DFI Employee Reviews

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Found 38 reviews matching the search See all 39 reviews

It was a great experience

St year Heavy Duty Mechanic Apprentice (Former Employee) – Edmonton, AB – 3 May 2017

I enjoy working with company. Picked up on a lot of skills everyday something different which I had enjoyed. Got along with crew and lots to do never a dull day.

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Official response from DFI

21 February 2018

Thank you for the review. It's great to hear that you enjoyed the variety of your work, and that you were able to foster new skills with your time with us!

This place is a nightmare

Pile Driver Operator (Former Employee) – Edmonton, AB – 23 March 2018

I've been working there for a long time they are horrible to people don't care about you. You will have no life bunch of no promises bad management. Just DONT GO THERE I'm saving your life.

Pros

Good people to work with

Cons

Everything else

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Not a good place to work

Office (Former Employee) – Edmonton, AB – 19 January 2018

There is no work culture. Most people would like to talk low about others. They talk and think as if they know everything about the construction industry. There is some sort of negativity in the whole office. Management has no clue how to run a good show. Most management are just puppets of owners. This place is good for people who needs something to do while waiting to get a job that actually builds your career. If you want to have job satisfaction this is not the place..

Pros

nothing..

Cons

Low morale, no growth, demeaning people

Was this review helpful?Yes 9 No 1Report

Official response from DFI

21 February 2018

Thank you for sharing your review and feedback. We pride ourselves on conducting our business with respect and integrity, and we expect our employees to adhere to the same standard. It is disappointing to hear that you felt your time with DFI did not benefit your career growth. We wish you the best in your next opportunity.

This company is your oyster. It is what you make it

Boom truck operator (Former Employee) – Edmonton, AB – 16 January 2018

For each negative review of this company I can comfortably say that someone didn't want to pull their weight, and thus didn't work out. I started at dfi in September of 2012. No tickets no experience nothing. They helped me and supported me through every step. Whether it was work, they sent me for my class 1 license, my boom truck, my mobile crane, and every ticket imaginable. They gave bonus after bonus, countless over time hours and extra days. Even through the recession they relocated me and my family to a busier area. If you're willing to give, this company will match you step for step. Want a free ride and an easy pay cheque. This isn't it. I am where I am in this industry in large part due to the management and support of dfi. Believe me when I say it's worth a shot.

Pros

Competitive wages, top notch equipment

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Official response from DFI

21 February 2018

Thank you for taking the time to share a review. It's great to hear that you had such a rewarding experience with DFI. All the best!

Office

Accounts Receivable Clerk (Former Employee) – Edmonton, AB – 19 October 2017

The work is interesting but the management style leaves a lot to be desired. The biggest con is that if you are in the friends circle of the owner you are treated better. The rest of the staff seems to be just a number.

Pros

Pay can be decent

Cons

Long hours

Was this review helpful?Yes 12 NoReport

Great place!

Swamper/Labourer (Former Employee) – Weyburn, SK – 11 April 2017

Starting wage was better than I could have hoped for. People we're great. Only issue I had was being away from home too long. They treat you great here!

Was this review helpful?Yes 4 No 6Report

Official response from DFI

21 February 2018

Thank you for the review. We are glad to hear you enjoyed your time with us!

Poor morale, terrible management

office (Former Employee) – Edmonton, AB – 10 April 2017

wow, This place has so many problems. its privately owned so anything goes.. there's a lack of policies/procedures but there's no shortage of office politics and low morale. Employees are treated like a number and are disposed of at any time. the owner is volatile and severely erratic towards both management and employees. most of the ppl in senior leadership don't actually have any real leadership skills or forethought. overall the place has terrible company culture and will probably never change.

Pros

a few good people

Cons

abusive environment, bad culture

Was this review helpful?Yes 29 NoReport

Official response from DFI

22 February 2018

Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. It's disappointing to hear you had such a negative experience with DFI. We have been working hard to improve our policies and procedures. We have also been striving to provide our managers with additional training and guidance in order to further engage and lead their teams. If you are interested in speaking to someone directly in regards to these comments, we encourage you to reach out to our Human Resources department.

Totally bad

Loader Operator (Former Employee) – Edmonton, AB – 23 March 2017

This company blows, its family run, so if your not with the in crowd you will be out quickly, management is full of stupid people, and if you're smarter than them, again your out quickly!! Stay away from these clowns!!!

Pros

Work

Cons

Management

Was this review helpful?Yes 27 NoReport

challenging work, average place to work

Mechanic (Former Employee) – Edmonton, AB – 14 March 2017

Management is par at best.. Everyone gets treated differently depending who you know in the company. Hourly rate for journeyman is low for industry standar..Always big layoffs when it slows down and job security doesn't exist there.. no credit or recognition for all the hard work and hours you put in to get the job complete and unrealistic time frame most of the time..very rarely to you get a pay raise here.. always challenging work and always lots of projects to do..the owner is always around and is never happy, doesn't treat his staff good at all and always go over his management staff.. overall I wouldn't recommend this place to others people

Pros

Challenging, great co workers

Cons

Long hours, low hourly rates, low morale, management

Was this review helpful?Yes 21 No 1Report

Very low morale

ASSEMBLY TECHNICIAN (Former Employee) – Edmonton, AB – 6 March 2017

The work at DFI is challenging and is the best part of the job. The opportunity to design and build truck mounted equipment and cranes and drills is enjoyable. But the deadlines are usually extreme and usually you are not recognized or rewarded for your work.
The management is controlled by a single owner who is abusive to them in front of the workers making their job stressful. Their opinion is disregarded if they are in disagreement with the owner. The result of this is that a few of the quality people that were in management positions have resigned. They do have policies against abuse in the workplace but apparently it doesn't apply to the owner.
Some statutory holidays, like Family Day and Remembrance Day are not given in lieu of the Civic Holiday and Boxing Day. Wages were reduced twice to a total of 7 percent and other incentives were eliminated like bonuses.
Most times a job will be progressing and the owner will stop it or change its parameters along the way causing cost overruns and frustration among workers. He will also go above his managers and assign jobs directly to the workers who must do them despite what they were doing prior to his involvement.
Generally the morale is low among the workers and the managers. Wages and benefits are low and they abide by a 44 hour work week without overtime paid until you go over that time period.

Pros

Challenging Builds

Cons

Low morale

Was this review helpful?Yes 23 NoReport

loved the job

Pile Driver (Current Employee) – Edmonton, AB – 13 January 2017

Go into work gather equipment needed for a job, load onto trailer then tie down and haul it to site, then offload crane and equipment and get rigged up, perform tailgate meeting, FLRA's, Ground disturbance checklists, review drawings and schedules for job, perform jobs as required, rig crane down and load equipment and crane. have to do bill of ladings, field tickets, then haul everything back to Edmonton.

Pros

good experience and get to interact with lots of new people.

Cons

never have a set schedule and for me living in bc its kinda hard to plan anything, and see my family.

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Official response from DFI

23 February 2018

Thanks for taking the time to share your review. We are happy to hear that you enjoy your work and the people you get to interact with. We understand that due to the nature of our industry, the work schedule for field employees can be challenging. We try our best to promote a good work-life balance for all employees by encouraging them to take time off when needed. Thank you for your continued success with DFI!

Like running your own small business

Business Development/Branch Manager (Former Employee) – Bonnyville, AB – 10 January 2017

DFI gives you the opportunity to run your branch as your own small business. You are given all the freedom in the world and encouraged to excell.

Was this review helpful?Yes 1 No 12Report

great chance for advancement

Driller (Former Employee) – Edson, AB – 13 December 2016

great chance to advance with in 6 month to a yr u can advance from a swamper to either driller to picker operator. you can even get class 1 with them.

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Swamper/Labourer (Former Employee) – Alberta – 1 December 2016

Worked as a swamper, drove around a lot and had varying hours depending on how far we had to drive and what we had to do. Drivers were good to work with and working in the shop was fun

Was this review helpful?Yes 3 No 8Report

Great Company to work for

Communications Assistant (Former Employee) – Edmonton, AB – 5 October 2016

Awesome atmosphere. As well as decent paying job. If we didn't move I would still be working here. Highly recommended to anyone job hunting.

Was this review helpful?Yes No 8Report

dfi was a good and safe job i had fun

swamper (Former Employee) – grande cache – 2 September 2016

I had worked for the Grande Cashe Location, while there I had the chance to experience alot and IT was the safest job i ever worked and you work hard they reword u and the guys that put it down are lazy i was a swamper for a picker truck 33 and i miss the truck and the workers had some good times there

Was this review helpful?Yes No 10Report

Par at best

Rigger (Former Employee) – Rycroft, AB – 11 August 2016

was a ok company to work for but very miss mannaged not only by multiple branch managers but corp decesions were putting off towards customers quality and overall experience with the company. which reflected how much work we actully got.

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Good when busy

Boom Truck Operator (Former Employee) – Edmonton, AB – 26 July 2016

Work was very varied and lots of travel time, when things were busy we were very busy. Not a whole lot of time off though, unless things were slow in which case we got too much time off. No proper rotation or employee management which is a big downside. Money was good when busy though.

Pros

Travel at full wage.

Cons

No rotation for out of town/province employees.

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former rigger

Rigger (Former Employee) – Edmonton, AB – 30 June 2016

DO NOT WORK HERE... its full of empty promises pay is terrible after their wage cuts you wont have any sort of social life get minimal notice for out of town work. you have to have dispatches permission to have a life.expect to arrive at a sight with a drill or track crane and have it break down....

Pros

none

Cons

the whole company

Was this review helpful?Yes 11 No 2Report

Stay away

Labor Worker (Former Employee) – Edmonton, AB – 28 June 2016

Bad company full of empty promises and always feel like you work in a negative environment VERY LOW PAY compare to other pilling companies stay away from this company !!!

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Not Recommended

HET (Former Employee) – edmonton – 6 May 2016

Massive company from the outside but it runs on a skeleton crew. Labor takes a hit every time things slow down. Massive layoffs and wage and hourly rollbacks in the last year of staggering proportion. Branches closing. Pretty sketchy maintenance practices at times.
If your looking for long term this is not the place. Bottom of pay scale in all departments especially qualified trades people. They use foreign workers for cheaper labor when possible. The maintenance side runs like a farm operation no planning just damage control.

Pros

Big Facility

Cons

No job stability

Was this review helpful?Yes 34 No 1Report

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