My first contact with Mastec was in 1999 when I did work installing 10-15 miles of fiber for the Bell south IFDLe project. Got screwed to the tune of $16,424. After I went bust I had to start working back again as a sat installer for mastec, hoping I would be able to make connection and eventually get my own contract with them directly. Worked from nov 2004 -nov 2005, got screwed by every outfit I touched, but I was still able to make top dollar as I am probably one of the fastest guys you will ever see. Went in house as a supervisor after failing to secure a contract since I was told they were trying to cut out contractors and would not be taking on any more. I worked for 2 weeks then quit!. Whats all this? I say all that as only a slight reference as to allow me to say that the industry is only getting worst. The main problem starts in the accounting depts. of all the outfits. I have helped putting budgets together for projects and the main problem is that the person crunching the #s has no idea what it takes to execute the Job. For eg. say a company is about to do an audit of 100,000 homes and they have a budget of say $400,000 the original intent starts out with the contracting co. getting approx. $4 per home passed. A supervisor is appointed to manage the project (probably never done cable in his or her life)Then comes the meetings, marketing wants in (they need sales out of it) technical wants new locks on most of the boxes along with remounting of damaged boxes, tech. dept. three days after the project starts call the sup. for the project to let him know that the contractors are not changing fittings nor greasing the ports (as all contracts state that you must abide and maintain company specs) then its all down hill from there. Contractors will get screwed every time because providers are filled with incompetent short sighted workers...every single one of them. Usually there is one or two sensible managers crying out with common sense about the approach of any job but usually his voice gets drowned out by the accounting dept. who is run by someone whose closest connection with cable is the remote they have at home. Until cable companies are run by people up top who actually started out as installers who have a feel and a smell for how the rubber meets the road we will all continue to get screwed, and dont take it personally, the original intent was not to screw us, its just a bi-product of a dysfunctional group trying to manage an industry more complex then the board room as it spreads usually for 100s of miles, while most of them see only the walls of their offices. Why cant they budget more for projects you ask if that's the problem....read the bottom of CNN headline news the stock market is ticking, they have to keep the line pointing up for the investors. Its a cycle and we are holding the smelly part of the stick. Mastec on the other hand just flat out dont give a damn, really, they dont care. They make it up as they go. For the two weeks I worked as a supervisor I asked almost every single worker how they felt about the company, not one, not one! had anything positive or kind to say about the company. As a supervisor part of my duty was to inspire and build good work ethics! You gotta be kidding me you would have to be a con artist to do that if you knew as much about what happen in the field as I did and was in that position. 100% of new workers were not properly trained (2 weeks) I did 54 qc, 2 passed. You cant tell me you care if you allow your company to run like that. the wait time on the ph. the back charges, the customer service, the work load the scheduling, the time frames the completion rates, the vehicle accident rates, the attitude of the in house staff .....these are all signs of poor corporate psychological approach. The man at the top is at fault and no one dares tell him that, largely because he made it that way and in itself is another sign of poor management. They know who I am, I wrote and presented a new procedure while I was there in house, they took it gave it to someone else we had a meeting and he presented it as his own and thanked me for my input!. I quit the next day. I hope things get better but I doubt it will,
The Industry in general
Member #: 44043
Registered: 1/30/2006
Posted:
3
Name:
Geoffrey Archibald
Name:
Geoffrey Archibald
Company:
Cable
Occupation:
contractor
Location:
Miami
Personal:
Hi guys, I have read on and off of most of your posts, very well informed bunch. Its amazing that with all this combined knowledge we are still outsmarted by the industry in general, while we are mostly left only with the ability to comment. I have been in the industry for over 16 yrs started in Hoboken NJ (back when we used knifes to cut fittings) I have travelled to no less than 18 states to work and probably have worked for every single provider. I rose to as high as managing wonderful contracting outfit for a good decent owner. I personally wired the capitol, they have their own cable tv company under there its called "Architect of the Capitol" We contracted and I worked directly with the second man down from top for TCI launching digital in 1996 in Seattle. I then left and started my own company was good for a while had over 30 workers spread over 5 different locations, went bust in 2004. My first contact with Mastec was in 1999 when I did work installing 10-15 miles of fiber for the Bell south IFDLe project. Got screwed to the tune of $16,424. After I went bust I had to start working back again as a sat installer for mastec, hoping I would be able to make connection and eventually get my own contract with them directly. Worked from nov 2004 -nov 2005, got screwed by every outfit I touched, but I was still able to make top dollar as I am probably one of the fastest guys you will ever see. Went in house as a supervisor after failing to secure a contract since I was told they were trying to cut out contractors and would not be taking on any more. I worked for 2 weeks then quit!. Whats all this? I say all that as only a slight reference as to allow me to say that the industry is only getting worst. The main problem starts in the accounting depts. of all the outfits. I have helped putting budgets together for projects and the main problem is that the person crunching the #s has no idea what it takes to execute the Job. For eg. say a company is about to do an audit of 100,000 homes and they have a budget of say $400,000 the original intent starts out with the contracting co. getting approx. $4 per home passed. A supervisor is appointed to manage the project (probably never done cable in his or her life)Then comes the meetings, marketing wants in (they need sales out of it) technical wants new locks on most of the boxes along with remounting of damaged boxes, tech. dept. three days after the project starts call the sup. for the project to let him know that the contractors are not changing fittings nor greasing the ports (as all contracts state that you must abide and maintain company specs) then its all down hill from there. Contractors will get screwed every time because providers are filled with incompetent short sighted workers...every single one of them. Usually there is one or two sensible managers crying out with common sense about the approach of any job but usually his voice gets drowned out by the accounting dept. who is run by someone whose closest connection with cable is the remote they have at home. Until cable companies are run by people up top who actually started out as installers who have a feel and a smell for how the rubber meets the road we will all continue to get screwed, and dont take it personally, the original intent was not to screw us, its just a bi-product of a dysfunctional group trying to manage an industry more complex then the board room as it spreads usually for 100s of miles, while most of them see only the walls of their offices. Why cant they budget more for projects you ask if that's the problem....read the bottom of CNN headline news the stock market is ticking, they have to keep the line pointing up for the investors. Its a cycle and we are holding the smelly part of the stick. Mastec on the other hand just flat out dont give a damn, really, they dont care. They make it up as they go. For the two weeks I worked as a supervisor I asked almost every single worker how they felt about the company, not one, not one! had anything positive or kind to say about the company. As a supervisor part of my duty was to inspire and build good work ethics! You gotta be kidding me you would have to be a con artist to do that if you knew as much about what happen in the field as I did and was in that position. 100% of new workers were not properly trained (2 weeks) I did 54 qc, 2 passed. You cant tell me you care if you allow your company to run like that. the wait time on the ph. the back charges, the customer service, the work load the scheduling, the time frames the completion rates, the vehicle accident rates, the attitude of the in house staff .....these are all signs of poor corporate psychological approach. The man at the top is at fault and no one dares tell him that, largely because he made it that way and in itself is another sign of poor management. They know who I am, I wrote and presented a new procedure while I was there in house, they took it gave it to someone else we had a meeting and he presented it as his own and thanked me for my input!. I quit the next day. I hope things get better but I doubt it will,
My first contact with Mastec was in 1999 when I did work installing 10-15 miles of fiber for the Bell south IFDLe project. Got screwed to the tune of $16,424. After I went bust I had to start working back again as a sat installer for mastec, hoping I would be able to make connection and eventually get my own contract with them directly. Worked from nov 2004 -nov 2005, got screwed by every outfit I touched, but I was still able to make top dollar as I am probably one of the fastest guys you will ever see. Went in house as a supervisor after failing to secure a contract since I was told they were trying to cut out contractors and would not be taking on any more. I worked for 2 weeks then quit!. Whats all this? I say all that as only a slight reference as to allow me to say that the industry is only getting worst. The main problem starts in the accounting depts. of all the outfits. I have helped putting budgets together for projects and the main problem is that the person crunching the #s has no idea what it takes to execute the Job. For eg. say a company is about to do an audit of 100,000 homes and they have a budget of say $400,000 the original intent starts out with the contracting co. getting approx. $4 per home passed. A supervisor is appointed to manage the project (probably never done cable in his or her life)Then comes the meetings, marketing wants in (they need sales out of it) technical wants new locks on most of the boxes along with remounting of damaged boxes, tech. dept. three days after the project starts call the sup. for the project to let him know that the contractors are not changing fittings nor greasing the ports (as all contracts state that you must abide and maintain company specs) then its all down hill from there. Contractors will get screwed every time because providers are filled with incompetent short sighted workers...every single one of them. Usually there is one or two sensible managers crying out with common sense about the approach of any job but usually his voice gets drowned out by the accounting dept. who is run by someone whose closest connection with cable is the remote they have at home. Until cable companies are run by people up top who actually started out as installers who have a feel and a smell for how the rubber meets the road we will all continue to get screwed, and dont take it personally, the original intent was not to screw us, its just a bi-product of a dysfunctional group trying to manage an industry more complex then the board room as it spreads usually for 100s of miles, while most of them see only the walls of their offices. Why cant they budget more for projects you ask if that's the problem....read the bottom of CNN headline news the stock market is ticking, they have to keep the line pointing up for the investors. Its a cycle and we are holding the smelly part of the stick. Mastec on the other hand just flat out dont give a damn, really, they dont care. They make it up as they go. For the two weeks I worked as a supervisor I asked almost every single worker how they felt about the company, not one, not one! had anything positive or kind to say about the company. As a supervisor part of my duty was to inspire and build good work ethics! You gotta be kidding me you would have to be a con artist to do that if you knew as much about what happen in the field as I did and was in that position. 100% of new workers were not properly trained (2 weeks) I did 54 qc, 2 passed. You cant tell me you care if you allow your company to run like that. the wait time on the ph. the back charges, the customer service, the work load the scheduling, the time frames the completion rates, the vehicle accident rates, the attitude of the in house staff .....these are all signs of poor corporate psychological approach. The man at the top is at fault and no one dares tell him that, largely because he made it that way and in itself is another sign of poor management. They know who I am, I wrote and presented a new procedure while I was there in house, they took it gave it to someone else we had a meeting and he presented it as his own and thanked me for my input!. I quit the next day. I hope things get better but I doubt it will,
There are 4 replies to this message
