Peter Hartoft, originally from Copenhagen, Denmark, moved to Maryland in 1972. He initially worked as a boat builder in Mayo, Maryland, building production wooden cabin cruisers. After a short period of time in the boat building business, Peter changed his profession to Yacht Broker and for the next six years worked for an Annapolis area firm selling pleasure vessels and small commercial vessels along the East Coast of the United States.

While selling boats, Peter had an opportunity to see the work of marine surveyors and felt that he could offer a better service to boat buyers in the marine surveying field. So, in 1978, Peter established Hartoft Marine Survey and quickly gained the reputation for being one of the top surveyors on the East Coast of the United States.