Pelican Aire Celebrates 30th Anniversary – HVAC Insider

Pelican Aire Commercial Expert services, Inc., a Clearwater, FL commercial HVAC corporation, celebrated their 30th Anniversary with an employee social gathering on the evening of November 6, 2021. Held at The Selection On Palmetto Foundation automotive heritage and technology museum in Clearwater, more than 60 staff, families and company attended the occasion. The museum’s assortment of over 2 dozen vehicles, ranging from the 1st contemporary automobile, the 1886 Benz Patent Motorwagen, a Stanley Steamer, and early electric powered powered autos to a contemporary working day Lamborghini, delivered a lovely backdrop for the celebration. Together with the peek into the past, attendees liked sharing tales, laughter, refreshments and a great dinner.

Rick and JoAnne Houghton and cousins Frank and Pat DiBenedetto invested $15,000 in 1991 to located Pelican Aire Inc. “I attained my Course-A contractor’s license the previous yr purely as a feeling of completion of my instruction and not on the lookout to own a enterprise,” Rick stated. “After a number of discussions and prodding by our cousin Frank, it seemed like the upcoming logical action and we opened our business office in Clearwater, off 34th Avenue and 126th Avenue. I gave myself three months to make the small business do well and, with a good deal of difficult function and a good deal of help from JoAnne, Frank and Pat, each and every thirty day period was better than the past and the rest is history.”

Pelican Aire moved to a constructing occupying 10,000 sq. ft of space on Automobile Boulevard in Clearwater in 1993. By 2018, they procured the developing and began hunting for far more room. They bought their present location on 54th Road in Clearwater in 2018, expanding their parking and virtually doubling their place to 19,000 square ft.

What began as a just one-male operation with a applied 1988 Chevy van aided by JoAnne and Pat undertaking the accounting immediately after-hours has evolved into a strong enterprise with 35 workforce, 8 set up vehicles, 8 service autos and numerous store and management trucks. The corporation is 100% industrial and focuses intensely on the food services field. They set up stroll-in coolers and freezers for the likes of Disney Entire world, Epcot, Common Studios and Pepsi Cola and put in business refrigeration all above the condition.

Rick attributes the company’s accomplishment to tough operate, perseverance, moral company methods, regard for their personnel and fiscal duty. “A signal studying ‘Quality is Everything’ has usually hung outside our buildings and the adult males and women in our firm reside by that credo. We count on our workers to observe protected provider and installation methods and demonstrate courtesy to all our consumers, producing each and every energy to supply good quality and price with each and every services phone and project we entire. We have workers ranging in service from 29 several years down to our most current retain the services of of two months. JoAnne and I are lucky to have our daughters signing up for us here at Pelican, with Andrea performing dispatch in our company division and Renee in our financial department. Renee is also secondary qualifier for our enterprise, owning acquired her Class-A Air Conditioning Contractor’s license a several yrs in the past.”

Powerful help for the Tampa Bay HVAC/R trade affiliation, the Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Contractors Association (RACCA) is a motivation Pelican Aire has made considering that the early times. “RACCA’s Govt Director at the time, Keane Bismark, stopped in through our first 12 months of business enterprise and reported I required to be a part of the affiliation,” Rick recalled. “I asked ‘why?’ and he stated ‘because’ and I joined. RACCA is substantially more than a social club, getting served as a liaison amongst contractors and regulatory bodies, symbolizing us in Tallahassee, currently being a useful resource for concerns about finest procedures and codes and a system for sharing experiences and understanding between contractors. Supporting RACCA is my way of providing again to the business that has furnished for my family, our employees and their people for 30 many years.”

Rick served on RACCA’s board of directors for several yrs, together with three conditions as president and Pelican Aire has been supportive in sponsoring activities and activities as well. He taught in RACCA’s apprenticeship plan for 18 decades, and strongly encourages all personnel to enroll in the software. As a consequence, Pelican Aire has had many graduates of the plan above the decades, which includes Renee. Renee is continuing the commitment to RACCA, obtaining lately served as president and at the moment as a member of the board of administrators.
A emphasize of the 30th anniversary celebration was recognition of individuals that have contributed to Pelican Aire’s results, which began with Rick presenting the “Long Hauler” awards.
“One of the most important awards, the Greatest Lengthy Hauler, goes to a pair who are extremely expensive to JoAnne, me and our relatives and who had been with us 30 decades back when we started, Pat and Frank DiBenedetto,” Rick introduced. 4 other Very long Haulers were being regarded, Michael Bollenback, Pelican Aire’s prolonged-time accountant, Jerry Barnum of Victor Distributing, who was the to start with supplier to open up a Pelican Aire account, Keane Bismark, past Government Director of RACCA and John Jones, of John C. Jones and Associates.
Andrea and Renee shut out the displays, recognizing staff members for their several lengths of assistance.

“We are happy you have joined us to share this evening and are actually blessed to have unbelievable adult males and girls who have contributed to Pelican Aire’s success.” Rick concluded. “We are quite happy of all our workers and their contributions to our business. Thank you to all of you.”

For extra data on Pelican Aire Industrial Expert services, Inc., check out www.pelicanac.com. The workforce can be achieved by contacting 727-573-5733.

For extra data on The Assortment On Palmetto Foundation automotive heritage and know-how museum, pay a visit to https://collectiononpalmetto.com.
See images from the celebration on webpage 8. Visit hvacinsider.smugmug.com, Function Archives, 2021 11 for much more coverage.