor of the Year 2025 for their "Tree of Life" marquetry work. Featured in Architectural Digest, Veranda, House Beautiful. Top-tier designer reach. Jamail difference: we don't compete on bespoke inlay — they own that niche. We're the wholesale European Oak supplier when projects need the surrounding wide-plank around their statement piece. Complementary, not competing.
Designer Floors of Houston has a polished brand and fast website (the fastest of our peers on PageSpeed). They serve both designers and homeowners. Jamail difference: we're B2B-only (no homeowner walk-ins competing for showroom attention), have named reps per channel, multi-family vertical with Aly, and 7 Houston-specific content posts they don't have.
Roberts is a Houston broadline retailer covering carpet, tile, vinyl, and hardwood. Decades of Houston brand recognition. Jamail difference: we're a hardwood-only specialist for trade customers. If a project needs cross-category supply (carpet + tile + hardwood), Roberts may fit. If it's hardwood-specific designer/builder work, we're the specialist.
We won't say yes to everything. Here's when one of our competitors is the right call.
We're B2B trade-only. If you're buying flooring for your own home without a designer/builder/architect, we'll politely refer you to Hardwood Bargains, Floors For Living, or Roberts — all great Houston retail options.
We do refinishing in-house, but for single-room refinishes under ~300 sf where a dedicated install-only shop is closer to your job site, Schenck & Company or A Custom Floors may turn faster. For full-project install + refinish or designer-led builds, Jamail is the better call.
For one-of-a-kind statement inlay (think "Tree of Life" centerpiece foyers), Custom Floors Unlimited is the NWFA Floor of the Year winner. We're not bespoke inlay specialists — we'd supply the surrounding wide-plank.
Floor Designs of Houston mills reclaimed oak themselves. If your project specs reclaimed character, they own that niche. We focus on new European Oak.
If you're deciding between Jamail and another Houston supplier, the fastest way to get straight answers is to talk to the owner. No sales call. No queue. Honest conversation about whether we're the right fit for your project.
Joey founded Jamail in 2005 and still personally handles owner-level conversations with designers, builders, architects, and developers evaluating us against other Houston suppliers. If you have a question that needs an honest answer — including "are you really the right fit for my project?" — that's the conversation he wants to have.
Each page below covers a different angle of what we do — pattern hardwood, channel-specific specs, neighborhood-specific guidance, or honest competitor comparison. Pick whichever matters most for your next project.
Request a sample kit, walk our showroom, or call Joey directly. We'll match you with the right consultant from there.