Phillip Berman founded The Multihull Company in 1999 and had no idea how fast it would grow. All he knew for sure was that he had a life-long passion for voyaging and racing catamarans and that he wanted to share that passion with others and in a manner that no one else in the marketplace had realized at the time: by offering purchasing advice to buyers exclusively. He wanted to connect with those sailors who were eager to experience the life of the water, the life of the sea and share his extensive knowledge with them by helping match the right sailor with the right yacht.
As a result, The Multihull Company was the first to offer a buyer/broker partnership to the multihull yachting industry, a partnership that has since been copied – with mixed results – by competitors around the globe. Berman’s vision went beyond simply working exclusively with buyers to one that focused on hiring and partnering with others who shared his work ethic, love of the sea, and experience and passion for putting the sailor first. It was a simple model: speak openly about the pros and cons of any yacht for sale with a potential buyer and those buyers will be loyal to the firm because they will come to trust that TMC would find the best boat for their needs not TMC’s needs.
Twenty-three years later, The Multihull Company’s mission has expanded along with its geography and staff, but not its core ethical mission statement: match the sailor to the yacht whether that is a service to the seller or a service to the buyer. In other words, open, transparent discussions are the heart of the transaction. Today, TMC represents both buyers and sellers with the same ethically driven mandate. And as a result, we have a virtuous circle of happy buyers who often become happy sellers and return to TMC when the time comes for them to move on to another yacht or another dream.
In 2022, Captain Will Miller replaced Berman as CEO of The Multihull Company as successor after having worked together for over a decade.
Miller has this to say on the transition-
“As a captain, sailing school owner, project manager and broker, I have learned the ins and outs of this industry from every perspective. I have ambitiously and patiently hoped for this opportunity to present itself one day, and the timing couldn’t be better. It’s an honor and a privilege to be in this position. Phil has been an amazing mentor and business partner for over a decade, but as Balance exploded onto the market, we both agreed that this was the logical next step for TMC. I plan to lead this company with a continued commitment to operating with the highest degree of professionalism and ethical standards available within this industry. We will revolutionize our marketing approaches, expand our global footprint and continue to offer unparalleled customer service as we head into the future.”
TMC’s brokers work around the globe and include two executive brokers, four senior brokers, and five associate brokers. We realized early on that our world-traveling clients required world-wide services and so we established offices and brokers in a range of locations. We have brokers strategically placed around the world from Australia to Seattle. All of this from the one-man shop Phillip Berman began in 1999.
TMC was able to earn this position in the marketplace because of its team. Consider that its brokers are among the most highly educated and trained and include graduates of Dartmouth College, Harvard University, and Amherst. They are well-travelled, sophisticated, highly ethical, and most are multi-lingual, a key asset when dealing with buyers or sellers around the globe who respect that level of communication. And of course, TMC’s brokers are passionate multihull sailors with racing or voyaging experience on catamarans.
And because of where it started, TMC has something that few other brokerages can claim: loyal buyers who work with the company to find the right match. TMC is jokingly called the Multihull Match Makers, but no one minds because we feel good about our company and our work and in turn our clients feel very good about us.
Yacht Broker Micheal Streng did a fantastic job helping us buy our dream retirement boat. He is pleasant, professional, smart, diligent, and totally focused toward ensuring the best outcome for us- his clients.
He helped us identify the key features we wanted. And, helped us then learn the market by seeing firsthand seeing all the boats available. How? By organizing a two day driving extravaganza to see as many boats available from dawn to dusk.
But, his crucial expert assistance continued throughout the whole buying process… helping us craft multiple offers and counter offers to ensure we “bought-right”!
His expertise continued with calmly helping us organize the multitude of details, from sourcing survey experts and renegotiating credits for issues… to ensuring our foreign manufactured vessel had duty paid receipts… thus all saving us much aggravation and thousands of dollars!
In closing, sourcing and buying a boat right has adventurous elements of the “wild-west”. Our Broker – Micheal Streng was our LoneRanger & Tonto… expertly guiding and helping us to help make our dream a reality.
Tom & Danielle
Waterford, Connecticut
We purchased a Lagoon 470 catamaran through Zvonimir (Zee) Kalinic, TMC’s broker in Croatia and Italy. Zee is the ultimate professional and by far the best broker we have ever had the pleasure of doing business with. Thankyou Zee for your professionalism, guidance and support in securing this purchase for our family! Not an easy task being Australian and purchasing in a foreign country but thanks to your help and the assistance of Andrew Holland in the office, this process was made so much more stress free.
Thank you Zee and The Multihull Compnay!
Andrew Hodgdon was a pleasure to have as a broker. He was always there for me and I appreciated his help and professionalism. Thank you Andrew!! Highly recommended.
Just wish to share our thanks with Cal Landau and The Multihull Company for their service selling our catamaran that we owned for nearly 15yrs. Cal our broker in West Palm Beach was THE BEST!
He worked with us beyond the call of duty in helping us prep and moor our boat during some horrendous weather that came through last Winter and always offered to lend a hand while we were in West Palm procuring supplies. etc. Cal was always present to show the boat, learned about our boat systems to answer questions from shoppers and made a very informative listing with great photos and video that attracted a lot of action. I wish to highly recommend Cal and The Multihull Co if you’re planning on putting your boat on the market.
The entire company was committed to my satisfaction as a seller. Andrew the broker went out of his way to help me prepare the boat for sale and in just 3 weeks we had it under contract. I had to be away from the country but Andrew the broker and Andrew (same name) the Chief Operating Officer walked me through all the paperwork needed and kept me informed at every stage of the sale. Boat owners don’t remain without a boat for long, if this is the case for me, I will certainly contact Andrew and the Multihull Company to be my broker.
Successful relationships cannot exist without it. At The Multihull Company we base every relationship on a firm commitment to earning and retaining our client’s trust.
Advice of any kind is valuable only when grounded in hard-won expertise. It too, must be trustworthy. Trust and expertise define the heart and soul of The Multihull Company. We are a team of skilled professionals who thrive on providing expert, trustworthy advice and service to catamaran and trimaran sailors around the globe.
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