Gulf & Basco L.P., a family-owned business, was started in 1937 by Irving J. Gold, in Houston TX. Originally known as "Gulf Plumbing Supply", they were a full line distributor of plumbing materials. In 1957, Mr. Gold, along with his son Robert Gold and 2 sons-in-law, William Reingold and Buster Feldman, started "Builders Appliance & Supply Co (BASCO)". BASCO was a distributor of kitchen appliances.

Both businesses were located in the old warehouse district east of downtown Houston, and were operated separately. In 1970, the two companies merged, and became known as "The Gulf & Basco Company". About this same time, a window division was added and it soon became a significant part of the business. The period from 1970 until the mid-'80's saw rapid growth under the leadership of President Buster Feldman and Executive VP Bud Inscho.

Then in 1977, after a disastrous fire that totally destroyed their offices and primary warehouse, they moved to a much larger building at 813 McKee Street just north of downtown Houston, which enabled them to consolidate much of their operation into a single facility and also provided the necessary room to add new product lines.

In the early '80's, a cabinet division was added, and in the late 1980's, mahogany entry doors were added, as well. Both represented departures from what Houston's market was accustomed. Cabinets had primarily been built on the job site; a cumbersome and labor intensive process--that could not begin to keep up with the rapidly growing Houston home building market. Kitchen cabinets that traditionally took weeks to build and finish from raw materials, could now be delivered and installed from Gulf & Basco's inventory in a single day. Since that time, most builders in Houston have utilized pre-built cabinets.

Entry doors also were a departure from the norm. Builders had traditionally purchased an unfinished door from a lumber yard, had a painter finish it on the jobsite, then had someone else hang it and then had still another person weather-strip it. Now a builder was able to choose from a wide assortment of doors and beveled glass, finished under a factory-controlled environment, and then have the door completely installed on a turnkey basis. Again, most of the industry has now gone to this innovative system.

Continued growth forced yet another move in 1994 to their current headquarters at 2425 Broad St., a block off of I-45 South (the Gulf Freeway) just inside Loop 610. That location, after a complete renovation, represented a state-of-the-art showroom, administrative, manufacturing and warehousing facility of well over 100,000 square feet. However, with a booming economy and aggressive leadership even that facility had proven to be inadequate, and in March 2000, a 60,000 square foot warehouse addition at the same location was completed.

In 1997, leadership passed to a third generation, with Stuart Feldman becoming the President and CEO of the company which has become so prominent within the Houston home-building industry. His business philosophy of: "Innovative products, dedicated leadership, loyal employees and a company-wide commitment to customer service have proven to be the keys to our success in the past, and we are confident that those same principles will lead us to continued success in the future."

In January 2002, Gulf & Basco acquired Mas Tech Surfaces, the leading countertop fabricator in Texas, with locations in Houston, Austin and San Antonio. With the addition of Corian, Silestone, granite and other countertops to our product line, Gulf & Basco now has the complete kitchen-appliances, cabinets and countertops.

With the ability to serve customers throughout Texas, and representing the highest quality brand names in our industry--including General Electric, Corian, Cardell and more--Gulf & Basco and its 250 employees stand ready to serve you.