Project Engineer/Preconstruction Engineer - Anonymous employee Holder Construction Employee Review

2.0
2 Feb 2018
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- Good place to learn the ins and outs straight out of college. - Opportunities to travel all over, with moving services provided to you - On the leading edge of technology advances in construction - PTO days - Promote from within. Very rarely do they hire outside people to fill leadership positions, preventing the "I got passed over for an outsider" issue some companies see. - Internship program is top notch. They give interns actually responsibilities instead of making "coffee runs"

Cons

- Where you start at is typically where you stay. If you are a project engineer, that is the path you will stay on through Senior Engineer Project Manager, Senior PM, etc. Usually they stick PE's without projects in Preconstruction for a few months, but you rarely see anyone jump from one path to another. This makes for a division and lack of understanding of what everyone does. (Example: An estimator once asked a project engineer what a pay application was and why we had to do them every month.) - If you have more than 2 years experience in the industry and are not looking for a field position (i.e. Carpenter, foreman, etc.), the chances you will get on are low. The preference is for recent graduates and those with little experience. - Hours are long across the board. Doesn't matter your role, expect 12 hour days to be normal. Weekends as well. - While you get PTO, taking it is another thing. Roll-over is limited to 5 days a year that MUST be taken before March 31st. While it is yours to take, others tend to frown on when you use it outside of holiday periods like Christmas - Performance reviews are non-existent. Around 2014, they did away with formal reviews in favor of "Open Door Policy". It is expected that you and your manager set aside time to talk about your development. Easier said then done with how heavy everyone's workload tends to be. - Family and Health are not high priorities. The last few years saw bigger pushes for employees to focus on health but it tends to fall to the wayside after March. Starting or having a family is very difficult, especially for operations staff (office engineers, project managers, superintendents, etc.) as they are required to move from project to project. - Moving, like mentioned before, is a requirement. Data centers (their bread and butter) are usually located in sparsely populated areas with few follow on projects. This means a move is required if you want to stay on. Also, you'll get 1-2 weeks at best to get ready to move - Company Core Values are there, but not pushed or really talked about. Each year's core theme tends to focus on client related items and not the core values. My colleagues at other companies could recite theirs yet I don't think most employees, myself included, could name more than 3.

Explore other reviews about Holder Construction

5.0
5 June 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great work environment on site and across regions.

Cons

Difficulty choosing future work locations.

3.0
29 June 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Salary for general positions is above average

Cons

Culture Work life balance does not exist

See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All