plumber

apprentice plumber

journeyperson plumber

electrician

customer service representative

The Gentlemen Pros

A typical day at the Gentlemen Pros: you arrive at the office for "voluntary" (unpaid, but really mandatory) training from 7-8 am. Then, after being grilled about whether you're clean-shaven and wearing your tie, you jump into your truck to start your day! Get to your first call, and try and push as many products to the customer as possible, whether they're truly needed or not! Tell the customer there are multiple things wrong with their plumbing, and you can fix it for them while you're there, at the most outrageous price on the market! If the customer complains about the price and refuses the work, expect to get grilled by the manager after about what you did wrong. After you finish your first call, expect to sit around in your truck (unpaid) for at least 30 minutes as you wait for your next call to come in. Repeat the previous steps until at least 5 or 6 pm (don't EVER expect to get off work on time), and don't EVER expect to get asked by dispatch if you're ok with working overtime because it's 100% assumed and expected you will work as late as they ask you to. 

Management: they say this is a "family company", and that all their employees are treated like family members, yet when you tell them you have a family emergency and need to be home with your family you are told that's unacceptable and you MUST come to work. The amount of pressure put on the techs to make sales and bring in revenue for the company is extreme. You are expected to work evenings, weekends, and be phone/email available at all times (even while on unpaid vacation). You are told upon being hired about the "voluntary" training that happens DAILY, but in reality if you choose not to go, you may be fired. If you don't drink the koolaid, you wont cut it here. This job may be for you if you don't wish to have any work-life balance, and you are completely invested in The Gentlemen Pros! Don't expect to actually make a higher wage working here, either. They consistently string you along about the possibility of making a higher wage here, but in reality their standards are unattainable, and the majority of plumbers who work here are not even making the average journeyman wage. There's a reason there is a MASSIVE turnover rate at this company, and most guys hired don't make it past a month.

Overall Review
The company has potential but is held back by poor leadership and a toxic culture, making the work environment tough.

Office Environment and Culture
The office and call centre are stressful, with leadership using fear and micromanagement instead of collaboration. Employee feedback leads to retaliation. Call centre staff are constantly overwhelmed, and many are emotionally drained, even crying daily. In the office, high-performing employees are undervalued and seen as a threat by call centre management, discouraging people from trying their best and increasing the high turnover. The focus is always on the negative, not motivating or encouraging success.

Compensation and Policies
•	Unpaid Training: Technicians are made to attend training sessions without getting paid.
•	Holiday Practices: Employees are forced to work on statutory holidays with no time off in lieu, and holidays like Boxing Day and the August long weekend aren't recognized.

Suggestions for Improvement
•	Get rid of toxic managers and offer leadership training to promote respect and teamwork.
•	Pay employees for mandatory training and update holiday policies to be more in line with industry standards.
•	Provide mental health resources and create a safe space for employees to report issues.
•	Improve communication and focus on employee well-being to help reduce burnout and turnover.

Positive Aspects
Tech managers are great – they genuinely care about their teams and encourage growth. Office management could really learn from them.

Summary
The office needs a major change in leadership and culture to create a more supportive and motivating workplace.



Unpaid training meeting every morning that they say isn’t mandatory but you’ll be shamed for not going if you don’t go, no promise of when the day will end and they consistently rely on the same people to take care of the issues that are caused by other untrained techs which isn’t their fault, it’s just due to the lack of quality training. They expect you to drop everything at a moments notice to run calls for them after hours without overtime pay and the jobs they do are consistently priced around double what any other company would charge which seems to be due to intentional inflation of the company overhead just to pull in more profits. They’ll tell you you’re worth a high wage then give reasons why they can’t pay you that money and it happens to most of the techs there. Many positive reviews from “current employees” on this site are questionable since many state they are from journeyman plumbers and there have been no journeyman plumbers running service trucks in Calgary for quite some time now, at least a year, most are first year apprentices with some second and third year apprentices. Management are well intentioned people but overall it seems that everyone has been brainwashed by ownership to believe they’re offering a better service than anyone else in the city even though most other companies actually have experienced techs. I’d recommend avoiding this company, the only benefit is that when I left I was more valuable to other companies because I had all my own tools but you can buy your own tools without working here so steer clear.

Previous reviews about unpaid training are true. If you don’t participate in these you are looked at poorly by management and told not a team player.
Everyone is a plumbing technician, they do not have any titles like journeyperson on work orders as there are multiple instances where untrained or 1st/2nd years are running the show and very little support for techs where they have to think on their own without knowing proper plumbing practise. 
While you are getting  burnt out you can expect little in the way of technical training but more on sales training and how to maximize your invoices. They say this is a premium company without a premium price tag but seeing pricing and how things are charged I would be unaware of anyone else more expensive in the city. 
There is little in the way of work life balance. Experienced plumbers are not desired as they already have their own ways of doing things which clash with the sales culture. 
Management has been in place for over a decade and unwilling to change with current times it’s either their way or the highway. This is the reason for the extreme turnover and constant job postings. 
There are branches in Calgary, Edmonton and Red Deer, you can expect the same in all 3 as management is the same people running the show. 


This is a great place to work if you would like to learn actual plumbing skills and enjoy helping people. 

It’s important to note that doing the highest quality work and not shortcutting or taking the easy way out on the customer is stressed to employees. They definitely are the most thorough in their work and the attention to detail and care about every customer.

As an employee, you can expect to learn about every aspect of the trade and gain excellent troubleshooting skills. They will not hold you back from advancing, attending school, and completing your apprenticeship. 

This company gives you back what you put into it and will encourage your learning as long as you are willing to take it. 

I have found the pay structure to be honest, transparent, and easy yo earn more than your “year” of apprenticeship usually demands.

What others have called high-pressure sales tactics in these reviews, I truly see as taking the time to make homeowners aware of issues and providing recommendations and options for them to act on if they choose. This is evident in the fact that you are never pressured to move from call to call but make sure each customer is taken care of and 100% satisfied with the service before requesting another call. There is never an issue paying overtime if you stay late to ensure all of the customers' problems and inquiries are taken care of before leaving. 

The gentlemen pros have a lot to offer employees, and they leave it up to you on how much effort you give to determine your level of fulfillment within the job.

I came to work here as the call center manager.  It was a fairly significant learning curve at first. I had to work hard to learn and exemplify our call flow and genuine connectivity with our clients.  Once I had the foundation down, I have had the freedom to grow and expand into numerous challenges.  I have had amazing team members to work with and love coming to work each day with my crew.  Even through Covid and working from home for a long stint, we have stayed a cohesive team.  It makes all the difference when your motto is "What's the right thing to do???  Do that!!"  We have a playful work environment, but we all know how to work hard and bring our best foot forward always.
As part of the management team, I am the only female at the table and at first wondered how that would play out.  I am proud to say that I work with really great managers. feel respected and heard and that my opinion is valuable there.  I get regular coaching and feedback in positive ways, and I am encouraged and invited to be a part of the solution.  Many ideas have flowed from the front lines to the management team because of the open door policy.  It is a tight knit group here at the Gentlemen Pros.  
Handling growth has been our biggest challenge, but it makes me feel secure that upper management has employees best interests in mind and are very conscientious of the decisions they make that will affect staff in any way

I’ve been working here for almost three years. I’m a third year plumber making journeyman’s wage because they pay you what you are worth at this company. They make it easy to quantify what your wage should be and how to improve your wage. It’s a great team although I have seen a lot of coming’s and going’s since I started. This is mostly due to the fact that it’s not a traditional trades company. There is a lot of emphasis on Technician Client interaction which can easily be interpreted as sales. I have never been taught to sell at this company though. Only to provide options and let the customer decide. If you don’t want to interact with customers find a new construction company to work for. If you want to improve your people skills and get a well rounded technical skill set in both plumbing and heating this is the place to work. If you want to learn and grow instead of be stagnant then come work with us. It’s challenging but worth it if you put in the effort and the time.

A typical workday begins at 7:00 AM with an hour of unpaid morning sales training. Afterward, you may be dispatched to your first job, or you may be placed on unpaid standby. As a first-year employee, you'll be out on a truck by yourself with only an iPad for training.
This job comes with a lack of technical plumbing training, high expectations for upselling, and the uncertainty of your next job—whether it's HVAC problems, plumbing, or customer complaints.
The workday is unpredictable, and you never know when it will end. You could be assigned a job to sell and install a new hot water heater as late as 3:00 or 4:00 PM.
Even when you're not on call, it's advisable to keep your phone with you at all times, as you can be called out to work at any hour of the day, any day of the week.
Please take all of these factors into consideration.

Long hours/ no lunch breaks, expected to come in for one hour free training, they say its not mandatory but expect you to come in anyway and looked down upon if you don't. Terrible job culture and overall morale. Make you out to seem like you are an idiot when you have no experience and are LEARNING. Outdated training methods, No HR department, longest employee that has stayed is 7 years. Usually cant keep people over a year. They give you a winter jacket to work in ,but you aren't supposed to actually work in it/ get it dirty even when its -40. You are expected to bring a dirty working jacket. They give you surface level information on your benefits and vacation so you don't actually know what you have. I would recommend to AVOID this company at all costs.

"Optional" unpaid training every morning. Emphasis to sell overpriced work. Charge customer 300 for a $5 part, plus 90 dispatch fee and tax, for easy repairs. Lie that employees "licensed" when most are 1st year apprentice. Only 20% of technicians have journeyman tickets. Pay is based on revenue you generate for company. Encourages employees to sell work that people don't need. Scammy. Upper management promise you the world when hiring, but once you sign on, you're just a number. Cheap benefits. Most companies help  pay some for tools, not this one. Won't pay for your school, others companies will. Sometimes off at 2pm, sometimes working past midnight. Expected to drop everything to work if they call during your time off. Management is trained well on how to gaslight employees.  

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Plumber 11 salaries reported	$36.10 per hour
Apprentice plumber 10 salaries reported	$33.78 per hour
Journeyperson plumber 4 salaries reported	$44.60 per hour
Electrician 7 salaries reported	$36.50 per hour
Customer service representative 4 salaries reported	$24.13 per hour

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