project estimator

estimator

electrician

project manager

project coordinator

Houle Electric

Houle is alright, the work is pretty easy, but also easily boring. They like to stick you to a certain task, and keep you there. For example they'll send you to do data and or Fibre, and you can stay there for years if you meet their satisfaction. Terrible place for apprentices to learn variety in the electrical field, any apprentice ive met thats been there their whole apprenticeship has very little electrical knowledge. They love to use prefab bends for all diameter sizes, you get reprimanded for using a bender and making your own bends, even if it was more efficient. I've seen Management make a guy redo box offsets on walls and replace it with prebends. Alot of nepotism at this company, alot of amazing electricians that get unnoticed and not given bigger roles unfortunately. You're really just a number to them at this company. Lost of mismanagement and project managers that upperhand each other to make a deadline and claim their department is a bigger priority, thus tarnishing efficiency and safety too. Try installing emt in high cieling while cable tray is installed and in the way just to meet deadlines, it's pretty ridiculous sometimes. Lastly, there's actually an alarming number of management and Foreman that act very anti-union, quite disappointing actually.

I liked working at Houle most of the time, the other apprentices and journeymen there were good for the most part.  Was extremely disappointed as I was given the expectation about working there longer by management.  Time came to an end right before the holiday season, making life a struggle with the hope that a new job would start.  No to little contact keeping me informed of upcoming jobs.  Was also disappointed at times about how the management ran the job.  Created an environment of stress, very short, curt directions.  This type of culture did trickle down into journeymen, who perhaps were newer jmen in their direction as well.  Slightly toxic at times.  Felt like leadership was lacking at times.  I get it, the job needs to be done, but I’m under the belief that moral can go a long way in regards to production as I have seen the results of employees who are happy.  The project was interesting enough to keep me engaged as there were things that I did learn there.  

I worked for Houle for 4 years in Burnaby and had a pretty good experience. I then transferred up to the Kelowna branch and have never experienced such dis-organization, terrible leadership and cheap uninformed management. 

The co-workers were great, friendly and helpful. But they were over worked because they had to do all the planning, material orders, and labour

Foreman was disorganized, clueless, did not plan anything, unprofessional, threw childish hissy fits and couldn't communicate.

Management was aware of these problems but still did nothing, did not want to buy proper sized ladders, did not want to supply enough power tools (as required as its a union company), did not want to supply proper safety equipment required by the general contractor, asked the journeymen/apprentices why things were being built a certain way instead of asking foreman.

The work on site was fairly good it terms of making sure the specific areas people were at where safe and workable. We did a lot of cable pulls through pull pits which was fine because i did not mind getting wet or dirty. My co-workers for the most part were very helpful and fun to be around. The hardest part of the job was the weather because it was, for 1) either 35 degrees or raining all the time and for 2) was the down time. It made days seem longer then they were when you told to wait for other crews in you area to finish up so you can begin your work. My thinking is, I like to keep busy so if possible, i will find some other work to do until I`m able to get back to my original task.

Working as a service person for Houle allows each of the workers and opportunity to develop their own client list. As you service different customers there are businesses that become reliant on you for the service you provide.
Houle will train you for whatever skills you require and have an aptitude for.
The management team are hard working individuals that maintain high levels of success in securing jobs and manage the jobs effectively. 
The hardest part of the job is being on call 24/7 although that is usually shared with other service people.
The most enjoyable part of the job is having good equipment at your disposal including tools and vehicles. (They also have an excellent working relationship with the IBEW)

My time with Houle was spent at the Comox Valley Hospital project for nearly a year. A typical day at work consisted of bending emt and installing raceways, installing light fixtures, low voltage wiring and data wiring. I learned a lot while with Houle especially about bending conduit which is what I spent most of my time doing. I got along great with the management and had very few issues if any at all. Workplace culture was good especially considering it was such a big jobsite, all trades and coworkers got along for the most part. The hardest part of the job for me was commuting over an hour each way without being compensated for it by my union. The most enjoyable part of the job was getting to meet new people with similar interests in career and lifestyle!

What is the best part of working at the company?
Learning the skills and implementing the knowledge gained. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Can't say that I had stressful part. I can say that if you know your safety limits and work abilities you should work with less stress. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Safety meetings every morning with the whole team with the formans  update on safety of the work site for the day and at times a joke of the day. After that we spread out with our crews to talk with our supervisors to be assigned a tasks for the day. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Working with a Journeyman helping out with the job and learning the skills for each task.

In the Service Division there is a requirement to be able to provide quick quotes which means you had to drop any large project being estimated, some stress with this if time management is not one of your skills.
Working for an employee owned company is different than working for a large corporation who's bottom line is the profit margin for share holders. At Houle everyone's suggestions are considered and if agreed to be a move to a profitable ROI it is moved on.
All in all Houle has a great workplace culture with balanced work and personal life as long as you are able to control time management.  

I had a pretty disappointing experience with Houle Electric. The training was very lacking — I honestly felt like I learned almost nothing during my time there. There didn’t seem to be much structure or support for developing skills, which made it frustrating, especially if you’re trying to grow in the trade.

That said, I did come across a few good workers who were helpful and knew their stuff. Unfortunately, that wasn’t consistent — there were also quite a few who didn’t seem engaged or willing to help, which made the overall environment hit-or-miss.

Overall, not the best place if you’re looking for solid training or mentorship.

A quality "Electrical" contractor but for all system they are incredibly terrible. Treat their systems people like second class citizens, all bonuses and benefits are geared towards electrical/construciton woprkers and NOT at all towards systems staff. Felt like I was left on my own to sink or swim and bullied often. No mentoring at all even though they kept claiming to offer mentoring.New management is horrible and cancelled any/all team building events permanently. No management direction at all.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Project estimator 27 salaries reported	$90,556 per year
Estimator 13 salaries reported	$97,692 per year
Electrician 5 salaries reported	$43.84 per hour
Project manager 6 salaries reported	$104,583 per year
Project coordinator 6 salaries reported	$60,417 per year

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