General Atlantic-Backed Flint Group Acquires Air Around the Clock

What happened

Flint Group, a Kansas City company that buys residential HVAC, plumbing and electrical businesses, has acquired Air Around the Clock, an air conditioning, plumbing and electrical contractor serving South Florida. The deal was reported on May 27, 2026. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The seller

Air Around the Clock started with two friends and two trucks. Its founders, Eric Pereira and Steve Cartier, built it on response time: Pereira recalls customers with a broken air conditioner who were surprised to hear a technician could be there that same afternoon. Pereira is the company's president.

The business now trades as Around the Clock A/C, Plumbing, Electric and runs from a main office in Deerfield Beach and a north office in Palm City. Its service area spans both coasts, from North Dade, Broward and Palm Beach up to St. Lucie and Indian River, and across to Lee, Collier, Charlotte and Sarasota. Residential air conditioning repair, replacement and maintenance is the core of the work, alongside plumbing, electrical service and commercial AC for businesses. Phones are answered around the clock and same-day service is offered seven days a week, the promise the company is named for. It holds Florida licenses for air conditioning, plumbing and electrical work, and some of its technicians have been with it for more than 25 years.

"Partnering with Flint Group opens exciting new growth opportunities for our company," Pereira said in a statement.

The buyer

Flint was founded in 2019 by Collin Hathaway, its chairman, and Trevor Flannigan, its chief executive. General Atlantic made a strategic investment in the company in August 2023, when Flint had seven brands across five markets: Seattle, Portland, Houston, Boston, and Denver. Flint now lists 19 partner brands, with investment years running from 2019 to 2026, and Air Around the Clock is the only one in Florida.

Where Flint's recent deals have landed

Flint's nearest brand to South Florida is Bartlett Heating & Cooling, which serves Cobb County and northwest Atlanta and received Flint's investment in 2025, the same year Flint invested in businesses in Charlotte and Durham. Air Around the Clock is one of three brands Flint lists with a 2026 investment year, alongside companies in St. Louis and Indianapolis.

The roster also shows what Flint buys. Thirteen of its 19 brands were founded before 1990, the oldest in 1901, and most offer heating and cooling alongside plumbing, electrical or both. Owners weighing that kind of buyer can read our guide on selling an HVAC business to private equity.

What this means for South Florida HVAC owners

The one Florida business in Flint's portfolio is a founder-built residential company that sells air conditioning, plumbing and electrical work under a single name, which is the shape most of Flint's other brands share. For a South Florida AC contractor that has added plumbing or electrical to its trucks, that means a General Atlantic-backed national buyer now owns a business of the same kind in its own market, and its roster shows that decades-old, multi-trade residential companies are what it has been buying.

OffDeal is an advisory firm that helps lower-middle-market business owners sell with confidence. Reach out to learn more about our expertise with HVAC businesses in Florida.

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Source: citybiz - https://www.citybiz.co/article/851653/flint-group-expands-hvac-platform-with-acquisition-of-air-around-the-clock