Arnold & Sons Plumbing, Sewer & Drain Services is a family-owned contractor in East Peoria, Illinois, providing plumbing, sewer, and drain installation and maintenance across the Peoria area. Known for upfront pricing, flexible financing, a one-year labor and parts warranty, and an A+ BBB rating, the 38-year-old company is led by owner Randy Arnold and Service/Operations Manager Mark Arnold.
1988 is the key year for Arnold & Sons Plumbing, because that’s when Randy Arnold decided to show the world what the combination of high-quality plumbing and a strong team of professionals looks like. Based in Peoria, Illinois, employing 37 reliable people, and with over 1500 positive Google reviews, this family-owned company is nothing short of impressive.
But with steady growth and a busy team, tracking performance and keeping everyone aligned wasn’t always easy. Relying on manual processes meant data wasn’t always up to date, coaching often happened after the fact, and employees couldn’t always see how their efforts contributed to the bigger picture.
To understand how Arnold & Sons coped with these challenges, we spoke with Jen Johnson, the Administrative Manager, who has been with the company for 20 years. Having seen the business through many different stages, Jen shared how adopting Plecto’s real-time dashboards has transformed the way the team works.
The Challenge (Before Plecto)
For a company with the reputation and workload of Arnold & Sons, managing performance and communication across a 37-person team was no small task. Before Plecto, performance tracking basically depended on manual processes such as whiteboards, scattered reports, and handwritten updates.
This approach made it difficult to:
keep data accurate and up to date, since reports were often delayed or inconsistent
coach in the moment, because usually feedback happened after issues had already impacted performance, and
motivate employees with visibility of their performance in real time
As Jen explained, “You had to go in, pull different reports, update things manually… and sometimes it just didn’t happen consistently.”
Over time, this created a gap: the team had strong skills and dedication, but lacked the real-time insights to keep everyone on the same page and performing at their best.
The Solution (Implementing Plecto)
To close this gap between performance and visibility, Arnold & Sons introduced Plecto’s real-time dashboards. Instead of pulling data from multiple sources and juggling between reports and whiteboards, managers and employees could now see all key metrics live, on screens placed in the call center, office, and warehouse.
Dashboards were customized for different roles:
Technician dashboards showing individual performance and KPIs
CSR dashboards (3-Day Call Board) providing insight into upcoming calls and workload
Sales dashboards highlighting estimates and conversions
Company overview dashboards for leadership to track progress at a glance
For the first time, every team member could instantly see where they stood and how their contributions impacted overall performance. As Jen put it, “Each time we implement a new dashboard, our minds are blown.”
This visibility also made coaching more effective. Managers could identify issues on the same day and guide technicians in real time, instead of waiting for weekly or monthly reviews.
Beyond efficiency, the dashboards added a layer of motivation and accountability: “One hundred percent , I think they’re more on their game,” Jen explained. “They see how others are doing, and it motivates them to do better.”
The Results
Adding dashboards was one thing — but the real question was: would they actually help Arnold & Sons grow and thrive? The results speak for themselves:
15–20% performance improvement since adoption. Even in the early stages of using Plecto, Arnold & Sons reported a measurable boost in productivity, with both technicians and managers working more efficiently and effectively.
Stronger motivation and accountability. The visibility of real-time dashboards encouraged employees to track their own progress, compare results, and take ownership of their performance.
Ability to coach in real time and fix issues the same day. Managers no longer had to wait for end-of-week reports; instead, they could spot trends as they happened and provide immediate guidance to technicians, leading to faster course correction.
Time saved from not manually searching data. By replacing whiteboards and scattered reports with centralized dashboards, the company freed up hours each month that could now be invested into training, recruiting, and other high-value activities.
Emotional impact on the team. Beyond numbers, the introduction of dashboards brought genuine excitement to daily work, inspiring enthusiasm and pride across the company.
What started as a way to track KPIs turned into a cultural shift: a more motivated, accountable team that could see their progress every day.
Conclusion
These results are clear evidence of the effectiveness that can be achieved with Plecto. Arnold & Sons have already experienced measurable improvements in performance, motivation, and culture.
The best part? They are still only scratching the surface of what Plecto can offer. Slowly but surely getting to 100 percent adoption, there is still significant room for even greater growth as they continue to scale.
Looking ahead, Arnold & Sons are eager to expand their use of Plecto, unlocking more opportunities to coach, motivate, and drive results in real time.
Arnold & Son’s story shows that...
when teams have access to live data and transparent dashboards, they don’t just perform better–they thrive.
If you’re in the HVAC industry and want to see similar results (or better), sign up for our 14-day free trial and start riding the wave of success with Plecto.
Jen Johnson
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