Nienhuis Contracting - Saskatoon

Anthony is a great guy to work with

Amazing experience. These guys get it done.

Ah Nienhuis. I worked here for 3 m's then got laid off due to Covid/Season layoffs. My interview was interesting to say the least. I got hired with what seemed to be little consideration. It seemed as though many of the ppl on the crew were hired this way as well. Some experienced and some not. When I asked about wages, Anthony (the boss) asked me what I made at my last construction job. I told him $20/hr and we agreed on just that. Later I found out that my pay was $18/hr. I repeatedly tried to contact Anthony about this. He would answer saying he was busy, out for dinner or some other bs along with my favourite line, "We will talk wages next week" "Next week"... Nienhuis is as professional with consulting with their employees as they are with hiring them. As the coward he was, Anthony wouldn't bother facing me but rather avoiding me. So don't expect to get paid what you agree on. The 1st day of work there was an accident right off the bat to set things in motion. I would sweep concrete floors for the next couple weeks. I was told I'd be doing poly and plywood. I started out doing plywood and this was increasingly difficult as my coworker was inexperienced with the task. With little to no instruction I worked based off of how my father taught me. But according to the foreman it was wrong. He should have told us the "correct method" when we started. Another day I started stapling poly with a very inexperienced coworker. We hadn't done poly on this big of a scale before. We were told, "put up the poly", as if we were professionals. My coworker stapled up the poly very loosely and as a result the foreman made me sweep floors. I don't even have my proper licenses but we were instructed to operate machinery without them. On our 12 hr shifts we were given a 30min break to eat and warm up a little. Most of the tools were used heavily and many days I had difficulty using them since they didn't work in the cold as well. Not one heater was brought out to our jobsite. So we toughed it out this last winter. After being done at this site we moved onto a smaller chicken barn near Saskatoon during December, 2020. Here the pace was relaxed throughout. But frustrations came when there was a lack of material, tools and workers as time went on. The porta potty was full for the 1st couple weeks of being here. After finally being changed another issue came up within the last couple weeks of work which was a toilet paper shortage. There was lack of leadership and responsibility especially near the end of my time working here. Our hrs unexpectedly got cut to 8 instead of 12. Therefore I struggled with bills. On the 3rd last day of work, all but the foreman seemed to know about the 90km wind storm coming the next day. Little was prepared for it. When the storm hit, it ruined alot of what was only tacked up by the foreman. What needed 30 screws only got 3. Our foreman showed up, looked around then left us. The customer angry, stepped up and helped us. We were all questioning "where's the foreman?". Never seen him again. The damage must have been too overwhelming for him. We were standing around with no instruction, no work and an irresponsible leader who left us. Wow. The customer was not impressed. Hell I don't recommend you work here or hire them if this is the case. Whole damn thing was a f***ing mess which describes Nienhuis. I hope this economic crash teaches your company a lesson. Seriously disappointing, irresponsible, cowardly and dishonest are a few words that come to mind to describe this company. I dare you Nienhuis, please respond to this. I'd really get a laugh out of the bs spat out your mouths to cover this ugliness. So thank you for laying me off in this economic crisis when I need money most. The government cheques won't cut it. And now I have to support my family on 2 grand a month from the gov when our bills are over that. I needed that $4500/month ($20/hr). It would've helped me pay off debt, buy tools for work that actually work, and support my little family that me and my partner recently started. Thank you so much?