Florida-based Air Pros Residential & Commercial Air Conditioning Services has acquired Spokane-based AAA Heating & Air.

Anthony Perera, founder of Air Pros, says he chose Spokane because of its strong housing market and the good cultural fit that AAA was with the company.

“That’s what we look for when we look at other companies. We look at guys and the teams that they’ve built and then how they can synergize with the culture we create at Air Pros,” he says.

With the acquisition, Air Pros will add roughly 15,000 customers to its base of over 600,000 customers nationwide.

Andy Ervin, founder of AAA, says in a press release, “We were looking for a partner to help us grow in this competitive Spokane market, and Air Pros with its marketing expertise, proven processes, and stronger group buying power is the perfect fit to help us expand.”

Ervin will remain with Air Pros as regional manager of the Spokane branch. AAA currently has 14 employees, according to its website. Air Pros will retain all current employees, Perera says.

Perera declines to disclose terms of the transaction. As part of the acquisition, however, the company has agreed to honor customer warranties and guarantees made by AAA.

AAA Heating and Air was established in Spokane in 2014 and serves all of Spokane County.

Air Pros was founded in 2017 in Davie, Florida, by Perera and his father, who has spent decades in the air-conditioning industry and serves as Air Pros’ sales manager. The company now has a fleet of about 200 trucks and has expanded to four states, including Texas and Colorado.

It has over 250 employees based in 10 locations, including Spokane. The company has achieved a $50 million to $60 million run rate this year, Perera says. A run rate is an estimation of a firm’s future performance based on current financial data, assuming present conditions of business will remain steady.

The company acquired four businesses in 2019 and has acquired three—including AAA—in the first three months of 2020. The other two acquisitions this year involved companies based in Coral Springs, Florida, and Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Perera says, “My vision is to have an Air Pros within one hour of every major city in the country.”

He adds that he sees Spokane as the hub for the company’s Washington operations and expects to expand within the state.

“We look for great target partners, or acquisitions, or potential franchisees in markets that we think we can really help them grow and excel,” he says.

Perera got his start in marketing in the early 2000s when he started off-roading publication Mud Life Magazine and its parent company Extreme Media Group. He sold the company in 2011 and founded the Cowboy’s Saloon bar and grill, which now operates several restaurants in the U.S.; he sold the company in 2016.