Our Story
Two trucks, a lot of heart, and a promise nobody else in South Florida was making: we'll be there today.
Eric Pereira was just a "20-something kid" in 1988 when he started Around the Clock with his friend, Steve Cartier. Eric's father, Lenny had been in the A/C business since the late 70's, so it was in his blood. Eric and Steve hit the road with two trucks and a lot of heart.
"Steve and I would do service calls during the day and installations at night. We worked 7 days a week, 20 hours a day."
Eric and his dad, Lenny were pioneers in an industry that wasn't used to putting customers first. When Lenny started in the business in the late 70's, it would take days for companies to respond to a service request, and they would charge a service fee in addition to charging for any work that was done.
Around the Clock started offering same-day service and would not charge a service fee if customers had them do the work. Soon thereafter, same-day service and "service fee included" became a standard in the industry.
"People would call saying their A/C was broken and we would tell them to expect us between 2 and 4pm and they would say TODAY. Most people were not used to A/C companies responding so quickly."
Around the Clock's business really took off in the 90's. Eric and Steve hired mechanics, added trucks and brought on friend Mike Lang, who had his own appliance business. Mike understood marketing and sales and also had their drive.
"We had no quit in us. We went full tilt. That's what made this business successful."
Some 30 years later, Around the Clock is still a solid family operation with longtime friends and family members running all aspects of the business. Although Lenny passed away in 2019, Eric says his father worked until the day he died at the age of 82. Eric's children are now involved with Around the Clock. His son, Sam, is a service technician, and Eric's daughter, Juliana, is on the company's new billboards and social media. Juliana is a kindergarten teacher in Palm Beach County, but agreed to be part of the re-branded "My Wife is Hot" campaign. Eric says they created the campaign during the recession in 2009 as a way to make people laugh, but had no idea just how popular it would become.
It's not just the customers who have stuck with Around the Clock over the years, but also the company's technicians. Eric says they treat their employees like family and it shows in their low turnover rate for technicians. Some have been with them for more than 25 years.
"We had a guy who called us up one day. He was on I-595 headed east in dead stop traffic and said, I just saw your billboard, your truck is driving next to me, Joe Rose is singing about you on the radio and my wife just called and said my A/C is out. How can I not call your company?"
"I lay in bed and wonder how it even happens. You just can't imagine what you've accomplished, and we also have to thank our customers for trusting us and coming along with us on this amazing ride."
Work here
Around the Clock has been a leader in the industry for more than 30 years and our people are what make us special. We are hiring salespeople, mechanics, installers, dispatchers and customer service representatives.
- Competitive pay
- Paid holidays
- Medical and dental insurance
- Incentive programs
- 401k
