design consultant

designer

installation technician

sales

factory worker

Closet Factory

I cannot speak to the experience of Closet Factory as a corporation, only a single branch, so your mileage at the company elsewhere may vary from what I and others have experienced at my branch. I have worked multiple positions at this company and feel like I have a good grasp of it from the bottom up.

Let me start with the positive. Closet Factory at it's core has a great set up as a cabinet supplier. This franchise has a decent shop set up, a fairly good in-house engineering support team, and their sales leads are constant. The physical setup of the place is great. Other than that...there isn't much to say on this front. Does this help employees? Maybe, maybe not. See below.

The negative is something I can expand on more. The set up of a company in this industry is crucial for success...but so are the people. I have worked basically every type of menial job you can think of from labor jobs to corporate type jobs. I've worked closely with every department in Closet Factory itself. I can tell you with complete confidence that this Closet Factory, in my experience, has one of the worst workplace cultures I've ever seen. Constant in fighting, conflicting goals of each department, and lack of management skills just shoots this aspect of the company in the foot. 

This will be highly dependent on department, but if you're someone who needs just your standard job with low-standard pay as a stepping stone to another place, this may work for you just fine. If you're looking for career advancement, well, prepare for a bumpy ride. In my experience here, your success directly correlates to how well management likes you. Full stop. End of story. You may be thinking that this is typical in the modern workplace and you'd be right. The issue is this particular team will lure you in with illusions of grandeur whether you're applying to be a shop body or you want to join the design/sales team. Again, this being my experience, most of this will be nonsense. If the managers here don't like you, regardless of how you perform, you will be held back, shunned, or in extreme cases be made to feel as though you may as well quit.

The management is so dysfunctional it's incredible they can get anything done at all. It always seemed like they preferred having meetings about how to solve issues rather than executing any plan to actually solve said problems. It also seemed to me that their main focus(aside from very few positive cases) that their main focus was to simply be there to point fingers or punish someone if something went wrong. Rarely did I see leads take any accountability for mistakes made whether it was them or not. It made for a very demoralizing environment in which myself and several others didn't feel welcome or valued. However, if there was any whiff of the same key employees hunting other work, then the puppy dog eyes came out and they didn't want you to leave. Weird. Their support is virtually non existent. They expect above and beyond work with zero promise of additional compensation, promotion, or workplace culture improvement. The attitude is very old school if I had to give it a term. You know, the hypothetical "One minute the company is making record sales every month, if you have a meeting about a raise then it isn't in the budget, and then they might just decide to spend a bunch of money on a Christmas party to pat themselves on the back or buy themselves a new car" type thing. (Hypothetical example, but you get the point.) Each manager had their own little quirks but the thing they all shared is how territorial and controlling they are. Micromanagement is at an all time high here but if you follow everything to the letter then you aren't thinking for yourself or being a team player...which eventually creates a negative feedback loop that is very difficult to escape. 

The shop work is pretty standard. Sand this, saw that, assemble here. Nothing extraordinary here, and the low pay reflects it.

Installers may have it the hardest. Long, long hours. Strenuous work. Kept on a tight leash and blamed for everything that goes wrong in the field(whether it was your fault or not.) I wouldn't recommend this job except to single 20-25 year olds who want to do nothing but work. You'll probably make a decent living, but you won't be happy about it or have time for much else. 

Office work will depend on what part you're in. Front office seemed to be the lowest turnover rate and seemed like a typical receptionist position. If you're in the "engineering" department as they like to call it, your role technically being to finalize jobs for the shop to process/cut and support design and shop departments, will quickly devolve into being the problem solvers of the whole company. That is a very stressful position that seems to take a zen master to remain patient in given how much they are blamed for everything that goes wrong in the company. 

Then there's the design staff. Again, the set up here is great. Leads are just handed to you and scheduled, all you have to do is show up and sell the product. In theory. What they aren't super clear on is A. How little you will be paid in your first 90 days(and make sure you ask about the details of this specifically as it's quite vague) and B. The quality of leads will, again, depend highly on whether or not you are well liked. Period. The only instances of this will be if you are a top 1-3 seller in the company, in which case you can do virtually anything you want with no repercussions. If you sell decently AND are well liked then you will be prioritized to get the bigger/better jobs. Which on the surface makes sense but I've heard other designers never be given the opportunity to sell these types of jobs so they are essentially set up for failure. They do not provide a laptop, phone, gas(much less vehicle), or any sort of support for the sales/design team other than MANDATORY UNPAID meetings every other week. It is straight commission job only so unless you hit a certain threshold of sales, you might end up losing money if you aren't careful. They also may lure you in claiming to take the design/sales position for "part time work" or something like that. Which I don't believe is accurate as they will tell you in training you need to meet a certain number of leads per month. For the right person(and well liked person by management), this is a VERY lucrative position with huge earning potential. For your average salesman, I'd steer clear of it.  Upon looking around the area for sales positions even in the same industry, several other companies not only pay a base salary to cover gas and other costs, but often their commission rate was even or higher than Closet Factory. Do your homework. 

As I said earlier your experience may be very different than mine depending on where you are. The clientele, management, and even culture of the area will all play a role in what you get out of Closet Factory. For mine, it just isn't a healthy place to work for most people nor is it a wise choice for a career path. I stopped working here a while back and moved on to greener pastures. Some people have great success here and more power to them. It just wasn't for me. 

The company lures you with a promising commission structure, but don't tell you that after paying for your own gas, tolls, laptop, internet, cell phone (all of which are required to do the job), you make less than minimum wage for the first few months. It's a very long ramp up period. Installations are minimum 8 weeks out, so that means you don't earn half of your commission for at least 2 months. Then you will end up making around $15-16/hr. So it's good for people who just want something to do to keep them busy, or who have spouses who have good salaries and not concerned about making money or having healthcare, or good for retired people. There's a lot of competition for the same type of service out there, and the consultations for the clients are free, and 99% of the clients don't care about your time. You end up having to discount a lot in order to win the bid, but that also means less commission, too. You're in charge of how much you work, but the reality is that they pile on so many appointments during a week that you end up working overtime, which is also not paid. Some days you end up driving 200 miles. There are no reimbursements nor any benefits nor a base salary. The training is outdated and incomplete, and forces you to spend a ton of time redoing and correcting designs because you weren't given the right information in the first place. Communication between different departments aren't clear nor aligned so it creates plenty of confusion for the newbies. Also, mandatory meetings aren't paid. The commissions simply aren't high enough to offset the expenses. 

If you like driving a lot, doing a lot of work onsite/offsite and not getting paid for it, and don't mind paying for your own gas, expenses, wear and tear on your vehicle, then this job is great for you. 

Closet Factory has by far been my favorite career opportunity yet. The schedule is absolutely so flexible, I can work when I want and usually put in 3 hours to 6 hours of total work time while making double the salary than I did in corporate position. I truly enjoy helping homeowners and improving their space and being part of designing and color selection. Its quite fun, almost like the Sims game but in real life! Once you get through the learning curve of software (1-2 weeks), the rest comes easily and naturally. Management is constantly improving software/contracts, making it easy and more efficient for designers and staff. I truly enjoy the culture! Everyone is a team player and there is 0 negativity with management or coworkers. Whenever we all are together everyone gets along and helps one another. Its very much a dream job and I love all the support and comradery. Of course you get your occasional nightmare customers but that is with every sales job and is inevitable. If you do your job WELL, you will succeed and you will be rewarded with good leads. You must be outgoing and a go-getter! I am extremely happy with the management and my direct manager, this is usually hard to find but I found my unicorn job for sure!

This was known/upfront, but sometimes I am hesitant to take a vacation because there is no paid time off. I feel this would be a nice benefit especially since we pay for our own gas, tolls and laptop as well. I assume this is up to corporate. Better health/vision/dental benefits would also be a plus. However, they do offer great 401k benefit and representative! 

Keep up the great work, all the designers have noticed and are thankful for the software upgrades, commission increase/benefits, as well as improvements to office/showroom. It is also appreciated that they are proving leads by inspecting them more and assigning designers quality leads! 

Make no mistake, the designer position is a SALES position. 

You will be expected to go to a customer's house to make and CLOSE the sale right then and there. If the customer want to discuss with their husband or wife, too bad, you need to close the sale anyway. If the customer needs time to figure out what it is exactly they want to do with a space and "sleep on it" because there are a lot of options, too bad, you need to help them figure that out right there on the spot and close the sale anyway. If the client has other bids pending, too bad, you need to close the sale anyway. Starting to see the pattern here...?

Most closet companies will send a designer and go back to the office to do the design. TCF designers will design while on site and close the sale right then and there. There's no base pay, so the more you make, the more the company makes. It's a pyramid scheme that's worked for 30+ years, which makes it arguable that it's not a scheme, but ultimately it is, given the sales tactics that are used. 

The worst part about this approach to design is that management doesn't see that a lack of sales doesn't mean a lack of effort. There is just no chance of management seeing it any other way. All they want is to hear is that you closed the sale. You can do everything shy of putting a gun to the client's head and they may or may not buy. You can do everything right and still not get the sale. All management will focus on is yes or no did you get the sale. Anything other than "yes" is just seen as an excuse.

Bottom line: It's like being a traveling car salesman in the sense that the same tactics are used (I would know, I used to sell cars too!). So, if you're good at that, GO FOR IT! But if you want to be a designer and understand that the design process takes time, skip The Closet Factory and move on.

At first glance, the job sounds attractive and promising. However, internally there are several issues that affect long term growth and overall job satisfaction. Management does not seem supportive of employees progressing or gaining long term benefits. There is no clear path for advancement from helper to lead, and expectations are not well defined.

In addition, internal rules often feel unfair to installers. Work schedules are unpredictable, and you rarely know what time you will finish your day, which makes it difficult to maintain any work-life balance. Although the company promotes the role as a full season job, if you get sick or are unable to attend a job site for any reason, your workdays may be reduced.

When it comes to growth, even if you are motivated to move up, management tends to find reasons not to offer raises or promotions. There is also a lack of quality control internally. Designers and engineers often do not provide efficient or complete plans, leaving installers to solve issues on site with limited resources. This frequently leads to very long workdays, sometimes reaching 12 to 14 hours.

Additionally, employees are discouraged from discussing their wages with coworkers, which creates a lack of transparency and trust within the team. This makes it harder for workers to understand their value or advocate for fair compensation.

Overall, the impression is that the company prioritizes maximizing profit through low cost labor rather than supporting and developing its employees. There is a noticeable lack of balance between working conditions and employee well-being.

Closet Factory is a great job for those that would like to learn design and project management. When I began I was offered 3 months paid training. After training my earnings were based solely on comission. If you are not good at sales and follow through this is not the job for you. 

This job was great because it gave me the ability to make my own schedule. I mainly worked from home unless I was going to a clients home. You only need to go to the office about once or twice a week maximum which is another plus. THere is no cap on commission and the offer a great bonus package. The also have a steady flow of leads, so if you are good with your sales, you will have a lot of lead flow.

The reason I would not recomend this job to anyone has to do with management. Mainly the production and installation side of things. Installers do not follow designs and projects that are carefully planned by designer. This leads to a lot of issues with the customer. I spent 60 precent of my time cleaning up a mess left by installers and production because they did not follow what I had done. Also the communication between customer serivce and clients can get pretty nasty at times causing for more heart ach from the customer. 

This company has a great business model but poorly exicutes opperations which leads to many inconsistancies that the client sees a lot of the time. There are many other companies that do not have these issues. I would reccomend working with one of them instead.

The training curriculum is non existent and needs work. You basically have to train yourself at home through their online training program they provide. There are no benefits here, and it will take you months to feel stable and on your feet. $50/a day for the 4 week training period is not enough, plus, you must provide your own laptop, measuring tools, and gas. They will not compensate you for gas as you travel from client to client. Management are great, genuine people who do care about you and the business. But they are so quick to turn on each other behind their backs about how they should be doing things differently instead of just speaking to each other or their designers to find a mutual understanding. They seem to want growth and development, but are hesitant to change their ways, or too stubborn to listen. 

My manager and boss are both the best I have ever worked for but when you work in the shop the pay is no where near where it should be and others agree even the manager. Our installers are making between 50 and 70k a year while our highest payed employee in the shop (not including manager) makes $17.00 an hour and he has worked for this company for over 20 years. The average pay in the shop is $14.00 per hour and the newest guy (an 18 yeat old) is getting payed $12.50 per hour meaning the other 4 other people in thr shop(with the exception of the oldest shop worker) are within $1.50 per hour more than him and he for the most part doesn't comprehend most tasks very well. We build laminate tops, do custom hand tapping, hand build doors with glass inserts, use a CNC machine, operate a fork loft and build drawer boxes, mow and edge the lawn, etc.... this company seems to focus more on speed and processing time versus prescision and efficency. We do however get work off from decemeber 23/24 - jan 1st, and during our christmas party (which is awesome) we usualy get a bonus that's anywhere from $500 to $1,500 depending on the past year's sales, and whether your an installer, a designer, or shop worker. Shop workers get the least amount.

At Closet Factory of Austin, I have really found my dream career. I was in the hospitality industry for 15 years, being capped at a salary unless I became the owner. At Closet Factory - the sky is the limit. As a hard worker, I am able to take on as many appointments and I can handle a month, and design/sell my heart out. At first, the CAD program was a learning curve. As I started getting better with help from our owners, I can successfully design a closet in less than 10 minutes. This enables me to design for our clients on site and give them an accurate pricing structure before leaving. 

I am able to take vacations, days off, time off for personal appointments, and still make over 80k a year, PLUS monthly bonuses. It is hard work, detail oriented, but at the end of the day- the most rewarding job I have ever had. My owners are 100% the hardest working individuals I have ever come across. They wear many hats as we are a smaller franchise- but ANYTIME we need help in ANY area of our business, they are the first ones there. I will continue to work hard as I stand behind my owners, my product, and my installation team. We are truly a family and always helping eachother out as much as we can. 

Meeting my clients and seeing the design go from measuring studs in a recently built home- to an installed pinterest closet- is the most fascinating part of my job. If you work hard and like to make dreams come true for clients, this is your dream job too!

Closet factory has more managers than staff. They were actually letting go of production members to allow more budget for manager hiring. A huge heavy workload falls on a select few people in the shop. The owner and Head of hr know nothing of what goes on in the shop but come out to make you fear their positions. Never once were we told good job, never were we made to feel good about going above and beyond. Working weekends And crazy hours was never met with a thank you. While their were deadlines for jobs to go out on mondays no manager (with as many as they are) ever came in to make sure things were getting done. The owner starts bonus incentives only to then take them away once your conditions for bonus are met. He will mess with your hours, your check, and criticize everything you do for him. He expects you to know what he wants. They do not train properly, and when you do make an error no one will inform you. They just let it build up until they fire you. No one will come to you and say hey this was wrong, this is how it should be.. even after not training to begin with. The structure is a joke and it becomes more laughable day after day. Wages are -19 below state average and he will not offer a raise unless he’s backed in a corner with the thought of losing you. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Design consultant 59 salaries reported	$110,685 per year
Designer 30 salaries reported	$96,167 per year
Installation technician 28 salaries reported	$24.18 per hour
Sales 11 salaries reported	$100,000 per year
Factory worker 15 salaries reported	$18.30 per hour

Working at Closet Factory: Company Overview and Reviews

Closet Factory

Closet Factory Ratings

Popular jobs at Closet Factory

Salary Satisfaction

Job Seeker Tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected