outside sales representative

construction laborer

crew member

sales consultant

scheduler

The Foundation Specialists

Summary shoudl tell the whole story.  The Tennesee office is in better shape as far as personell and organization goes, but they still stick the production workers with the losses the company takes due to not training employees or salesman in a manner that would enable them to complete jobs safely and efficiently.  There is no overtime pay, they expect you to work 50-60 hours a week, and the incentive program they have is based off the assumption that the jobs you have to do are quoted accurately and that you have trained, quality guys to install product with.  Spoiler alert, this hardly ever happens, and although they will talk it up and pitch a great sale in the interview and meetings, you'll end up getting the butt end of the deal via straight time 110 hour paychecks.  

Oh, and that's only if they don't have issues getting you your pay on time, and they will fight tooth and nail not to get you your well deserved money the day that the mistake was made on their end.

They say they are using a motor carrier exemption to not pay OT.  The Department of Labor has already been contacted as this seems very fishy to me.  Online documentation seems to suggest they are not eligible for the exemption and that they are using this disingeniously to shirk company losses onto employees on the lower spots of the totem pole.  Maybe the DoL will investigate this aspect of the company and possibly force change and OT backpay.

Even if that happens, I do not reccomend coming onboard here, in ANY capacity.  I DO NOT reccomend having TFS install ANY "home solutions".  GO ELSEWHERE.  I wont even go into the immature hot head area supervisor for kentuckiana production, the willingly ignorant higher ups, the drug issues, the fact there is NO CLASSROOM training, they dont even teach guys about shoring holes when digging which is an OSHA standard....

I can go on and on.  Moneys not worth it.  Save your body or sell it to the next guy that will actually train you and pay you right.

In the beginning, everyone was super nice & I received some good sales training. I was assigned to a territory (that I found out later we could not advertise in). They belong to a network of dealers, where rivals sell the exact same solutions using the exact same presentation software. There was already a dealer in my area & many times homeowners had already seen the very presentation I had for them.
I was told that I would have 9 leads per week. I may have had a total of 2 weeks that generated this promised number of leads. Many days I did not have any leads at all.
Early on I did make a major mistake & provided a quote to every lead that I was given regardless of difficulty or price. There were so many leads that the cost of our repairs was way more than the value of the home. I was unaware that I could pass on these type leads as they counted against me in my closing percentages. It is hard to sell a fix for a house that's twice it's value. I wish I would have known about the network restrictions, the realistic amount of leads & the minimum metrics to base my employment on.
I was let go because of my number of closures. I have no idea what the minimum requirements were because they were never disclosed nor discussed. Another issue that I had was several sold jobs were never performed, reduced in scope or refunded entirely without any explanation. I had asked my superiors on multiple occasions only to receive a "I'll look into it" response. The position is straight commission so I believe I should have a right to know.
Once separated from the company, I had some commissions remaining to be paid. Again, another refund to a customer came from my check. I asked what this was about & was told they did not have to update me on details. I get it, I no longer work there. Who am I to question my own commission? I gave up on getting an answer.
Now I see how they seem to be constantly hiring with most salesmen being there under 1 year. It should have been a red flag that even the managers were under the 2-year time frame.

As someone who worked for company for several years, I can confidently say, no matter who you are, you CAN do better than this place. The ethics and morals at TFS are virtually nonexistent. They will use any excuse in the book to cut someone’s pay, “accidentally” mess up someone’s check (always comes out better for them), and find every loophole imaginable to not pay their employees what they deserve. This is especially true for the guys working in the field who work harder than anyone in the company, but continually get the short end of the stick. I watched my coworkers in production go from making a decent living and providing for their families, to barely scraping by after the pay structure was changed in a way that I’m not even entirely sure is legal. And they wonder why their turnover rate is so high (something like 70%, last I saw). I also received a pay cut around the same time which was equivalent to 20% of my salary, with no true explanation given other than one of the owners thought I “made too much”. Upper management, with the exception of a few, are a complete joke. I could honestly write a novel and provide countless examples of why you should never set foot in this place, let alone hire them to do shoddy work on your house, but they truly aren’t even worth the time. The only true positive I gained from working here were friendships I made with my coworkers through bonding over how much we hated the place. 

Please don’t fall into the trap because they are voted one of the “Top Workplaces”. They pay for that award. Save your time, your energy, and your sanity and look elsewhere.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Highly organized and a rare commitment to integrity. The support from all facets of employees is like nothing I’ve ever experienced after 30 years in this field of business. Hands down, top notch!

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Owning up to the high standards TFS expects. This does not cause me stress, but rather challenges me to be my best. The work environment insists on all of us winning as a team.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Extremely positive and cohesive. Team meetings on Mondays make it one of the best days of the week. I never want to miss a Monday and that may just sound crazy, but that’s how it is for me.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Never the same as I meet new people everyday and have the greatest opportunity to provide the best quality service and products to people who really need their homes whole again.

Hard work and a competitive spirit are two things heavily valued at TFS. Each day is an opportunity to connect with homeowners and help them fix their most valuable investment. 

Since i've been there I learned what healthy staff behaviors look like. Our managers are incredible at casting vision for our team. We meet weekly to make sure everyone is on the same page and has all the resources necessary to be successful in our industry.

While there are several departments within the company, we all strive towards one common goal. No one throws anyone "under the bus" at TFS. When expectations aren't met, we get corrected and are better for it, both professionally and personally.

The hardest part of the job is the hours we put in. But at the end of the day the hardest part leads to the most rewarding part of the job, which is improving peoples lives by improving the places they call home.

It was a great small company to work for until they started caring more about money than the employees. (Someone lost their life over a stupid truck key, because they accidentally took it home) They will hire someone at a leadership position instead of promoting from within. Always do things last minute. The actual crews are fun to work with, but management is what kills everything. They need to hire on merit versus I am a friend/buddy with so and so. 

I have seen people work for a few weeks and kiss up to a manager and get promoted to a leadership role instead of them promoting someone who is there working and knows what they are doing. Most of the leadership roles are filled by hiring outside people with usually ZERO experience. You will see a LOT of co formans training the formans.

The TFS culture is not by accident. From the leadership down there is support, encouragement, gratitude and collaboration. Each employee is thoroughly trained, consistently pushed to be the best they can be and reminded that each of us get to serve homeowners daily. The products and the production crews are unmatched. Even though TFS serves thousands of homeowners each year, working there is like a close, tight-knit family. Case in point, this morning I received a hand-written thank you card from the owner for my efforts. Who does that? TFS does. There is unity, diversity, opportunity and a purpose to improve people's lives. The pay is generous but the reward for jobs well done is priceless.

Moving into the role of design specialist was a stark career change for me that I would not have made had I not felt good about the morals and culture with the next company I worked for - TFS has done nothing but deliver exactly that. The role of design specialist is quite a challenging one, but the management and the rest of the team is incredibly supportive, informative, constructive, and so kind. There is quite the learning curve, and a bit of dirty work involved going under homes into crawlspaces, but they give you all of the training, knowledge, and support needed to succeed with continuous support. 

High turnover in their sales department as new recruits are cycled in monthly.  You are out upwards of a $500 to a $1000 plus for the purchase of a PC and or MAC plus the needed tools and apparel before you get started selling. Lots of free lunches during the three week training but no quantifiable training on the software used to administer the sale. Zero training on the CAD (Computer Aided Design) that is integral to using the software. "Don't Over Think It' is an often repeated mantra while in training. It appears with the churn rate you are given about 30 days before you will be cut loose if you are not meeting their internal metrics. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Outside sales representative 10 salaries reported	$168,750 per year
Construction laborer 5 salaries reported	$18.50 per hour
Crew member 6 salaries reported	$21.00 per hour
Sales consultant 33 salaries reported	$87,500 per year
Scheduler 1 salary reported	$38,500 per year

Working at The Foundation Specialists: Company Overview and Reviews

The Foundation Specialists

The Foundation Specialists Ratings

Popular jobs at The Foundation Specialists

Salary Satisfaction

Job Seeker Tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected