We brought so many contractor insights back from Los Angeles
We’re back home in Detroit after a whirlwind MEP Innovation 2025 in downtown Los Angeles, and are so excited to share what we learned from mechanical, electrical and plumbing contractors. From breakout sessions to the show floor and our dinner party, contractors were eager to share how they’re tackling productivity sand traps with collaboration, communication and tech.
Here’s a few of our biggest takeaways.
MARKETING
Alison Accavitti
RIVET Co-founder & CMO
Alison: I loved hearing Aristotle Vrohidis and Hannah Thomazin from the U.S Engineering team talk about their labor tech stack and approach to measuring the “Labor Factor.” They showed their company’s dedication to tracking labor performance values and how to get there by aligning account software to tracking software, then training their teams on the workflows, then setting up automation, then verifying data and then trusting the results.
I appreciate how they highlighted the importance of labor performance to their business and what it takes to measure it. They have labor actual hours, earned hours, cumulative earned hours and budget syncing weekly. But what if they could sync it in real-time? That’s what we’re up to at RIVET, and I’m so excited for us to get there with Productivity Insights.
SALES
Cedric Kennedy
Director of Sales
Cedric: My biggest takeaway from the MEP Innovation 2025 conference was a sentiment we heard from everyone who spoke with us at our dinner party: Our contractors have a strong trust in us. They genuinely feel that we care and proactively support their evolving needs through product improvements, dedicated support and clear, transparent expectations.
Danielle Brand
Business Development Representative
Danielle: One of my biggest takeaways from the MEP Innovation 2025 conference was the breakout session on “Building a Successful Innovation Culture.” During it, Alterman Inc. and Cupertino Electric Inc. discussed how they’ve each tackled tech adoption challenges. Kelli Lubeley from Cupertino created a champion program. Key employees – usually ones more likely to be tech forward – test the tools, report their successes and spark interest among peers who want the same quick wins.
At Alterman, strategizing successful tech adoption was like slipping broccoli into mac and cheese. Strategic Business Integration Manager Mica Ashmore said you need to roll out processes in a way that teams will actually adopt much like you’d get a kid to eat their veggies. He emphasized starting small, celebrating wins and making structured planning easier to digest. It ties into how we feel tech adoption should go, and some of the ways our Workforce Management platform can help with those quick wins.
Alexander Ray
Business Development Representative
Alex: I enjoyed the “Streamlining MEP Back Office Operations” breakout where Kleinknecht Electric Company Inc. spoke on the importance of visibility into billing processes and other office responsibilities. The challenges faced when it comes to using spreadsheets for billing (like not knowing what’s going on when someone is out sick, only one person having the master keys, and lacking transparency for every project stakeholder) ties in with similar challenges we solve related to Labor Planning.
My biggest takeaway is: Even if it’s not exclusively in a Labor Planning context, the more visibility, communication and collaboration there is between the office and the field? The better the outcomes are.