10y
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on the time you spent working with us. I am sorry that you had a negative experience as a System Pavers employee.
I can appreciate that you felt uncomfortable having your first interaction with the customer often end up with you having to explain why their project was going to cost more than they initially agreed upon. The reality is simply that while we do provide our sales representatives with top-flight training, our project managers do have more construction expertise, and frequently catch things during their initial pre-construction walkthrough that the sales representatives may have overlooked. Frequently these are things (pertaining to grading, drainage, etc.) that can increase project costs. We certainly do not encourage our representatives to underbid projects, but this is also why we ask our project managers to visit each site before construction begins, meet with the homeowner, review the plan, and ensure that any potential oversights are addressed and additional costs are agreed-upon before we break ground. All of our project managers are advised during their pre-employment interviews that handling change orders with customers is a part of the job expectation. As you yourself pointed out, we do provide additional compensation to our project managers for handling as part of their duties.
I would also agree with you that the workload is heavy, with job sites spread across each market in which we operate. I believe that this speaks to our strength as a company, and should provide reassurance to our employees that we have enough business, consistently throughout the year, to keep all of our construction professionals busy and employed full-time year-round. As a project manager with System Pavers you do not need to worry that the projects will dry up, or that there won't be enough jobs at any given time, and thus you don't have to worry about seasonal layoffs as others within the industry sometimes face.
As for the wear and tear on your vehicle, we do understand that this can be a resource drain. That is why in most cases we do provide a company truck to our project managers. This way the mileage and wear-and-tear from hauling pavers goes on our vehicle - not your own personal vehicle. In those rare instances where we do not have enough company vehicles in a given market, we make sure to provide our project managers with a monthly vehicle allowance to ensure that you are being fairly compensated for the wear and tear on a personal vehicle, and we strive to obtain additional company trucks as quickly as possible.
Again, I am sorry that your time with us was not a positive experience in your eyes, and I wish you all the best in your career going forward.