Pros
1) Beautiful, state-of-the-art showroom 2) The key members of the team are wonderful to work with (with one exception see below). They are knowledgeable, efficient, friendly, and care about their customers. 3) You are in control of everything from the initial consultation to the final walk-through. 4) Pay is very good for the area
Cons
1) The key members of the team are the only thing keeping their doors open. The owner is a complete nut-job. He interferes with projects rather than facilitate them. He made 3 of my clients cry on the job site. Hires his friends and family to do inferior work whether they are licensed to work in the state or not. 2) You are in control of everything, yes, but that also means there is really no one to help and no one to really train you. Once you walk through that door you are on your own. 3) Pay is very good for the area...if you can get the boss to pay you that is. Every Friday was a fight to get him to sign my paycheck. When he switched to direct deposit then it was every Wednesday was a fight to get him to sign. If he didn't sign on Wednesday and, therefore the direct deposit didn't occur if you then asked for a paper check on Friday he would accuse you of double-dipping and trying to steal from him. When it came time for him to pay commissions he didn't want to pay commissions at all. Right before I left I ended up settling for only part of what was owed just so I could get out of there without being completely screwed over. 4) The rules are ever changing so make sure you get EVERYTHING in writing so that you can fight it out later. 6) The owner had a short temper and a quick fuse. He storms through office screaming and cursing people out. He will bring any private personal issues or business issues out into the open and discuss them loudly in front of everyone. 5) Read that last line of the job application carefully. The non-compete and non-disclosure agreement that they want you to sign is completely over the top, paranoid, and illegal. I kid you not, he wants you to sign a contract that says, if you leave his employ, you will not work as a designer or as any other capacity of any type of career for ANY of the businesses he runs. That means not a designer, project manager, installer, or even a real estate agent for three years and over three states, Maryland, Delaware, and Virginia. It's not just limited to YOU. Nope! Your spouse and your children are not allowed to work in any of those areas either. I mean why not limit my dog too? It was the most outrageous, illegal, paranoid piece of paper I had ever seen in my life and in it is a clause that says you cannot discuss it with anyone including a lawyer and that you waive your right to litigation. I still have a copy and absolutely refused to sign it. It's not just limited to these agreements, he also wanted control of the content on your own personal social media so that you would not say anything bad about him or his companies. 7) Let's not forget that there are cameras watching your every move and he has a program that records every keystroke on your computer. He would even watch us remotely and call in to tell us to get to work if he saw us talking on camera not realizing that most of that was business related and not socializing. He was simply paranoid. I could continue the pro list almost indefinitely but I think you get the gist of it.