Contributed Photo
Larry Janesky at a new manufacturing plant in Seymour.
SEYMOUR – The latest addition to Larry Janesky’s Contractor Nation campus in the Silvermine Industrial Park was unveiled Tuesday (Feb. 11) during a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
About 100 people attended the event as Janesky toured his new, 20,000 square-foot manufacturing facility at 88 Cogwheel Lane.
The facility will be dedicated to the production of products designed to improve air quality in homes, help homeowners avert damaging flooding in their basements and provide back-up protection from water damage.
The building was previously occupied by Precision Aerospace, Inc. which was acquired by Essex Industries in Oct. 2024. The company left for Milford.
Janesky purchased the building from former owner Jack Hillman for $1.8 million and put in another $600,000 in renovations, according to company officials.
The manufacturing facility is Janesky’s 13th building (in the industrial park) under the Contractor Nation umbrella. Contractor Nation is a network of home improvement businesses.
It includes Janesky’s Connecticut Basement Systems, which he founded more than 30 years ago, along with Dr. Energy Saver, CleanSpace, Total Basement Finishing and National Radon Defense.
During Tuesday’s event, Janesky stood on the production floor where three products – the Aspen Air Purifier, the Water Watch Alarm System and the UltraSump Battery Backup System – will be produced and distributed across North America to the Contractor Nation dealer network.
Photo by Jean Falbo-Sosnovich
The headquarters.
“We needed more space for manufacturing,” Janesky said. “We’ve worked on 1 in 8 of all single family houses in Connecticut, and across the country our dealers and partners have done even far more than that. Even when the big storm comes, with tons of rain, big wind and the power is out, we want people’s basements to be dry, simple as that.”
Janesky said the former machine shop housed in the building was transformed by installing new epoxy flooring, new windows to brighten the space, new ceiling, new lighting and a new HV/AC system. Rows of floor-to-ceiling shelving to house parts and materials and rolling tables for employees to assemble the products fill much of the space.
Contractor Nation has 450 employees at the Seymour headquarters, Janesky said, of which 11 of them will be working at the new facility, making the three core products.
Janesky told the crowd how his son, Tanner, who suffers from allergies, designed the air purifier, and said it’s “the best air purifier in the world.” The stand-alone unit aids in the removal of air pollutants – from dust mites to mold spores and pet dander to asbestos – and can remove pollutants 10,000 times smaller than a human hair, according to Janesky.
The other two products being produced in the facility are an alarm system that alerts homeowners early of potentially damaging flooding in their basements or crawl spaces in the event of a sump pump failure, and a sump pump battery backup system which allows homeowners several hours of additional protection against water damage if their primary pump fails, say during a power outage, for example.
Greater Valley Chamber of Commerce President Bill Purcell was on hand.
“I have watched over my 25 years, as Building No. 1, then No. 2, then No. 3 and so on came along,” Purcell said. “Larry started his business at the tender age of 17, he had a vision. Today, Contractor Nation is composed of over 45 business entities in 35 states with 2,200 employees with three quarters of a billion dollars in annual sales.”
Janesky has continued to invest in Seymour since he first opened Connecticut Basement Systems in 1997 (he founded the company in 1987). He got some tax incentives from the town back when he first opened, but none this time around.
Janesky is Seymour’s largest taxpayer, according to the assessor’s office.
“Having everything on the same campus makes sense and makes it easy for our people to get in between the buildings and the materials that we manufacture here get stored in our warehouses and then get shipped,” he said.
Lindy Lee Gold, senior specialist with the state Department of Economic and Community Development was also on hand during Tuesday’s event.
“Larry and I have been friends for many years, and I have watched the growth of this company and have heard his philosophy,” Gold said, whose son works for Connecticut Basement Systems.
Gold, who also sits on the board of Manufacture CT, said Janesky’s latest expansion is proof that manufacturing is alive and well in the state.
“I am a firm believer and as more and more manufacturers reshore, this expansion is just indicative of what’s going to be happening in Connecticut. It’s also a celebration of innovation.”
