When your team learns by seeing and doing, you need a training approach that fits their style.

That’s exactly where Cooper’s Plumbing & Air found themselves. The Georgia-based HVAC and plumbing company was scaling fast, but their onboarding process wasn’t built to keep up. With nearly 80 employees — many of whom chose trades over college — owner and CEO Tony Cooper knew that printed manuals and one-size-fits-all onboarding weren’t going to get his team where they needed to go.

Before Trainual, training consumed a ton of face-to-face time with new hires flipping through a printed handbook and trying to hit all the critical points (hoping they stuck). Consistency suffered while bandwidth constraints mounted. And process updates? That meant reprinting pages or sending emails that may or may not get read.

It was inefficient. It was unscalable. And it was slowing them down.

"These guys didn’t want to go to school. So we designed a training experience that didn’t feel like it."
Tony Cooper, CEO of Cooper's Plumbing & Air

The problems that slowed Cooper's down

Cooper's faced several operational inefficiencies that made it difficult to scale effectively:

1. Inconsistent onboarding: Training varied wildly depending on who was doing it. There was no standard, no structure, and definitely no documentation trail.
2. Low engagement: Most employees didn’t want to read dense manuals or dig through folders to find answers. The result? Missed information and repetitive mistakes.
3. Process gaps: SOPs lived in Google Docs, Sheets, and YouTube videos — disconnected and hard to keep current. Outdated info led to confusion in the field.
4. No real accountability: Without any tracking, Tony’s team couldn’t tell who actually understood the material. There were no metrics, no quizzes, no confirmation.

These challenges were hindering Cooper's ability to grow quickly and manage its expanding team.

Trainual: The tool that finally fit the team

Tony had dabbled in other software, including SweetProcess and his own “homegrown” combo of spreadsheets and links — but nothing stuck. Then he found Trainual.

“Trainual just felt like the name brand. It looked better. It worked better. And it was built for people like us.”

Here’s what changed when they went all in on Trainual:

Click "Next" 👆 to see how Cooper's uses Trainual. Want a closer look? Click to explore the training in a new window.

Video-first, role-specific training

Knowing his crew wouldn’t sit and read pages of text, Tony focused on making training visual, engaging, and relevant. He leaned heavily on Loom videos, embedded media, and quizzes that reinforced key concepts without feeling like a test.

“If it’s not relevant to them, they’re not going to go through it. But when it’s tailored, they will."

Quizzes built for repetition, not punishment

For Tony, quizzes weren’t about catching people messing up. They were about driving home the material through repetition in multiple formats: video, text, test. Fail a quiz? No big deal. Take it again, rewatch the video, and keep learning. It’s a smart system for real-world learners.

“That’s what I hoped to achieve with the quizzes — just drive the information through repetition: video, print, now a test score.”

Hiring a “Trainual Champion” changed everything

Tony didn’t leave implementation to chance. Instead, he hired a part-time Trainual Champion — someone who collected SOPs from managers, built out processes, and kept everything up to date. The champion regularly syncs with managers, updates systems, and ensures the platform stays fresh and relevant.

They become all things Trainual… they build out the stuff, they come talk to the managers, grab up the raw data, and package it and put it in there.”

Live lessons to on demand learning

Before Trainual, Tony was the one giving soapbox lessons on side work, safety, ethics, and values — every single time. Now, those messages live in polished videos inside Trainual. The best part? Tony can go to sleep at night knowing every employee heard his message—clearly, consistently, and exactly how he meant it.

“I wanted the handbook to feel like I was still delivering it live.”

Real-time process updates

Tony’s not just thinking about this year — he’s planning for new locations, new hires, and long-term growth. Trainual is the foundation for making it happen. From onboarding and process updates to culture and compliance, Trainual gives Tony the tools to grow without burning out his managers — or himself.

“We’re training people into this industry one by one. And Trainual is how we scale that.”

Results: Changing the way their team trains

Here’s how Trainual has transformed Cooper's Plumbing & Air:

• Consistent, values-driven onboarding that doesn’t depend on Tony’s calendar
  
• Customized role training that increases engagement and retention
  
• Quizzes and completion tracking to reinforce learning and drive accountability
  
• A dedicated champion ensuring processes are captured, updated, and used
  
• Real-time updates that keep the team aligned
  
• Fewer repetitive questions and more empowered employees‍
• Leadership alignment around culture and ethics — visible across the org
  

What’s next for Cooper's?

Tony’s eyes are on continued growth — adding trades, expanding offices, and training more people into a career they can be proud of.

Tony's advice?

“You’re going to pay for this system either way. You’ll either invest now — or you’ll keep paying with burnout, bad hires, and missed growth. Just get it.”

TL;DR

Cooper's Plumbing & Air ditched outdated training methods for a modern, digital-first system built with Trainual. By tailoring training to how their team actually learns, hiring a champion to keep it alive, and embedding company culture at every step, they’ve created a repeatable, scalable onboarding experience that’s driving real business growth.

👉 Want to build a system your team will actually use? Check out our free demo to see how Trainual can help!