Larry Janesky

Lawrence "Larry" Janesky is an American businessman, entrepreneur, author and trainer. Janesky is the founder and CEO of Contractor Nation, Basement Systems Inc. He is the co-founder of Total Basement Finishing, Inc., Foundation Supportworks, Inc., and Dr. Energy Saver, Inc.

Larry Janesky
Larry Janesky
Born
Lawrence Janesky

(1964-08-25) August 25, 1964
NationalityAmerican
OccupationFounder & CEO of Basement Systems Inc.

Career

Larry Janesky was born in Bridgeport Connecticut in 1964. Active in boy scouts, he earned the Eagle Scout rank at age 14. He graduated high school at age 17 in 1982 from Bullard-Havens Technical High School located in Bridgeport, CT. He did not go to college but immediately began his career as a self-employed carpenter remodeling and building homes. He was contracted to build a 3,000 square foot house at age 18 and was spec building by age 20.[1]

The last home he worked on had a leaking crack in one of the basement walls. He researched how to correct the issue and became aware of the basement waterproofing industry. Following the stock market crash of 1987 the demand for new home construction declined and Janesky decided to focus on basement waterproofing.[2]

In 1987 he started his own company providing basement waterproofing and radon mitigation services in his 900 sq ft home in Milford CT, calling it Connecticut Basement Systems. The company became the largest radon mitigation contractor in the country from 1989 - 1992. In 1989 the company moved to Stratford Connecticut. Janesky invented and developed a line of waterproofing products of which he was the exclusive installer. He acquired patents on his waterproofing products and currently holds 31 patents.[3]

A few years later in 1990 Janesky began creating a network of basement waterproofing contractors naming it Basement Systems, Inc. The contractors were made the exclusive dealers and installers in their area of the patented waterproofing products. The network grew and in 1997 Basement Systems Inc. purchased a 92,000 square foot building in Seymour, CT. Over the next decade additional space was needed and eight more buildings in the area were purchased and constructed, creating an industrial campus of 54 acres and a workspace of 365,000 square feet.[4]

Larry Janesky founded the modern crawl space retrofit industry, calling the current building codes wrong, and blaming them for millions of failing unhealthy homes. At first he was criticized and opposed, but today, his ideas are accepted as mainstream, and building codes have changed around the country.

Larry has created the largest library of video online about how to make a home more energy efficient with his Dr. Energy Saver "On the Job" video series.

Between 1987–2011 Janesky created a number of sister and partner companies, several under the Basement Systems umbrella.

These companies included:

  • CleanSpace founded 1999
  • Treehouse Internet Group founded 2004
  • Total Basement Finishing, Inc. founded 2006
  • Foundation Supportworks, Inc. founded 2008 with a partner Greg Thrasher (Janesky has since amicably sold his interest to his partner in 2016)
  • Dr. Energy Saver, Inc. founded 2009
  • Morehouse Finance founded 2011
  • The Contractor Nation School of Entrepreneurship founded in 2016
  • The Junkluggers partnered with Josh Cohen in 2019[5]

By 2013 Basement Systems had become the largest employer in the town of Seymour, CT. In 2017, the combined companies has approximately 340 employees.[3] It is currently the largest network of basement waterproofing and crawl space contractors in the world with over 375 dealers in the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom and Ireland.[4] In 2015 Janesky broke ground two projects to add another 150,000 square feet of work space to Basement Systems and Connecticut Basement Systems, including a training center for all his divisions. Upon completion of the project in 2017, there will be a total of nine buildings in the industrial campus.[6]

Larry Janesky spends much of his time creating programs, writing, speaking and training to make home improvement contractors and other businesses perform better for customers, employees and stakeholders. He is an avid reader, writer, and practices what he teaches.

Basement Systems, Inc. Work Place

In an effort to improve the work environment Janesky had the Basement Systems headquarters built as a nontraditional work place. Different departments were elaborately designed and constructed in different themes. The Treehouse, a department built in 2009 to appear as a traditional treehouse, was the first of these unique work spaces.[7] Other work spaces that were built include: the Eyestar Station (a futuristic space station), Boomtown (an 1880s mining town), the Tree Fort, and the Forge and Anvil (a 1920s factory). The inspiration for these different work spaces came from Janesky.[8] Basement Systems has been named one of Connecticut's Top Workplaces several times, most recently in 2015 and 2016.[9]Larry started by placing an ad in the Bridgeport Post to do roofing and was hired by a local contractor to do the framing and roofing.

Recognition & Awards

Larry Janesky has received recognition and several awards. In 2008 he was the winner of the CT Business Junior Achievement Hall of Fame award.[4] In the same year he was named the Greater Valley Chamber of Commerce Innovator of the Year.

In 2009 he was awarded the Greater New Haven Business Person of the year. He was also named one most influential entrepreneurs of the past 30 years in an article of Inc. Magazine.[10]

In 2012 he was awarded the Connecticut Small Business Person of the Year[11] and by 2015 he received the National Eagle Scout Association's Outstanding Eagle Scout Award[12] and was named the EY Entrepreneur of the Year, New York Region.[13]

Janesky has been interviewed a number of times including on the CEO show,[14] iaq Radio,[15] HVACR Business[1] and Fox Connecticut.[3] He has also appeared on Bob Vila[16] and the Ron Hazelton Show.[17]

Sports

Janesky is an avid motocross rider, having taken up the sport at age 32. In 2015, he and his son entered the longest non-stop cross country race in the world - the Baja 1000, beginning in Ensenada Mexico. The two man team, underdogs against four - six man teams, won the race by 60 seconds, in 25 1/2 hours. They made a 90 minute movie about the entire experience called "Into the Dust", which can be seen on You Tube. In 2016 Larry entered the race again, this time in the Ironman class where Riders must complete the 1000 mile course solo. In an unusual incident, Larry injured his neck and did not finish. He returned in 2017 and again did not finish, dropping out at mile 831 in 37 1/2 hours. In 2018 he raced the entire 4 race desert series. This time he finished the Baja 1000 Ironman race in 33 hours 45 minutes becoming the oldest solo finisher in the history of the class, finishing second in the season championship and becoming only the third Ironman to complete all four races.

Bibliography

Larry Janesky has been a contributing author on My Home Science[18] as well as Small Business Trends.[19]

Janesky also writes two daily internet based motivational messages called Think Daily and Think Daily for Businesspeople.[1] Recently, he has developed a genre of audio called Muze. It is a combination of motivational music and voice.

Janesky is the author or co-author of eight books which include:

  • 2005: Dry Basement Science ISBN 0-9776457-1-1
  • 2008: Basement Finishing Science ISBN 978-0-9776457-3-2
  • 2009: Home Comfort Science ISBN 9780-9776457-6-3
  • 2009: Saving Energy at Home ISBN 978-0-9776457-6-3
    • Co-authors: Tim Snyder, Tom Casey
  • 2010:The Highest Calling ISBN 9781497653368
    • 2010 Grand Champion, Small Business Trends Business Book Awards[20]
    • 2010 Best Business Book, New England Book Festival[21]
    • 2011 Best Business Book, Indie Book Awards[22]
  • 2010: Foundation Repair Science ISBN 978-0-9776457-7-0
    • Co-authors: David Thrasher, Amanda Harrington
  • 2012: Crawl Space Science ISBN 978-0977645725
  • 2013 Mold Prevention Science ISBN 978-0-9776457-9-4
    • Co-author: Clint S. Cooper
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References
  1. Terry Tanker (August 1, 2011) Larry Janesky, owner and founder of Basement Systems Inc Archived 2016-03-20 at the Wayback Machine. HVACRBusiness.
  2. Simpson, Stan (May 6, 2013) Up from the (wet) basement. Hartford Business Journal.
  3. (February 8, 2014) February 8: Larry Janesky, Connecticut Entrepreneur (Part 1). FoxCT.
  4. Amato, Anne M. (November 15, 2011) Larry Janesky rises to the top. ctpost.
  5. Junkluggers, The. "The Junkluggers Announces Investment by Contractor Nation". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2020-03-16.
  6. Turmelle, Luther (April 21, 2015) Seymour's Basement Systems expanding, with an eye on design. New Haven Business Register.
  7. Silva, Makayla, Silva (September 12, 2015) Basement Systems' offices an homage to workers. CT Post.
  8. Bailey, Hugh (May 5, 2015) Basement Systems of Seymour continues expansion. CT Post
  9. (2015) Basement Systems Inc. CT Post
  10. McCarthy, Ryan (April 1, 2009) That Certain Something: The World’s Most Influential Entrepreneurs. Inc.
  11. (March 22, 2012) SBA Connecticut Announces Small Business Person of the Year – Janesky. U.S. Small Business Administration
  12. (2015) Outstanding Eagle Award 2014. Boy Scouts of America
  13. (2015) 2015 finalists announced!. EY
  14. (May 31, 2009) Basement Systems: Larry Janesky, Founder and CEO Archived 2016-03-05 at the Wayback Machine. The CEO Show.
  15. (October 13, 2006) Larry Janesky, Basement Systems & Dave Matela, K-C Filtration. iaqradio.
  16. Keep Water Out of the Basement. bob vila.
  17. How to Waterproof a Basement. Ron Hazelton Home Improvement Online.
  18. About Larry Janesky. My Home Science
  19. Larry Janesky. Small Business Trends
  20. Campbell, Anita (Dec 21, 2010) The Winners: Reader’s Choice 2010 Small Business Book Awards. Small Business Trends.
  21. (December 28, 2010) New England Book Festival Announces Winners. New England Book Festival.
  22. (2011) Winners & Finalists of the 2011 Awards. National Indie Excellence Awards.
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