project engineer

project manager

account executive

construction project engineer

senior mechanical engineer

McKinstry

Work load isnt bad.  

The project and leadership really made a difference in the overall experience.  There's a ton of nice people and great manager there.  Sometimes difficulties with the client, it's makes sense there will be contention.  This project needed extremely talented leadership or problem solving due to it's sheer size and low budget. Our project was complicated which to me I love.  I spoke to many different teams and tried to find ways to help other teams solve problems where current process were failing.  Since the project was so large, many of the time they needed help pin pointing potential problem areas quickly.  Also I found ways to improve report development time. 

 I also figured out how to measure qa/qc of the data,  this was causing contention between management and a subsidiary company.  No one created measures or targets.  Conversations between management was mostly finger pointing.   Management had no clue they needed a measure of qa/qc for guidance.  This just seems like basic business principals 101.  There's a problem.  Define the problem with just relevant information.  Include those who are relevant in the solution.  Define how to measure and monitor.  Define a processes that keeps the work manageable and also gets the work down to something manageable.  So I did that.  Not leadership.  I wasn't in a leadership position or getting paid that much.  I wasnt even boastful about it or asking for raise.  I did it to stop the unescarry contention that was coming from managment finger pointing because they lack technical expertise and go to finger pointing than figuring out how to solve using empirical processes.  Ive run and know to improve running you need some sort of measure and training plan.  It's basic.  

 So there was a lot of things working against this being a non toxic work environment.  When things got tough, the management didn't have the skills they needed to problem solve nor were they able recognize and utelize talent within their team.  I was asked to change metrics because they made the client look bad.  Just basic principle of smart goals is you create measure.  If a team isn't gathering data correctly and it gives a misleading kpi, you report that, you dont remove the metric.  You try to figure out ways to improve ease of data collection.  That's just one example of them wanting analytics just to showcase., not to improve and showcase as the boasted.  This type of management happened outside of data analytics.  Work started to build up and it really became working on a team of people tired vs those who just wanted to do the corporate retreats and say things are good despite failing processes.   The management on my project learned the buzz words data driven, but didn't know how to actually be data driven.  They just kinda did things willy nilly.  It wasn't a good work environment of progress and innovation and personal respect.

Before I came here I was told McKinstry was the top Mech Contractor to work at in the NW. That image soon came crumbing down after I was employed. I signed on with promises for career advancement with the help of a direct path and a healthy work-life balance. Managment is greatly disconnected from their employees, because they are overworked and are promoted without proper training. The operations management, instills this kind of culture and holds way to much power over every single project (Think massive micromanagement). What is called the "McKinstry Way" is really just a bunch of unorganized processes and policies that infect every tier of project at McKinstry and is also a running joke to employees that say they have to work extra hours just to complete the "McKinstry Way", which is unfortunate as projects are usually not manned correctly to accommodate the extra hours required to complete all of the processes (You can thank the sales team for that). Direct manager's that are assigned rarely check-in with you or hold any sort of team building events. What's worse, the so-called work life balance doesn't exist as I was told by several colleagues,  including management that you need to work 10-12 hours a day to be a successful manager. That being said, there really are some really good, smart individuals that work at McKinstry that I really enjoy working with. Unfortunately most of that is fore-shadowed by poor management and silos that groups within Mckinstry operate.

I would always start work 1/2 hour early, Start my night off looking at my email, look at what wo's and pm's I had then start hourly readings on all 4 chillers and water usage , then start nightly rounds like checking all Air Handler Units, all Switch gear rooms , Check all 6 Generators , checked all restrooms for any leaks or broken fixtures , Spent 2 hours a night in control room to watch for any alarms on equipment (BMS) Building Managing system , then would work on what wo's and pm's I had.Management was great to work with , Co - workers weren't very good to work with , they would stab you in the back fast, some weren't very helpful ,liked to keep their experiences on equipment to themselves and didn't like to teach, did learn more on AHU'S and RO System .  Benefits were great , company paid for me to go to gym , and insurance was great. Best part of job was I could work on my own and learn as much as I could by working on equipment

When considering the quality of contracts and projects, the company carries a good reputation among contractors and receives good high quality projects and contracts. The design team is a rather toxic and overworked environment with little incentive program to follow through on bringing your best to the table. It seems to be an environment where everybody works really hard to make the boss look good and pad the bosses bonus. Loyalty is non-existent and you will be separated from them if you push back and have an opinion that is contrary. The team has seen nearly 75% turnover over the past 3-5 years under the new management, among all three branches, and tenure is like a revolving door. Verbal onslaught and demands beyond 40 hour work weeks are disrespectfully demanded and not appreciated. Great company, but grossly mis-managed division of the company. 

The culture at McKinstry is what first drew me to the company. Very outgoing group pf people, all seemingly with the same goals and insights. The company mission and future outlook on building a better planet is fantastic, and the drive and innovation displayed is very promising. But after about a year I was faced with strain from my manager to complete menial tasks and was criticized for what they determined to be a lack communication. Across the board, supervisors are promoted to managers with what feels like little or no training, and they struggle with varying work personalities and preferences. The strain of Covid did not help this, and I saw a few friends who left the company as a result.

Not sure about Seattle but here in the SF bay area McKinstry is little known.  They are a decent company but have very little presence here in SF bay area.  From my two years with them, regardless of their spin/pitch on themselves, are just a typical run of the mill outsource contractor.  Ive worked in facilities with multiple facility outsource companies such as McKinstry, not much difference between them.  Personally, once the outsourcing trend took hold, things went downhill in a hurry.  I say try to find an in house position if at all possible, you will be better off!

What is the best part of working at the company?
A good team of guys at work hand-in-hand with each other having all the proper tools that you needed felt like home felt like brothers

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
At best, there was probably struggles with certain wire poles, but that’s typical job stuff

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The environment was an environment of unity, pulling together and working together for a common good

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Many different tasks I’m just ready to jump in and do what I gotta do put it together. Pull wire make up panels fire up the circuits.

The job is very stressful but the people are great and the amenities are fantastic. I love that they had the specialty coffee machines in every area so you can always get a cappuccino with an extra shot.  the gym was great too. i would go for half of my lunch and there are weights, tread mills, weight machines and full locker rooms ( the men's are bigger than the women's... grrr ) and so many community culture events to attend if you really want to be a part of the Mckinstry family. The cafeteria was great too. privately catered to order every day from 6a-2p.

I really enjoyed my time at McKinstry.  The job provided me great flexibility, I was compensated well with the exception of not having a commission structure, it was straight salary.  The people are great and the Seattle office is a show place to bring clients and friends.  There is ample opportunity within the company to cross train and find something else to do within the company.  If it were not for an out of this world opportunity that came to me, I would still be there.

A typical day at work
 - HVAC system design

What you learned
 - Humidity Control of high rise hotels exceeding twenty five stories.                                                              
 - Hot and chilled water system for large commercial buildings.          
 - Commercial kitchen exhaust and cooling systems.                     
 - Variable Air Volume (VAV) systems for large buildings.                   
 - Hazardous exhaust systems.                                                            
 - Laboratory exhaust systems.
 - Building pressurization.   
 - Radiant heating for aircraft hangars, commercial spaces and storage areas.                                                                             
 - Make-up air systems for hotels, air hangers, commercial kitchens and storage areas.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Project engineer 5 salaries reported	$93,800 per year
Project manager 4 salaries reported	$112,500 per year
Account executive 3 salaries reported	$116,667 per year
Construction project engineer 6 salaries reported	$34.75 per hour
Senior mechanical engineer 6 salaries reported	$143,917 per year

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