installation technician

design consultant

installer

liaison

warehouse associate

California Closets

I worked for CA Closets for 1 year.  Each showroom/zip code is franchise owned and mine was San Jose, Santa Cruz, Monterey County, San Benito County.  
The only time the office staff- that is there just to support the designers- is supportive is if you have high enough sales numbers.  So, don't expect help initially.  I was regularly told that he didn't have time to answer that question or he wasn't going to get to it for awhile.  Be ready for them to be incredibly rude when they don't know an answer in an effort to deflect.  Constantly changing procedures and policies.  If an issue comes up with a homeowner/customer the office WILL NOT back you up and help you find a solution.  Instead they will blame the designer and give the homeowner a $500 discount.  How are the designers supposed to properly manage the install and customer once even the office has thrown you under the bus???  
The training means to teach you that their product is superior.  Let me tell you: it isn't.  Its the same particle board junk that is lightweight that every other company uses.  Hard sell for high end customers wanting a true wood design.
Again, every franchise is different.  But the women and men who work for this company feel the need to be the most stuck up individuals on the planet.  The owner puts a ton of pressure on everyone to perform and ranks everyone so the designers don't want to help each other out or provide any support.  It's every man for themselves.  Workplace culture is pathetic.
Lastly....
The owner is horrible.  Beware.  He comes off as involved, open to ideas, and hardworking.  But, he knows absolutely nothing.  Dude doesn't even know how to write a check without the office girls help.  He pops in and out from the golf course, jets off to exotic trips regularly, and will be the first one to tell you that you suck at your job.  Really hoping to pad your pockets some more, buddy. **eye roll**

Here is what I wish I knew before accepting this position. The schedule is not at all flexible like they say it is, and the pay after training is almost nothing for a few months. Please ask about specific $ amounts earned on average for the first 3 months after training, you might be shocked.
If you think that because this a commission only job you will have autonomy, forget it. Major Micro Management. The workload is substantial, I was working 7 days a week to keep up with the paperwork, meetings, trainings, and the occasional sales appointments.  The flexible schedule means that you only get a few sales appointments per week but you must be on standby within 4 hours, for 3 appointments everyday, except  of course the days you are in meetings/training all day long or when you are doing your mandatory 8 hr showroom shift. This could be a good fit for someone right out of school that needs a lot of training and guidance, I'm sure that there are people who really like this company and position. I prefer more freedom to go out and make sales with less office politics.  Also I was not a good fit for this culture which does not promote independent thinkers. Now you know the truth so you can decide... On a more positive note the customers are great, sales are super easy and money will come eventually. 

A good place to work with good benefits and friendly staff but they need to pay their workers more. California Closets is a good place to start a career if you want to commit to installing closets and making commission but besides that you won’t gain much experience in anything else aside from some basic carpentry and using basic tools. I enjoyed my time at the company for the most part and loved my coworkers but just needed more money and wasn’t patient enough to be made installer. The atmosphere in the shop is very friendly and the company is very organized, but most of the job takes place at clients houses in New York City and Westchester County, and you have to drive the company van for about 2-3 hours everyday to and from the job but your are paid during that time if your a helper, installers make commission so your day depends on how fast you can get the job done. There is a good amount of overtime and usually work every other saturday. But I have made a lot of friends working there and still talk to a lot of them to this day. 

The in-home sales role is great if you are self-motivated with really good time management skills.  You have to have a certain number of client consultations per week and there is a minimum requirement for evening and Saturday appointments. You get a higher commission on self-generated, repeat and referral business but it will take at least six months or up to a year to really start earning a decent living, so you need an income-earning partner or a whole lot of savings to take on this position. 

Very top-heavy corporate structure, with I believe a very generous compensation structure. Could never quite figure out what half of them actually did, even though I was one office away from “management row.”

Terrific marketing team however, making a “silk purse out of a sow’s ear.”  If designed well and installed properly the product can look terrific, but it’s still just laminate over particle board, not much different than IKEA. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
The best part of the company is getting to know the installers there. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
It is very stressful having to do not only the installers job but sometimes the designers too mainly when there's a mis-measures. management is incompetent and unaccountable for multiple reasons. All of it wouldn't be so bad if the installers would be paid properly, and weren't being treated like they don't matter to the company...

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Lots of driving anywhere from 30 minutes to 4 hour long drives everyday. Other than that the work environment is good

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
A typical day would be, getting to the shop, loading all the material, head to the job site which would be anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours away. I Start by unloading all the material and start installing and I install as much as possible until the day reaches 3 and then I drive back home.

a typical day at work included arriving at 5:30 am, checking off the job materiel, loading it into a van, driving it to the customer's house, troubleshooting several things on-site during the installation, and a thorough cleanup before leaving for the day. I learned how to communicate with customers quite professionally, how to troubleshoot more effectively, and a few carpentry/finish work skills I didn't already know. Management was largely disorganized and under qualified due to a rough company merger, often letting their personal feelings get in the way of their jobs. My co-workers were very hard working, highly skilled, and would help whenever they could. The hardest part of the job was the long hours, often 12 or more, from the  time I got to the shop until the time I got home. The most enjoyable part of the job was working in a bunch of beautiful homes, meeting all of the different customers, and getting a glimpse of their lives for a day.

This job offers flexibility, giving you a laptop, cellphone, and iPad, along with pretty comprehensive training during the initial weeks. Initially, you'll receive a decent number of quality leads. However, lead allocation then becomes inconsistent, driven more by manager preferences than performance. The commission structure is unclear, making it almost impossible to understand how to reach your goals and no one can provide a clear explanation. The workplace culture fosters criticism and a culture of blame.
Expectations frequently shift, including Saturday and occasional evening work but then you get in trouble if you clock overtime. Management provides minimal support, would ignore almost every email sent and offers little praise or acknowledgment after the first month. Communication regarding mistakes is very unprofessional, with a tendency towards being harsh and disrespectful. 

Generally positive experience working for a large corporate company.  Upper management seems to provide solid work structure and process flow, but middle management tended to infuse their own additional requirements which made the installers job more difficult with limited support.

Lots of freedom and plenty to learn. The group of installers were close and the most reliable sources of help. Many of the issues stemmed from communication breakdowns between management. Schedules were too tight leaving employees to apologize to customers for unmet expectations. Management seemed to operate from the best-case scenario in every aspect from lead times to installs.  Like most trades, the professionally designed installations often had to be altered by installers to properly fit the spaces.  

Good overall job for independent work, problem solving and ever changing work environments.

A typical day at work was looking at weekly schedule of installations that were scheduled. Coordinating with production on ingoing and outgoing materials. 
I've learned how the industry of closet design and how creative the many different features look. How the installation side of getting the clients' closets build on time and how the professional the employees I managed were.
Management was very structured. The workplace culture was very positive and outgoing. The hardest part about the job was learning the installation side to it but it was fundamentally awesome in working with my hands and appreciating a high quality finish of the closet.
Last, the most enjoyable part of the job was everything. My job allowed me to be in and out of the office and building a great rapport with the employees.

I worked out of Bellevue, WA.  It was VERY difficult to build business out of the showroom because the leads went to the most seasoned 'favorites'.  If you wanted to grow as a new person you had to find your own leads.  Not based on territory as originally thought.  You'd have to drive for an hour to see a job that may be in a trailer.  No guarantee that people weren't just using you for your measurements and designs to DIY.  100% commission was terrible for at least the first year.  The training was okay.  If you think you're working from home... think again. 

Very fun job when you start getting good leads and actually sit with people who could afford to purchase very high-priced storage spaces.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Installation technician 83 salaries reported	$23.87 per hour
Design consultant 41 salaries reported	$97,817 per year
Installer 14 salaries reported	$20.54 per hour
Liaison 33 salaries reported	$21.45 per hour
Warehouse associate 22 salaries reported	$20.25 per hour

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