Elite Marine A/C is a leading South Florida marine HVAC service business serving 100ft+ yachts, in active growth mode toward $20M. Part of a privately owned portfolio (alongside Spot Zero Reverse Osmosis and Southern Marine Supply).
THE OPPORTUNITY
There is no marine-specific HVAC training program in the industry today. You’ll build it. This is a strategic investment into the business and its current and future team members. Once established, you’ll open the training up to apprenticeship candidates as a channel to funnel new technical talent into the marine industry.
WHAT YOU’LL DELIVER IN YEAR 1
- Ship ~12 modules, basics-first. Build a proprietary marine HVAC curriculum at a cadence of one module shipped every 1–2 weeks, with in-house tech training delivered the following week. Each course is 1–3 hours of direct instruction. Cycle through ship ? train ? feedback ? improve. Course examples: plumbing, electrical, equipment sizing, electronic controls, pumps, etc. Year 1 covers the fundamentals across the trade. Year 2 goes deeper.
- Internal upskilling track active across the EMAC tech bench. Every existing technician enrolled in their development track by end of Q3; certification rubric in place; post-training assessments tracking measurable improvement. Trained techs report higher confidence, fewer callbacks, faster diagnostics on documented module topics.
- Spot Zero water-purification training administered to EMAC techs. Existing SZ training is the baseline; you administer it to the EMAC techs who service SZ products + make light updates as needed. SZ scope: RO system fundamentals, dock-side troubleshooting, water-chemistry basics.
- Trade school grad apprenticeship pipeline launched. Apprenticeship work begins when ~60% of HVAC curriculum has shipped (around month 4–6). By end of Q4: formal partnership with at least one HVAC trade school (UTI as primary target), 2–4 apprentices onboarded in cohort 1, structured 12-month apprenticeship program documented (classroom instruction ? mentored shop hours ? independent technician status). Year-2 apprentice-to-billable-tech conversion metric defined.
- Tech-benchmark foundations measured, leading indicators improving. Establish a baseline metric for EMAC’s marine-HVAC-tech bench depth (qualified techs vs. billable demand) in Q1. Track leading indicators monthly: post-training assessment scores rising, time-to-fill on tech reqs improving, voluntary turnover dropping.
YEAR 2 TRAJECTORY
Once the basics are shipped, you’ll go deeper: advanced systems, OEM-specific certifications, journeyman-to-master pathways. The Y2 moat outcome — a measurably narrower gap between qualified techs and billable demand, driven by apprentice-to-tech conversions and reduced turnover — becomes the headline metric.
WHAT YOU OWN END-TO-END
- Curriculum content, methodology, and certification criteria — what gets taught, how it’s assessed, what passing means.
- Apprenticeship program structure — length, milestone gates, evaluation rubric, day-to-day program operations.
- Module sequencing and delivery method — in-person, shadow-based, structured workshop, hybrid.
- SZ training delivery + light updates — administer existing SZ curriculum to EMAC techs; flag if material redesign becomes warranted.
