maintenance technician

office coordinator

guest service agent

groundskeeper

housekeeper

Sun Communities

You will live at work, literally. You must live on site in the mobile home park, which means you are essentially never off the clock. For many people without a family, these type of hours won’t be a problem. If you need time with your kids, this job isn’t for you though. 

Overall compensation is not bad (in line with the industry average), until you figure out what you’re actually getting on an hourly basis. Many times I added up all of the hours needed to work, and figured out that I was only making a little over what the hourly office staff was making. 60+ hours / week, and many weekends will be necessary & expected. 

Very negative management culture. This isn’t specific to one location either. We’re able to see and hear from management all the way up to the corporate level quite often. Realistic monthly goals are often raised to unrealistic numbers, followed by a “why are you failing to hit these goals?” chain of emails at the end of the month. When goals are hit or exceeded, there’s a still a feeling of disappointment from upper management that it wasn’t an even better month. 

I’m definitely not someone that needs any kind of “pat on the back” for a good job done or anything like that, but the focus from upper management in this company is only constantly on things that they can find wrong. Monthly site inspections were extremely focused on only the negative. You may think you’re making progress within the community, and doing a good job, but you’ll end each site inspection feeling pretty terrible about yourself and your career. This was even much worse from the next level above Regional Management. It’s an odd culture, that I’ve honestly never experienced at other companies (and I’ve been with several in this industry, from moving around the state). 

If the compensation was above average that would be one thing, but it’s not. You don’t need this type of company culture in your life, when you can find the same compensation at a different company.  



I will give credit to Sun for putting money into their assets. They do truly care about their residents and the product they offer. However, the amount of Administrative tasks that are required of all the staff is overwhelming. A good Manager cannot be locked up in their office all day everyday. There are too many people in corporate involved in your day to day operation that don't nesissarily have the correct information or who get frustrated when you don't understand. You must try very hard to build relationships so that your requests are placed at the top of the pile. All in all, though, the corporate office team are good people who do want to see you succeed. It also depends on the Regional Manager that is in place as well as the Community in which you work. Although there are many great Regionals, there are some that are not so easy to work with or may unintentionally misguide you. You must do your due diligence to ensure that you are doing things the Sun way. Some communities require more work than others. It depends on the size, previous ownerships relationships with the residents and the number of entities that the community has. The higher the lot rent is, the more likely the community is going to be difficult to manage. Expectations are high but achievable with the proper support. They could use some increases in pay for certain positions like Managers who do not live on site, Maintenance staff and Office Coordinators. However, Sun is not opposed to increasing salaries for certain positions if the need is properly presented. The rest of the salaries are pretty fair.  Sun has to realize that not all situations are black and white. They've lost some real quality Managers throughout the gray area. It's a difficult job with many facets, mistakes are going to happen from time to time.

Working at Sun has its perks as well as its drawbacks. Salary and benefits are pretty good on the surface, but once you realize that you’re expected to be on call to answer emails and phone calls at all times and it’s almost impossible to enjoy your paid time off because your workload is so intense, it seems pretty low. Sun expects their community managers to do the job of 2+ people and puts a lot of pressure on their employees. Upper management could use some lessons in communication — you’re always being told one thing by a manager and then a different manager comes in and tells you something completely different. Then you just have to guess whose directions to follow, and if you guess wrong, it’s not a fun time. Very confusing. There’s a lot of bureaucratic red tape that managers deal with on a day to day basis that wastes time which would be better served focusing on resident relations. One positive is that it’s nice to have your own office building. They also have employees from the corporate office working from home because they don’t think it’s safe for them to return to in person work, and yet community managers are all being forced to fly into Florida in November for a conference/giant party in the middle of a pandemic. Clearly there is a lack of consistency on whose safety is valued.

I have worked for Sun Communities for almost 3 years and have worked hard the whole time not just physically but I have also figured out a lot of solutions to many problems that have been plaguing this community for the last 12+ years since it was built using random materials that I can scrounge up because I get hardly any budget to buy materials needed to complete projects yet I only make 43 cents an hour more than I did when I started because they do not give descent raises no matter how hard you work. My first raise was 3%(36 cents), my second raise was only .60%(7 cents!) and my upcoming third raise that I've recently been promised(I'll believe it when I see it) will be a little less then 2%(24 cents) and I've worked my butt off since I've been there and this is how they show their appriciation. 

IT IS INSULTING!!!!!!

I have 30+ years experience but that does not matter one bit to them.
Though I will say that if you kiss the manager's butt you can get away with murder even if you just stand around. I don't even make enough to be able to rent my own apartment and am forced to rent a room from someone and with the rate that the cost of living is going up I will never ever be able to either if I keep working for Sun Communities.

DEAD END JOB!!!

Been employed with Sun for almost 3 weeks now, first paycheck was mailed on the 11th of the month to be here by the 13th, 1st paycheck even though you have direct deposit is a always a paper check- so here it is the 21 of the month and no check.  Yes my address is correct, as is the rest of my information.  
But instead of stopping payment on the old check, and overnight me a new one- guess what now I'm gonna have to wait another two weeks for them to stop the old check, and USPS another one which will take another two weeks, by the time I get my first check, my job will have ended for the season and I will have two direct deposits into my account already.

And they wonder why they cant keep people-why no one comes back  for the next season.  They could care less about their people.
 
Lower pay than the local big box store, failure to support their employees, failure to pay on time(especially a new employee who may NEED that check to get back and forth to work)  I'm embarrassed to say I work for them truly-I never tell anyone who my employer is, I'm looking for another job as we speak.  Not all of us are snowbirds-not all of us just want to work for a season, a lot of us just want a real job with a reliable company- news for ya -it isn't this one

I truly enjoy working with Sun Communities.  We are an extended family.  My typical day includes a team meeting where the daily tasks are given, driving around the community and chatting with residents, coming back to the office and completing my daily tasks which typically include paying / contacting vendors, showing homes we have listed, planning events for the residents, attending zoom meetings, etc.  I feel my current RVP is very easy to talk to and get advice from.  She is always encouraging and willing to help in any way she can.  I feel like I am valued member of the team.  
The hardest part of my job is making commitments.  I hate feeling like I'm letting my team down.  The best part of my job is the team, both here at this property and throughout the country.  I've met people from all walks of life and we all have the same goal, to encourage each other and help wherever we can.  I love helping and in return getting the mentorship I need as well!  
Today marks my 5th year with Sun Communities and I look forward to being here for a long time to come.  I am able to reach and learn and move up and I appreciate all those who invest their time in me to help me achieve my goals!

Sun is more interested in making certain the stock holders are taken care of. Raises are NOT performance biased but are a annual 2%, period. A new hire was brought in making what took me years to make and because he was married received more than me.
Promotions don't exist. It can be a dead end job however, we need our pay check to live and traveling to another job did not make financial sense (cost to travel, fuel expenses, etc. so I stayed).
The company does not have any technical programs to help you to learn trades like HVAC, or building trades. Most of the time we called our repairs in to outside vendors. I have crawled under houses to locate water leaks, or to remove dead varmints from the insulation under the house, no problem.   
Management at our location was great when they hired the right one.
Most enjoyable part of the job was making certain the repairs were completed on time making our resident happy. What I enjoyed about maintenance was repairing things. If a faucet was leaking we generally replaced it. Most of the time the job was great.
The most daunting was having to clean the rock beds as the residents didn't do it. Residents could be a pill, we had to notify them to pay their rent or give them violation notices. some negatives of the job.

As far as Sun communities is concerned I would never ever recommend this place to anyone the pay is insulting they keep their employees below poverty management are blooming idiots and could give two craps about their employeeshere at this park we have to maintenance workers take care of a 1100 sites and it keep telling us they can't afford to hire new maintenance employees which is bs we don't have the equipment we need to work with 9 million-year-old tracker that doesn't run half the time all in all this place is a craphole and I will be leaving soon so stay as far away from this company as you possibly can because you will get yourself into a hole that you'll never get out of because they don't care about their employees and they certainly don't pay you what you're worth but they expect you to work your butt off all day long plus they expect you to use your personal tools because they won't provide you with tools to do your job if you work for the company and live in the park they don't give you any real kind of discount that helps you they just keep taking away and taking away and taking away and make me work harder and harder and harder but don't compensate you for the work you're doing so all in all I would never ever recommend this place to anyone stay away

What is the best part of working at the company?
I enjoyed working for Sun Communities, they pay well and have good benefits. The company is based out of Michigan, and there are levels of management that things have to be approved through. They may be a little top heavy.  Good place to work. I worked for them for 6 months, left for health reasons and I needed more time off for health based appointments. I need to work part-time. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Management, there are  a lot of levels of management and sometimes management changes plans that have already been in place.  Then you have to scramble to make new plans. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The work environment was good and the culture is friendly and helpful. Just frustrating when management approves something, then a manager cancels those plans. Special event scheduling was difficult as someone always kept changing plans. We had a special event scheduled and food vendors booked, then the date and food was changed last minute. Had to cancel contracts with food vendors. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Normal - 8 to 5, Tuesday - Friday and Saturday 10-4pm. I really would prefer a job with weekends off.

I worked for Sun Communities a little under two months as a Resort Pool Attendant. It was a hardworking and stressful job because of being understaffed and overworked the load of things to do takes a toll on a person. So I wasn't happy overall and I wasn't accepting of my hourly schedule either because I go to college. Management did not work with me in being flexible with creating a steady 40 hour work week. I was never brought to the side to talk about creating a steady schedule for my work/life balance and time-management lifestyle. That is actually what Sun promotes and teaches within their Sun University but it is not being fulfilled within the workplace for some. Even after talking to my two managers a few times about my hours they didn't care to make any changes which I needed them to do so I could attend school. Management would rather lose an employee, which they need people in all departments, instead of working with them and their schedules. I put in a one week notice because I couldn't continue on knowing and feeling like my most important need as an employee was not being met by my immediate managers because it was not.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Maintenance technician 125 salaries reported	$19.13 per hour
Office coordinator 36 salaries reported	$17.55 per hour
Guest service agent 27 salaries reported	$17.00 per hour
Groundskeeper 24 salaries reported	$16.70 per hour
Housekeeper 16 salaries reported	$15.97 per hour

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