crew member

truck driver

traffic controller

construction laborer

loader operator

Knelsen Sand & Gravel

6/1 shift seasonal. 10-13 hr days. Working in various weather. Hard hands on work. 95% your hours are right, 100% time your checks in the bank. 

Great place to gain experience where & when you can.Competitive pay, not likely. Likely expected to work outside your job scope. Don’t come with a raise or promotion. Does give you more skill & knowledge, and chance to learn other job position’s possibly thats a plus. You get to travel & see some amazing place’s. Time to time you work with some rather great skilled worker’s, they don’t stay long. So learn the knowledge & skills from them while they are around. You end up meeting new friend’s over the year’s.  

Challenge’s of the job? Dealing with risky public & coworkers. Can cause safety concerns & challenges on approaching handling of the situation. Negativity from the public & coworkers. Can make it challenging to carry out your job. Fatigue/stress/heat likely cause physical & mental burn out. Retaining experienced & new hire’s who are great ppl is hard, leading to high turn arounds & short handed 70% of the time. Long run it leads to lower quality work reflecting bad on all. Lack of communication &  support in department's can be frustrating. 

Management depending on the role be amazing and supportive & understanding. In other area’s don't worth wasting air on, just gonna fail on deaf ears that careless about any thing. 

Work place culture can be great 60% , 40% can be negative. All depends on the crew. 

Ive enjoyed meeting new people & gaining new skill’s. Traveling to new locations id probably never go to. Working with certain coworkers. 


The day started with the previous dayworks collected from the drivers which had to be processed and invoiced immediately. Many customers paid for the goods as soon as the invoice was ready so either they came in and paid cash or I processed credit card payments and receipted. The second system I was in charge of meant maintaining and processing haul cards daily. These were then passed to another department for invoicing on a contract system. 

In contrast to previous work in Ireland where invoices were sent out and a 30 day period was allowed for payment, in Canada payment for goods is demanded immediately which was good in that they were rarely in a negative payment situation which saved on time and resources.

I had a strong management team to whom I could liaise whenever the need was there.

I worked very much on my own and  my co-workers were easy to get along with.

The office was situated away from any other offices or shops and the fact that I did not have transport meant that once I started work I did not leave the building until my day had ended. I could be at work for 15 hours a day in the busy periods.

The opportunity for overtime was great so I made the most of my time there are learned as much as I could.  I enjoyed interacting with the customers and sharing different cultural experiences.

A typical day in the office involves ensuring a seamless start to the production day and providing support to the team in addressing any challenges that arise throughout daily operations.

Continuous learning has been an incredibly valuable aspect of working at Knelsen. Emphasizing personal growth and development ensures you're constantly challenging yourself and expanding your skill set.

The management team is highly supportive and open to new ideas, fostering a collaborative and encouraging environment. The team culture is exceptional—Knelsen truly feels like a family, where employees are valued as individuals rather than seen as just numbers.

The most challenging aspect of the role has been maintaining effective communication across all levels of the organization. However, I’ve observed significant improvements in this area over time.

The most rewarding part of the job is waking up each day knowing that your work contributes to building stronger communities and forging meaningful relationships within them. Additionally, providing employees with stable incomes and opportunities for growth brings immense satisfaction


Typically, you would assist the team leader in building his formwork if requested, pull cables, tie rebars, place insulated foam and mesh, tie rebars once more and then clean up the wastes.  I think this job taught me the fundamentals of building precast concrete steps, girders and wall panels. In addition, I saw various kinds of steel, lumber, insulated foams, and rebars, all of which I studied in school. The foremen, team leader, colleague, and are tough but compassionate and considerate. They assist you in understanding the basics of construction and what it's like to work in the field. The nice aspect of this job is that you may communicate with coworkers and supervisors and gain valuable life lessons. The challenging aspect of this profession is that it requires mental toughness due to its physical duties.

A typical day at work started around 6 with the crew meeting by the van and heading out to the work site. Those were some fun times... getting to know the crew and finding common ground. I learned that working in construction is demanding but rewarding in the sense that we all wanted to build that road and were willing to work together as a team to accomplish that. The superintendent was absent for the majority of the season due to health issues so we relied heavily on the foreman. What a professional! He rose to the biggest challenges and conquered them. The crew was amazing... I truly enjoyed the best summer of my life with this group of people. The hardest part of the job was the long hours per day and the seemingly few days off. If given an opportunity to work with Knelsen year round rather than seasonal I would definitely be up to the challenge!

While working here I have been belittled and told constantly that I am not doing my job right in every way you can think of by people who are power hungry. If you enjoy being healthy don't work here, I found myself thinking at the end of the day most days how easy it would be to just steer my vehicle towards the lake and that would be the end of my existence among other not so great thoughts. This job made me start to self medicate because of the stress and lack of sleep from said stress. In all I have probably lost several years of life due to this job. If you are thinking about it stop, you can do better.

When i was working for this company, everyone was so nice and helpful. No matter what problems you had they were there. The hardest part was leaving the company due to health problems and standing out in the heat. But you got used to it.. 
When i ended up in the hospital due to my health they were all very helpful, they would call me to ask how i was doing, made sure i was taken care of gave me all the time i needed to heal. Unfortunately due to the health problems i was too scared to go back to work in case something like that happened again. When i told them about it they understood and invited me to go back and work with them when i was ready.

Honestly Knelsen was the best company i worked for.

Pros:
- Really awesome company to work for.
- Great experience working road construction if you can get on with a good crew.
- Pay is good considering the work really isn't that hard at times. 
- Shifts are usually around 13 hour days. 
- If you work all summer until they lay you off, you're pretty much guaranteed EI all winter if you can't find work. 

Cons: 
- You can be away from home 6 months straight.
- You can work multiple seasons for them and then out of the blue get told that you don't have a job next season. They lost many good employees that planned to work for them for years to come.


Summary: 

Knelsen is probably one of the best construction companies I've worked for. The Mennonite truck drivers are usually the nicest people in the company to work with.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Terrible benefits,low pay!!
 they will
Constantly try to get you to break rules and if you call them out on that they will belittle you and treat you poorly for not doing so, absolutely a terrible company to work for!!!

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Supervisors are the most stressful part, their safety is a joke!!

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Dangerous and negative environment 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Chickens running around with their heads cut off

I tested the asphalt that the plant mixes and makes sure that it was within specification outlined in the Mixture Design. I learned how to test asphalt and management skills. Most importantly though I learned how to make important decisions and keep good record of my results.

My coworkers were awesome (most are Mennonite) and we got along well. Overall this is a great job if you are able to work long hours 6 days a week and be away from home from May-Nov.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Crew member 3 salaries reported	$26.83 per hour
Truck driver 2 salaries reported	$32.00 per hour
Traffic controller 4 salaries reported	$20.63 per hour
Construction laborer 6 salaries reported	$21.08 per hour
Loader operator 3 salaries reported	$28.00 per hour

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