Home Services Success Stories
The Home Services Success Stories: Real Stories. Real Businesses. Real Growth.
Every home service business has a story — and we’re here to tell it.
The Home Services Success Stories Podcast features conversations with real Peakzi partners and clients across the trades: HVAC, plumbing, electrical, roofing, and beyond. Each episode spotlights an entrepreneur or service leader who’s built something remarkable — sharing how they started, what drives their business, and the lessons learned along the way.
From building teams to scaling operations and embracing AI-driven marketing, our guests talk candidly about what’s working, what’s changing, and how Peakzi helps them grow, hire smarter, and show up stronger in AI search.
It’s not just another business podcast — it’s authentic storytelling from the people keeping homes and communities running every day.
Brought to you by Peakzi — helping home service companies grow through AI marketing, visibility, operations, and recruiting solutions.
Home Services Success Stories
From Startup Grit To Five-Time “Best Local Plumber”
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Peakzi Podcast: A family dream turned durable brand. That’s the thread running through our conversation with Lori Stickling, co-owner of Covenant Plumbing in Bloomington, IL, where technical excellence meets rock-solid business systems and a genuine service heart. We trace their journey from a new plumber chasing the American dream to becoming a five-time Best Local Plumber, and we explore the simple routines that turned customers into champions: shoe covers at the door, tool mats on counters, vacuums in every van, and upfront pricing that removes the fear of surprise invoices.
Lori opens up about the hiring shift that changed everything—moving from résumés packed with skills to people grounded in character. Hear the behavioral interview questions they use to find self-aware, growth-minded technicians who can learn the trade and treat customers with empathy. We dig into their training ethos, the value of clear processes, and why being consistent beats being flashy. The brand name “Covenant” isn’t just a logo; it’s a promise to keep their word through integrity, excellence, and a service heart.
We also spotlight the community impact that defines their culture. From the Covenant CARES fund that enables pro bono repairs for homeowners in need to an annual water heater giveaway, the team looks for quiet ways to restore comfort and dignity. Lori shares a moving story of replacing a broken shower system for an elderly couple who’d been getting by with locking pliers—proof that craftsmanship paired with compassion can change a day, a home, and a life.
Innovation fuels their next chapter. By partnering with Peakzi, Covenant is leaning into AI search, robust FAQs, visible pricing, and market trend insights to meet customers where they’re looking and to adapt with data. The long-term vision is steady, values-led growth that creates life-changing opportunities for employees and a brand that homeowners trust on the first call. If you care about building a service business that lasts—through clear systems, thoughtful hiring, and authentic community giving—this one’s for you.
If you enjoyed the conversation, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a quick review to help more people find us.
Powered by: peakzi.com
More info at: https://ai.plumbingbycovenant.com/contact
Peakzi Podcast: Home Services Success Stories
Welcome to the Home Services Success Stories Podcast, powered by Peakzi, the number one AI platform for growing your home services business. And on the show today, we have Lori Stickling, who is the owner at Covenant Plumbing. Lori, welcome to the podcast. How are you?
Speaker:Thank you, Julian. I'm very good. Thanks for asking. Thanks for having me.
Julian Placino:Absolutely. And excited to learn more uh about Covenant Covenant with you here today. So um so let's kind of jump in. We always love hearing the Genesis story. So, um, how did Covenant begin and what inspired you and your family to start the business, I believe, back in 2006?
Speaker:Yeah, it was 2006, and my husband was a fairly fresh plumber, but just wanted to pursue the American dream and start his own business. Um, he also wanted to just provide great service. You know, that was always his heart was to be a great plumber, to provide good plumbing services in our community. So he decided to get that started and soon realized that he didn't really know how to run the office side of things. He knew how to be a plumber, but didn't really know how to do the business side of it. And so I came alongside him and got a new career. I never pictured that I would be working in the plumbing industry. I didn't grow up there. Um, but it's been a great place to uh work alongside him and and to do this together.
Julian Placino:Interesting. So, what was your background before going into the business with your husband?
Speaker:Yeah, um I grew up in small business. My parents were entrepreneurs, so I didn't I knew it was gonna be hard work, but they were manufacturing. But I went to college um for communications and I was working, I worked in software and then went to State Farm Corporate here in Bloomington and worked there with uh their software platforms. And so uh I was always kind of software-oriented, business oriented, um, thinking I would climb the corporate ladder and uh left that all to be here.
Julian Placino:Okay. Well, it sounds like there's there's there's kind of the business end. And then of course your husband has the expertise and the technical aspect of it, and together you kind of compliment each other, and I guess it kind of makes sense, right?
Speaker:Yes, exactly. And that's exactly what it is. It's uh I couldn't do anything without what he knows, and he he needs the business side of things, and um it's a perfect compliment.
Julian Placino:Tell us about the name Covenant. What does that mean? What does a brand represent?
Speaker:Yeah, well, um, kind of our our our values are very uh founded on honesty, integrity. And so when we're looking for names, covenant sort of embodies that it's keeping your promises, it's it's doing what you say you'll do. Uh so we we felt that that kind of implied what we wanted it to imply. We have created our core values as we've grown, we've really developed a reliance on our values, and um, our values are um integrity, excellence, and service heart. And we feel like Covenant sort of talks, you know, it speaks to all of those.
Julian Placino:Okay. So integrity, honesty, and also servants, heart. And you know, those aren't just things that you say, but also you certainly have been recognized as well. So I believe uh four years in a row, you have been named Best Local Plumber. So what do you attribute that to? What have you done differently to become a leader in home services?
Speaker:And actually, Julian, it's five years.
Julian Placino:Oh my god, congratulations.
Speaker:Okay, just this fall, we got our our we um found out we had number five, so we were pretty uh happy about that. So it's just a recent development, but I I think it's just a consistent, it's a commitment to providing really excellent customer service. Um, we don't always do things perfect, but what we do try to do is make things right if we if we do fall down. Um, but every day trying to focus on kind of processes, making sure that we have press procedures that we all follow so that it keeps us in line, um, always striving to look to do better. Uh, we believe in you know, training and it's it's a team effort too. So it's it's um we treat our team well and we want our team to treat our customers well. So it's we just have a really thankfully we have assembled an amazing team of people. So it starts with the phones. We have Amanda who answers our phones most of the time, just is warm and empathetic and laughs with customers a lot. Um, but we have guys that go out and try to do the right thing and make sure we're, you know, providing the best service we can, fixing houses, leaving them comfortable and and healthy. So it it's a whole system and it works well.
Julian Placino:So tell us a bit more about your team. Uh you mentioned kind of uh, you know, the customer service aspect of it, but about your technicians. So the boots on the ground, um, what type of like screening criteria, what kind of characteristics do you look for? What makes them great?
Speaker:Yes. Well, uh, we in it's been through the years we've had some hard lessons in in people. I think that's one of the hardest things about small business is having you know, it's people, it's your your team. Um, and we would look for people who had plumbing ability only, and that was really our criteria. Through the years, we've learned the criteria needs to be attitude. Um, it should be character. So a lot of our hiring now focuses not on skills at all, but a lot on who the person is and we'll teach the skills. So we found that training, um, you can you can hire for attitude and train for aptitude. And that's been a lot of our proc practice is we'll develop the skills, we'll teach the people. But if they're uh really great people, um, if they're positive and if they're hardworking and if they believe in honesty and integrity like we do, they always come along and make great, make great employees.
Julian Placino:You know, I think that's a really great point because yes, you're right, you can teach the technical, but you know, there's sort of these foundational characteristics about the right person. I'm curious, what are some of the questions that you asked during your interview process to help suss out who that person is?
Speaker:Mm-hmm. Um, I really love to find out who they are as a person. So, what do you do in your free time? How do you um spend your time? What podcasts or books are you listening to or reading? Um, we really find out if they're developers or if they aren't. Um we we ask a lot of questions too. It's like, tell me about a time when you went through a difficult time. How did that um make a difference now? So you're trying to figure out if they are able to take experiences they've had in their lives and apply them moving forward. So, like self-awareness. Um try and really it's just tell me about a time when you had a difficulty with a customer or um with coworkers, trying to figure out what tell me about that, how did you react? How was that situation? What did you do in it? Um, but really, you can kind of just in talking to someone, you start to develop whether or not they have that kind of underlying strong character quality.
Julian Placino:Yeah, so a couple of things. I heard a focus on situational and behavioral based questions. Also, you like to get a sense of like what what kind of content do they consume, right? Because you are who you hang around with, what you consume, uh, and also just spending time with them, finding out who they are as a person, I think is a great way. So I think those are all really good points. So Covenant does everything from simple to very, very uh major installs, right? So tell us a bit about um your process and anything you guys do uniquely, differently that really elevates the the level of service that you do for your customers.
Speaker:Yeah, so we have quite a quite a few steps, um, but I think some of them that are elevating steps are for sure, every time we enter the home, we put on booties. Um for every time we're going to set tools down on someone's counter, we have a mat that we put our tools on so it's not keep, you know, making their counter scratching or making it dirty. We have um vacuums in every van that we use done with the work to clean it up, trying to leave the area cleaner than we did when we left it. Um and then some of our process too would be like upfront pricing. So talking to the customer, finding out what they need, um, going through the situation, diagnosing it, and then giving the customer those estimates or pricing so that they know up front what the the job will look like, and they can either say yes to it or or not, but it's not a surprise at the end of the job. So we feel like that's very important is that transparency and clarity of what they're getting. So people seem to really like that.
Julian Placino:Yeah, so real upfront pricing, no surprises at the end. I certainly have been experienced that before recently with a plumbing uh issue, believe it or not. But yes, there's something to be said about being very transparent and upfront uh with the pricing and just the entire process as well. So I think that's really great. Um Covenant is also known for really being active in the community. So why is giving back, serving the community important outside of just delivering great service?
Speaker:Yeah, well, uh it's part of who we are. It's um my parents and and Delane's parents were really big on giving back and giving uh giving of of what they earned. And so it was sort of ingrained in us, but it's also we are part of a community. We like to be able to help. Um, and since we like to give, it's it's been really neat to find ways that we can give using the gifts that we have. So everyone has plumbing in their homes, but not everyone can afford to maintain it or replace it or fix the problems that they have. So um kind of making sure that those in our community that need the help, we can do that. So we do that a few ways. We like to give away a water heater every year. We're actually going to be announcing our winner um next Monday for this year's water heater giveaway. So that always is neat. Um, we also do like a Covenant CARES program where we put money aside every year and tell our team if you're in a home where you know they need work done and they just can't afford it, call in and let's get that. Let's see if we can get that work done for them. So we try to do as much of that as we can to help out people that we identify in need that are actively in the need situation. So um, that's not always something that gets advertised. It's just something that we enjoy doing to help out.
Julian Placino:I think that's really great. The the water heater and also basic essentially uh pro bono work for persons specifically in need. Is there a specific story that comes to mind that sticks out to you having delivered that before?
Speaker:Well, I can tell you of one that we just completed. Um it was a couple who had they actually had uh pliers on their shower. It was I I'm not gonna say the right word, but it's the ones that lock in place on their shower handles because the shower was so old and out of it, it was not working. So um the handles had broken off. So we went in and put in a new shower valve and handles, and they couldn't afford that. So um, you know, we took care of that work for them. So it it's it's situations like that where you just know they needed, they need a shower, they need a working shower. Um, they were elderly, probably on a very fixed income. And so it was like Merry Christmas, and you know, hopefully it helps. And they were very grateful, which feels good, but that's not why you do it, right? You do it so that we can make our community a better place.
Julian Placino:Yeah. I love that. I really like that you that you do that. So um I know that Covenant is always looking to improve their processes, the way that you deliver service to your customers. Um, and of course, you're a customer of Peakzi. And this podcast is powered by Peakzi. So, so what has been your experience working with Peaksy and and what were you looking to Peakzi's help to accomplish in your business?
Speaker:Yeah, well, one of the things that we also try to do as a business is always stay ahead or you know, on the cutting edge. And so one of the things that's really happening is AI. Um, AI search is is going crazy, and we just wanted to figure out how we could participate in that and kind of be on the leading edge. So we found Peakzi from our uh a marketing company that was helping us. And so we're really just trying to increase our visibility online, show up in searches where people might be searching using AI. We um like that they're kind of cutting edge and and on the front end of this as well. So we're just hoping to utilize kind of the hard work we've done, getting reviews, um, getting our online content and hoping that um Peaksy will help us kind of complete that picture um with AI.
Julian Placino:Okay. Any any specific features of the Peakzi platform that sort of stand out to you and we're like, wow, this is really cool.
Speaker:Well, I really like their FAQ section, and I have to say we're fairly new to it, but I I need to do better. But like some of their pricing features and the before and after pictures and some of those things that we can get in the platform, I think that's gonna be really great. Um, I I like just seeing how the market is performing, like it has some kind of that predictive data that you can look at and just see if um we're crazy or not, as far as what we're kind of sensing with the market. It's showing that from just what is going on online. So we we like that. Um, it's been a great product.
Julian Placino:Yeah. So it sounds like uh the market trends. You like that to see what's actually happening local within the market based off of data. So you can kind of pig it and uh pivot and also even even tailor your marketing based on what is being demanded. So I think that's a really good point.
Speaker:Yeah, yeah.
Julian Placino:So um, so you you're you're first off, you have really great videos on your website. So and you're very proud of being a local family-owned business. So looking ahead in terms of the long-term vision, like what is your future vision for the business? What is the legacy that you hope to leave behind for your customers, uh, employees, and the community?
Speaker:Yeah, that's a great question. Um, I think the biggest thing we always say we just want to be the name that people think of. You know, they need a plumber. We want to be the flagship brand, but it's continuing to stay grand grounded in our values, making sure that that's like always number one is just um that our customers come first, that our team is a great team of people who is glad to be part of the the covenant family. Um, I think that's really important to us is providing life-changing experiences for our employees and um, you know, having customers that know, like, and trust us and refer us and recommend us. Um so I guess that legacy as we continue to grow, we're not trying to grow um crazy amounts. We're trying to build stable, really foundational growth, um, just built on trust and excellent service.
Julian Placino:All right. So I think that's a very inspiring vision indeed, and certainly wish you all the continued success. So thank you so much, Laurie, for sharing uh your story with us here today.
Speaker:Absolutely. Thank you, Julian.
Julian Placino:Yeah, well, close us out. Share with us uh your website, your social handles, how to connect with you.
Speaker:Okay. Well, um, we're Covenant Plumbing on on Facebook, and our website is plumbingbycovenant.com. And uh you can find LinkedIn, you can find Covenant Plumbing or Lori Stickling there. And I'm I'm glad to interact with anyone. I would love to hear from you.
Julian Placino:Awesome. And we'll make sure to have all your contact information in the show notes as well. So, Lori, this has been a true pleasure. Thank you so much for for your time.
Speaker:All right, thank you, Julian.
Julian Placino:Well, everyone, that is it for today's episode. Thanks for tuning in, and we'll see you next time on the Home Services Success Stories Podcast powered by Peakzi, the number one AI platform for growing your home services business.