journeyperson carpenter

carpenter

monteur en chauffage

ironworker

construction laborer

PCL Energy Inc

Previously, I had worked for a contractor in the building trades, and we were subbed out to PCL construction. I found them to be very difficult to work for, and vowed to never work for them. 

Two years later, I got a call from PCL Energy, offering me almost double my wage... Couldn't say no. In the 3 years I've since worked for them, I can confidently say I was wrong about my first impression. 

If you're self-starting and want to advance yourself professionally and financially, this is the route for you. Watching their labourers lift themselves from the pool into a trade of their choice is pretty rewarding. I've gotten myself two very in-demand trades since starting, improving my future possibilities of working nearly anywhere I want to. If you want to improve yourself, they encourage it, and make it very, very easy to go to school. End of the day, the more educated you become, the more they can charge for your services, so it's win-win. 

The culture is overall positive, and with most wages falling into the six figures, most of your co-workers are generally decent at what they do. As with any job involving people, you'll get the occasional outlier, but that's any job anywhere. 

I've recommended half a dozen good friends to work here, and they're all still here, their lives have most definitely improved. If you're good at what you do, have a strong work ethic, and don't mind improving on yourself, I can't recommend PCL Energy enough. 

A typical day at PCL Vanscoy , The day would start slow with all the disorganization from the communication of the night shift to day shift turn overs. The safety program was a above standard, quiet successful program that most of the workers took advantage of. Each worker might take a hour if not more to fill out and access there work area for hazards and document them or the PSI/FLRA. The leadership and planning was quiet disorganized in the field of having tools and materials ready for each worker and or crew. The equipment on this certain site was below standard due to no care and attention on a daily bases, there was lots of degradation from the potash and salt from the milling process. The workers on site were good people overall but didn't have much experience in the field of pipefitting and blue print interpretation. The hardest part of the job was dealing with the ever changing Isometric drawing and revisions on them. The best part of this job is i was able to network with other people in the trade about there experiences and what work may be going on in the future.

the nature of the beast, you work yourself out of a job on large projects, in exchange you receive top industry wages. 
many people may complain but me personally, having an employer that wants you to take all the time required to get the job done right is unheard of.
but at pcl, that's the message we hear every day. it depends on your personality and what your working for, and what your trade is, but expect that no aspect of the job is to be done hap hazard, and expect to change some bad habits you didn't know you even had.
expect to work in the elements. 
Safety is above all else and upper management strives for a reputable safety culture. but sometimes lower management (lead hands, formans) may sometimes misconstrue the term, safety culture. work place culture is the first place you start in order to effectively apply change.
what I mean by that is that sometimes lower management is under stress and push the harsher side of safety to enforce the rules which may stress some employees to the point where they second guess everything they do and have an accident.

I worked with PCL at the Fort Hills Project. I have been in the industry for almost 3 decades and have never seen such a disorganized mess. Its no wonder the project was grossly over budget and behind schedule. There were so many people there that were in positions they had no business being in .  For example , the piping crew I was involved with were lead by mostly plumbers or fitters that had less than 7 years experience. The morale was low most of the time except for fly day when people were flying out. PCL and the Client created a divide amongst the workforce by paying travel allowances to some employees but not all , because some were considered valuable and most considered "a dime a dozen". Safety at the site was very visible. Unfortunately, the general consensus was that with the amount of write ups and terminations the workforce faced, people worked angry or at a constant state of alert for fear of losing their job ( Not focused on the tasks assigned !! - counter productive !!).  Bottom line is that I will do my very best to never work for PCL Energy Inc. again !!

My Time at pcl here in Alberta was short lived. Management was clueless and often asked the workers what they had left for tasking. Material was often not present or incorrectly ordered. Youd walk out to toolbox meetings WITH your supervisor and they would put you down as late. Many Foremans were clueless and had zero direction, lack of prints was a common problem.

Toxic atmosphere rewarded people who made an effort to fabricate stories or artificially bolster their production numbers, why punishing people who had honest intentions and realistic completion goals.

They would over assign people to a task(when they had them) , and then fire or discipline people in those groups if work was slow. 

Overall the worst company I have ever worked for. I was warned off of it before going there, but it was even worse than I expected after that.

The work scope was decent, some crews where very organized and capable. Others not so much. Language was a large barrier. Many different languages where spoken on site. Which in my mind was wrong. Miscommunication and misdirected information due to the lack of understanding. On a construction site on western Canada the predominant language is English. Some foreman where better than others in terms of fairness and delegating work scopes. Management from contractors to clients should not be having relations. It is a professional working environment. Not a dating site. The judgement and responsibility becomes clouded. All in all I had a decent time there. Would I work for PCL Energy again? Absolutely, I valued senior managements belief system and structure. The amount of safety that the management team tried to put forward during this difficult pandemic was excellent. Lower management perhaps needs a bit of an adjustment.  

On a given day the early hours you will find a speaking to the clients,finding out proactively what their priorities for the week
Meeting with team for half hour to communicate the client needs and organizing the team schedules around the clients priorities.

You learned that he has been guiding you all along and that your wishes and dreams have all been,in one way you wanted to be.
Sometimes you learned to surrender everything to him,your dissapointments,sorrows,regrets,guilt,dream and successes

Management helps develop to achieve outstanding success,leaership functions,planning and implementation

Sharing proffessional opinions with co worker i an integral part of workplace teamwork efforts
Discussing different points of view,generates new ideas and leads to more effective project planning

Motivating people who are blind to the fact that thinking and idealistic
does not create tangible progress.

End of work is the best and enjoyable part of the job

Two gfs were second years and one failed his red seal challenge horribly, one was a scaffolder, and the other was a know it all but knows nothing types.

Was written up twice for not having a doctor's note even though I did and was threatened with being fired if I didn't sign my guilt. Later laid off instead of transferred to my other trade of which they were still hiring, mostly because off back stabbing gfs I assume.

Good money, good schedule, terrible management.
They also tried to not give severance after no notice of layoff, had about a few dozen people call the labor board on them.

Advice, watch your pay stubs, don't talk to anyone especially management as they'll use you as an example to try to make themselves look better to move up. Extremely political, it's who you know not what you know.

Bend and installs tubing( from 3/8" to 1 " ).
Repairs and troubleshoots electrical, instrumentation and control equipment and emission monitoring instrumentation.
Performs installation, calibration, testing, troubleshooting and maintenance of protective relays, computers, metering, monitoring and control systems on gas turbines, generators and plant auxiliary equipment.
Inspects and tests operation of instruments and systems to diagnose faults using pneumatic, electrical and electronic testing devices and precision measuring instruments.
Performs installation of process control instrumentation such as transmitters, controllers, analyzers and control valves.
Performs mechanical work associated with instrument repair and modification while having the ability to remove and install small piping and tubing.

One of the most poorly managed companies I have worked for. In field employees are treated as an inconvenient necessity and not as the people that keep the company viable. Quality workmanship is not only discouraged but is frowned upon.  Work flow is something that does not seem to be part of the company. Continued employment is something that is only provided for the select few. In most cases work mates are good to work with however share a common concern about working conditions. As long as Government Policies continue to discourage development of projects and the numbers of workers out way the demand for them companies like PCL will continue to operate in such an oppressive manor.   

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Journeyperson carpenter 9 salaries reported	$36.11 per hour
Carpenter 1 salary reported	$39.51 per hour
Monteur en chauffage 15 salaries reported	$44.49 per hour
Ironworker 2 salaries reported	$41.11 per hour
Construction laborer 2 salaries reported	$39.71 per hour

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