Beaubois Reviews

Company badly under-estimated installation costs on all 3 projects I was on. On first project, the installation budget was around $450,000. Lowest bid received was around $700,000 so a decision was made (not my decision) to handle the install ourselves using local union carpenters. Actual cost was around $1.3 million, thanks to a decision made (not my decision) to work 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. $37 an hour straight time, about $50 an hour for OT Monday - Saturday, and about $61 hour an hour for all Sunday hours. On my other two jobs, installation budget were about 60 - 65% of lowest bids. The company has a history of hiring installation crews that lack sophistication and estimating skills. I learned of several situations where installation crews either walked off or were run off jobs because they were not able to continue. One that I know of had to file chapter 7. Upper management continually over-ruled me and made very bad decisions that resulted in severe setbacks. I had to deal with the consequences. Communication was a real problem for me. Many people that I dealt with in drafting and production could not speak English well. Many did not like communicating with me because it was stressful. (You really shouldn't work in the capacity of project manager unless you speak French. Since I did not come up through the ranks, I had to try to learn their computer systems, spreadsheets, reports, etc. They were extremely complicated for me. The production spreadsheet had around 60 columns. I never felt confident in extracting information from them. As an architectural millwork project manager, I was accustomed to outsourcing, having a voice in estimating, scheduling, and purchasing. At Beaubois, all these activities were handled by others and my job was to try and make things work. I was terminated after 11 months on the job. You need to be ruthless to be successful here. Career opportunities are limited for U.S. employees. There was not one single U.S. citizen in upper management.