The Nottingham Air Conditioning Story
Starting out as a proprietorship by Steve Nottingham in 1994, Nottingham Air Conditioning, Inc. is a family owned company that provides indoor
comfort and is dedicated to integrity and value. Although Nottingham Air Conditioning incorporated somewhat recently, their traditions and
experiences go back many years.
In 1982, in Dade County Florida, after high school and while attending
vocational school at night for air conditioning, Steve's talent for air
conditioning repair was recognized by his instructor, Marvin Bede. Before
posting a memo advertising "air conditioning helper wanted" on the
bulletin board, Mr. Bede showed the memo to Steve and recommended that he
call the company, Cameron Air Conditioning, to apply for the helpers
position. Mr. Bede offered Steve some advice on how the interview might
go and suggested that a good mechanic always carry a rag and a knife. A
well expressed letter of recommendation typed up by Mr. Bede, gave Steve
additional confidence going into the interview. As the question of
experience installing air conditioners came up, Steve replied, "well sir,
if you are willing to show me one time how to do it, I'll do it the way
you want it every time." Steve worked at Cameron for one summer before
work slowed down and Cameron laid off their helpers. Marvin Bede made
quite an impression on Steve Nottingham as well.
Ros-Pen, Inc. is where the founder honed his skills at troubleshooting air
conditioning and refrigeration equipment. The very afternoon he was laid
off from Cameron was a rather warm Friday in October when Steve might have
been in the rite place at the rite time. He spotted a gentleman trying to
unload a rather large piece of equipment from his truck. Offering to help
the guy he discovered that the man was Frank Rose, the owner of Ros-Pen.
When Steve asked if Ros-Pen was hiring, Frank asked, "do you know anything
about ice machines, beverage equipment or walk-in coolers?" Steve
explained that, "if you are willing to show me once how to do it, I'll do
it the way you want it every time." Steve went to work for Frank the next
morning and was teamed up with Sy Pencar. Steve helped Sy service
commercial refrigeration and beverage equipment. Sy was a real character
that could repair anything and had a gift for training others. It was in
the Burger King and McDonald restaurants, after fixing a walk in freezer
that Sy would call for a "smoke break". Sipping piping hot black coffee
and chain smoking filter less Chesterfield cigarettes, Sy took the time to
draw out schematic diagrams on napkins explaining what it was that went
wrong, why it went wrong and how they were going to fix it so that it
wouldn't happen again. It wasn't long before Steve was running service
calls on his own. From Key West to West Palm Beach, from fast food to
fine dining, repairing refrigeration equipment made sense. It seemed so
clever the way that this kind of equipment worked.
It was 1986, while having his new truck rust proofed , when Steve met Bob
Crane, the owner of DeMoss Air Conditioning. Talking to Bob, Steve
learned that Demoss was expanding and that Bob would be hiring two new
service mechanics. Two weeks later Steve was working for DeMoss. Bob had
many great qualities but the one Steve admired most was his ability to
communicate with people. Bob Crane could hold an equally engaging
conversation with anyone, no matter what their lot in life. The knowledge
learned at DeMoss was never taught in school. Working for DeMoss as their
service manager, Steve helped build the company from 6 employees to over
30 employees. During this time Steve was thinking of the future and knew
that someday he would own his own company. It was the summer of 1992 that
plans were made to partner up with Jim Brent, a lifelong friend and create
their own air conditioning company.
After 10 great years working for some other fantastic air conditioning
companies, a bitter sweet opportunity came their way when Hurricane Andrew
hit south Dade on August 22, 1992. It wasn't long before everyone Jim and
Steve knew needed a new air conditioner. Call it fate or divine
intervention but, there would never be a better time to start an air
conditioning business. Air Advice, Inc. was born and grew rapidly due to
the devastation left by the hurricane. Great for business, not so great
to raise a family. During visits to his parents house in McIntosh and his
sister in Gainesville, Steve knew that north Florida was a better place
for his son Sean to begin school. Steve left Air Advice to his partner
Jim. Then in 1997 Steve moved the family to Gainesville with nothing more
than a used van and some tools.
At last, Nottingham Air Conditioning in Gainesville. With some pretty
good air conditioning companies already established in Gainesville, Steve
knew that he had to offer a better value than the competition. All of the
duties of the company were performed with the help and support of his wife
Marty Nottingham. Nottingham Air Conditioning established solid
relationships with customers. Before long Nottingham Air Conditioning
needed help in order to continue delivering the same level of service and
value. Randy Ehlers was walking his dog when Steve was struggling to load
a large piece of equipment into his truck. Randy offered to help and
began working for Nottingham Air Conditioning the next day. Randy is
considered to be the cornerstone of the company, due to the fact that
Nottingham Air Conditioning would not be where it is today if it were not
for him. He is instantly likable and the guy you want on your team.
Recently another gentleman joined the company, Joe Glynn. Full of energy,
well mannered and looking towards the future, Joe seems like the perfect
fit with Nottingham Air Conditioning.
In many ways, it is the people that we meet that make us who we are.
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