concrete finisher

carpenter apprentice

locator

construction project manager

carpenter

Campbell Construction Ltd.

All these union companies are roughly the same, but some are a little worse than others. The hard part about working at Campbell was the reactionary decision making, everything is after the fact. Build something, nope now were are going to change how we are doing it again, and again. A lot of hard working people are underpaid and when people quite the company, a pay raise gets handed out to after the fact instead of treating people right from the start. There are some great people at the company, but on the other hand there is one superintendent who couldn't find their way into a paper bag and treats some employees in an abusive manner. 

Lots of micromanagement and confusion will guarantee you lots of work even if you have to build things a few times over and over again. There seems to be some decent people in the company but they are handcuffed in their ability to make any changes. Was fun working with various crews, some interesting projects but overall things are pretty disorganized with very little planning.

A lot of information about this company is true about the job site disorganization, super on site does not show up to site half the time or takes off if it was anyone else they would be fired. There is a great group of guys on site but things are a mess more days than not.   You only get a pension/retirement plan if you are in the union and will only give you an increase when people quit and owners get desperate. If you can get in the union, great. If you cant the benefits are some of the worst in the industry. Says a lot about how the company cares more about nickel-and-diming everything rather than caring about the staff who actually do the work.  Get a job offer somewhere else then tell the owners you are going to leave, that's how you get a raise. 

Let me begin by saying that since this is the biggest GC in town I expected the company to be one of the highlights--nay, the crowing jewel in my construction career.  However, I was horribly, terrible, tragically disappointed.  

When I got dropped off at the job site I got out of the car and the smell of the porta-potty knocked me off my feet and the stench followed me throughout the day as it clung to my cloths. One of my biggest fears is using the porta-potty and the locks on the door do not work.  The entire time I was using the potty I was paranoid that someone was going to swing the door open and expose me at my most vulnerable state! Along with having busted locks the toilet paper was equivalent to using sand paper that was paper thin.  It took me half a role to get the job done and left me with a significant pain due to the chafing. 

On the flip side... having the opportunity to take a leak off the top floor of the building was pretty amazing. Normally I would give a company at least 3 stars for an experience like this, but the company operates in a real drug neighborhood with a lot of needles on the job site. 

The owner and superintendents were unfriendly and frankly rude. Looking back now, though, I can hardly blame them as they dealt with some of the remarkable idiocy we witnessed on the job site from the poor planning, lack of structure, disorganization, mistakes, and constant confusion that I watched while attempting to fix everyone's mistakes.

Unless you are offered the opportunity to fire 90% of the managers within this company and start with a nearly clean slate do not work for Campbell. Their inability to interact appropriately on all levels; within their own ranks, with architects, clients and their sub-trades marks this company as one in severe need of massive restructuring. The superintendents and management team are terribly unqualified, wildly unprofessional, apparently having had no training whatsoever in their respective disciplines. A small handful of their pm's, labourers and carpenters have the rare ability to be both capable and driven. The remainder of the workers do not care one way or the other, possibly driven to this extreme by their management team.

Job work life balance - you work 7am or maybe later depending on the superintendent, nothing is standardized in the company
Salary - you get a union wage and union benefits, but most union works are slow and not very productive and there is little to no supervision, if you are a hard worker you gotta talk to other employees and find out how to get more money
Job security - you can get laid off in an hours notice, if you get laid off you may get sent to another job. you never get sent to another job site its always a layoff and an absolute mess
Advancement - there is no path for moving up, not sure how it happens because one superintendent didnt even pass the carpentry program and he runs a job site while others seem to work hard or came from another company.  seems to be completely random
Management - not sure if they exist, every job site is different and it seems to be a new choose your own adventure every time
Job culture - a great group of guys on site, there is no company culture tho, they dont seem to do anything unless someone quits and then it is very reactionary

FINALLY, just a couple months ago I notice that they have started posting on indeed for jobs and thought i would share my experiences. I left this toxic organization a couple of years ago. They have HORRIBLE productivity because the owner is stuck in the 80's talking about the past and how great things were since he cant improve site operations. Combined with the low wages and poor staff benefits it explains why they have such trouble attracting talent to work for a old crusty carpenter talking about the good old days. All the staff on site and in the office know how disorganized things are, the owner will randomly stop by the site and suggest random ideas only to show up again a few days later with a different plan, sometimes it was the exact thing you were doing the day before. Employees are just collecting a paycheck and too jaded by criticism to actually utilize any talent they have. Talk to any person working at this company and they will tell you that management does not understand what is going on and it is a disorganized gong show.

This is one of the most disorganized companies that I have ever worked for. Staff are not promoted on skills or knowledge instead you get promoted based on how much you suck up to management or what your family name is. There is a lot of reactionary decision making on every job site and if you are a woman do not work there as the washrooms are disgusting and never cleaned. It was an interesting time working at the company, they have lots of work since they are a monopoly and union wages are great but it is poorly run and a complete gong show on the job site. Lots of great carpenters, young minded individuals who work hard and have great skill. But the way they run that company (always behind schedule, cant plan anything on time, go go go or your fired) is out dated. The old ways of commercial construction don't cut it anymore, companies and owners need to start appreciating the people that make them money, this isent the 60's any more and the sooner the people in charge realize that, the better the work flow will be.

benefit - got a free shirt
negative - superintendents are a bunch of puppets that cant think for themselves
Advice for management - empower your employees and dont make them be glorified baby sitters.  respect and recognition from the top down should be better. when rolling out new job sites should teach superintendents how to run a job site rather then dump them on site to figure things out. should also establish some structure not based on tenure of favorite employee of the month.  employees are treated terribly overworked and under-appreciated by an owner who is in way over his head and has no leadership skills. absolute chaos on the job site. not to mention they change plans on site 3 times in the last month due to unrealistic expectations coupled with incompetent coworkers. this company is based on being a brown noser not performance and you will hate your life here, i could not think of a worse job or place to work. people are disposable just like the their product.

I find that the work environment is horrible if you are a woman or not a ticketed carpenter. But frankly becoming a carpenter is what you become if you could not succeed at anything else in life. The employees are not given a performance review annually and there is no room for promotion or any training plan no matter how many times you ask for opportunities within the organization. If you are not a ticketed carpenter there is no respect on the job site especially if you are a woman. The best thing you can do is leave to another company who cares and looks to develop their employees. All the managers and superintendents are living in the past and do not look at the process but point fingers at employees to pass on the blame. Managers do not even care to effectively evaluate employees for potential promotion. One of the best opportunities with this company is all the connections you make, it opens doors so you can go work somewhere else.

Having worked for the company for over a decade there is no service recognition, thank you, or sign respect from the ownership team. At least at other companies they recognize your years of service and have a Christmas party as a sign of respect.  The operations manager will dump you into a position to either sink or swim without any training and gladly raise or lower your wages based on the owners random opinion.  The owners are cheap, make irrational decisions, do not provide any workplace culture, management is disorganized and although they will move you from site to site there is no training and guidance and the lack of proper tools makes work on the job site very inefficient. 

A typical day of work involves putting up and taking down concrete form work and maybe once in a blue moon framing.  The hardest part of the job is that you never know if you are going to get laid off at the end of the day or transferred to a new site.

Do not work here unless you want to put your life in danger, there has been several near fatal incidents recently and the company does not care about its employees. They recently lost their WCB certification and are willing to skimp on safety just to save money at the cost of an employees health, which says a lot about the culture of this company and how they treat people. If you get injured they also do not have a full time safety staff so your injury report is usually done with a sub standard effort, similar to everything else in the company. The only time something changes is if they get fined or in trouble from WCB.  There is no respect or recognition for the workers, they have a Christmas party on Christmas eve that you cant even attend if you have a family. Not a professional company by any standards that is run by a bunch of greedy rich old white guys who do not show any sign of respect.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Concrete finisher 4 salaries reported	$37.75 per hour
Carpenter apprentice 2 salaries reported	$31.00 per hour
Locator 1 salary reported	$38.00 per hour
Construction project manager 1 salary reported	$115,000 per year
Carpenter 1 salary reported	$36.00 per hour

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