Abel Design Group
Abel Design Group is a privately held, mid-sized architecture and interior design firm founded in 2001 in Houston, delivering commercial architecture, interior design, and building repositioning services across corporate, hospitality, restaurant, retail, education, and multifamily verticals from five US offices under majority owner The Goree Companies since 2023.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2001
- HeadquartersHouston, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Abel Design Group does
Abel Design Group is a privately held, mid-sized architecture and interior design firm founded in Houston in 2001 by Jeffrey Abel. The firm delivers integrated architecture and interior design services across ground-up construction, transformative renovations, and building repositioning, with explicit emphasis on blending form, function, and brand identity. Its service mix spans six core verticals — corporate/office (primary), hospitality (primary), restaurant (primary), retail, education, and multifamily — and includes named projects for clients such as RWE, Cargill, Mastro's, The Thompson Houston Hotel, Gulf Capital Bank, Newfield Exploration, Cognizant, and Gray Reed.
The firm's underlying capability is human-capital-intensive design expertise rather than technology or IP. Service delivery is led by senior principals and associates with long tenures (e.g., Kathy Chauvin with 15+ years, Laura Evans 13+ years, the recently retired Darayus Kolah 14+ years) and executed across five offices — Houston (headquarters), Austin, Atlanta, Denver, and Irvine. The stated core technology is the firm's experience-driven design methodology rather than any proprietary platform; no APIs, software products, or AI/ML capabilities are present in the data.
Commercially, Abel Design Group is a B2B professional services firm that earns revenue through project-based architecture and interior design engagements, with no publicly disclosed pricing. The go-to-market motion is enterprise field sales driven by direct client relationships, repeat business from existing clients (e.g., Cargill's third Houston office, Newfield's multi-phase engagement), and referrals. In 2023, The Goree Companies made a majority investment in the firm, with the investor placing its own former Director of Marketing, Rachel Koehring, into a newly created Principal, Director of Business Operations role in 2026 — indicating a professionalization push by the financial sponsor. The firm is legally organized as Abel Design Group, Ltd., a Texas limited company.
Abel Design Group firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Abel Design Group
- Legal name
- Abel Design Group, Ltd.
- Website
- https://abeldesigngroup.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2001
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Abel Design Group is a privately held, mid-sized architecture and interior design firm founded in 2001 in Houston, delivering commercial architecture, interior design, and building repositioning services across corporate, hospitality, restaurant, retail, education, and multifamily verticals from five US offices under majority owner The Goree Companies since 2023.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Where Abel Design Group is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Houston
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices5 records
Markets served
Abel Design Group business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Architecture Services: Full-service architecture covering ground-up builds and transformative renovations for commercial spaces including office, restaurant, retail, education, multifamily, and hospitality sectors.
- Interior Design Services: Award-winning interior architecture and design services blending form, function, and feeling to deliver spaces that reflect client brands and elevate user experience.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels3 records
Abel Design Group product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Abel Design Group is a mid-sized architecture and design firm delivering integrated architecture and interior design services. Core offerings include commercial architecture (ground-up builds and transformative renovations) and interior architecture and design across corporate, hospitality, restaurant, retail, education, and multifamily sectors. Specialized practice areas cover corporate interiors, hospitality design, restaurant design, and building repositioning.
Product overview
Abel Design Group is a premier mid-sized architecture and design firm offering integrated architecture and interior design solutions. The firm's core offerings consist of Architecture Services and Interior Architecture and Design, supplemented by specialized service categories including Corporate Interiors, Hospitality Design, Restaurant Design, and Building Repositioning. Founded in Houston, Texas in 2001, the firm serves corporate, hospitality, restaurant, retail, education, and multifamily clients nationwide and internationally from offices in Houston, Austin, Atlanta, Denver, and Irvine. The company operates as a services-based firm rather than a software product company, delivering physical design solutions that balance strategy, creativity, and experience while helping clients achieve their business goals.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Architecture Services
- Interior Architecture and Design
- Corporate Interiors
- Hospitality Design
- Restaurant Design
- Building Repositioning
Companies that use Abel Design Group
Customer profileNamed customers24 records
Segments6 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Abel Design Group technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Abel Design Group partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators3 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Abel Design Group competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Kirksey Architecture: Houston-based architecture firm of comparable size with a similar commercial architecture and interiors practice serving corporate, education, healthcare, and hospitality clients in Texas and the Southwest. Most directly comparable peer given shared Houston base and sector mix.
- Page (Page Southerland Page): Texas-headquartered architecture and engineering firm offering architecture and interiors across commercial, healthcare, higher education, and civic sectors. Comparable in size, regional anchor, and integrated architecture-plus-interiors delivery model.
- Morris + Architects: Houston architecture practice with long regional history serving commercial, civic, hospitality, and cultural clients. Directly comparable on geography, project scale, and commercial-architecture focus.
- NELSON Worldwide: Integrated architecture, interior design, and engineering firm with strong corporate workplace, retail, and hospitality practices. Comparable in offering mix - architecture plus interior design across the same end markets Abel serves.
- Rottet Studio: Interior architecture and design studio recognized for luxury hospitality, corporate, and residential work. Highly comparable on hospitality and corporate interior design positioning, though narrower in architectural scope.
Broad incumbents
- DLR Group: National architecture and engineering firm with comparable commercial, hospitality, and education practices; larger headcount and broader geographic reach. Overlaps directly with Abel's core sectors but operates at meaningfully greater scale.
- SmithGroup: Large integrated design firm with corporate, hospitality, education, and workplace practices that overlap Abel's portfolio. Larger and more diversified but competes for the same enterprise interior and architecture engagements.
- Gensler: Global architecture and design firm with the largest market share in commercial interiors and corporate workplace. Competes for the same Fortune 500 corporate, hospitality, and retail clients Abel serves, but at vastly greater scale.
- Perkins&Will: Global architecture practice with strong corporate, healthcare, and education portfolios. Overlaps with Abel's corporate and education segments while operating with significantly deeper resources and brand reach.
- HOK: Major global architecture firm with corporate workplace, hospitality, and sports/entertainment practices that overlap Abel's sectors, including Dynamo/Dash-type engagements. Larger scale and international footprint.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Abel Design Group social profiles
Digital presenceAbel Design Group financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Abel Design Group leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles6 records
Abel Design Group funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Abel Design Group M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Abel Design Group
What does Abel Design Group do?
Abel Design Group is a mid-sized architecture and design firm delivering integrated architecture and interior design services. Core offerings include commercial architecture (ground-up builds and transformative renovations) and interior architecture and design across corporate, hospitality, restaurant, retail, education, and multifamily sectors. Specialized practice areas cover corporate interiors, hospitality design, restaurant design, and building repositioning.
Is Abel Design Group a public or private company?
Abel Design Group is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently operating.
When was Abel Design Group founded?
Abel Design Group was founded in 2001. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Abel Design Group based?
Abel Design Group is headquartered in Houston, United States, in the North America region.
How does Abel Design Group make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Architecture Services are the primary driver. The others are interior Design Services.
Who are Abel Design Group's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Kirksey Architecture, Page (Page Southerland Page), Morris + Architects, NELSON Worldwide and Rottet Studio. Broad incumbents are DLR Group, SmithGroup, Gensler, Perkins&Will and HOK.
Does Abel Design Group have an API?
No public API is recorded for Abel Design Group.