Contractor Nation

Equipping Contractors for Success

What is Contractor Nation?

At Contractor Nation, we help home improvement and repair contractors succeed. We know what to do because we are contractors ourselves with 40 years of real-world experience, excellent reputation, and the long-term sustainable growth and profits to show for it.

Headquartered in an 11-building campus in Seymour, CT, with over 2000 employees, our teams do one thing: we equip contractors for even greater success. We primarily work with exclusive dealers of our nine services. However, we can radically impact any contractor offering other services with our Contractor Nation School of Entrepreneurship, the Treehouse Internet Group, MoreHouse Financing, and more.

Market-Leading Dealership OpportunitiesJoin One of Our Networks

The Contractor Nation family is comprised of market-leading contractor dealer networks. Click each logo to learn about these innovative companies and the individual contractors that make them national leaders.

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Dr. Energy Saver

Home Energy Retrofitting

Dr. Energy Saver looks for prospects with the following headlines in our advertising: "Some rooms too cold? Some rooms too hot? Cold floors? Drafts? High heating and cooling bills?"

And it turns out there are plenty of people who respond. In fact, all homes have significant building assemblies that waste energy and cause discomfort.

You know of insulation contractors. That is only part of what we do. You may have heard of "deep energy retrofits" or making "zero-energy homes." That is NOT what we do. Windows and doors - NOT us. You may have heard of energy auditing. That is NOT what we do. You may have heard of government programs. That is NOT what we do.

Since 2009, we have honed and perfected things a typical contractor can do that get great results, that people can understand, that are easy to teach and learn, and that generate cash flow and great profits. We have this figured out.

Dr. Energy Saver does air sealing, duct encapsulation and insulation in the right places and right combination to take a "poor performing home" and make it a "good one" at a price the homeowner can afford. We mostly work in unfinished spaces, so fine finish skills are unnecessary.

You advertise, get a lead, set an appointment, and a trained salesperson runs the lead and sells the job. They can run two leads a day. The 2 to 3-man crew is in a specially outfitted truck and can install $6,000 to $9,000 of work in a day.

To be successful selling, you need our training and proprietary "Book of Solutions." Exclusive dealers pledge to buy materials from us, many of which are specialty products. We operate a very successful Dr. Energy Saver dealership here at our headquarters in Seymour, CT for you to see and learn from.
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Attic Systems

While Dr. Energy Saver deals with the whole home in making a home more energy efficient, Attic Systems may be viewed as "Dr. Energy Saver LIGHT" as they only deal with the attic. The attic is the bread and butter of the business of making a home more energy efficient-and it's a lot more than insulation. Attic Systems dealers are not exclusive. This is a great add-on for many other types of contractors, or as a stand-alone opportunity. All attics have serious air leakage, duct, and insulation problems that make the house colder in winter and hotter in summer and cost more for the occupants to own.
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Total Basement Finishing

Basement finishing has been around a long time of course. And it has created a new term-"basement RE-finishing." This is because traditional organic materials such as wood, drywall, fiberglass insulation and latex paint get moldy, smell, and have to be stripped out of the average basement.

Why? Why is it called "basement finishing" and not just "finishing"? The answer is that basements are different than the spaces upstairs. Basements are prone to leaks from the ground, window wells, pump failure, gutters overflowing, and water from pipe leaks anywhere in the house. Drywall and wood are like sponges and get moldy fast. In addition, because basements are underground, they are cool-and because they are cool they have high relative humidity when the outdoor air is warmer than the indoor air (summer).

Total Basement Finishing is the ONLY company in the nation to finish basements with inorganic materials-foam, cement board, plastic and vinyl. Nothing will get ruined or moldy if there is a flooding event or high relative humidity. Our system is made for basements.

Basement finishing is a hot business since the work-at-home revolution started. People are looking for more space.

Advertise, get leads, book appointments. Send a trained sales representative out and design something that will thrill the customer with our waterproof materials. A salesman can run two leads a day, and a crew can install $4000 to $6000 a day.

Dealers typically have exclusive territories and get all the materials they need from us. We are our own largest Total Basement Finishing dealer with ten crews finishing basements every day. We know what we are doing, and we will show you!
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Klaus Roofing Systems

Roofing is something that anyone can do-and that is the problem. A world full of competition, with most players competing on price. It's a race to the bottom until someone comes along and changes the game. That's Klaus Roofing Systems.

Klaus Roofing Systems sells the best quality longest-lasting asphalt roofs available. We call our value-added roofing system the "Klaus Roofing Way"; and homeowners love it. Each step of the process of building a roof is bolstered and injected with methods to make the roof perform better and last longer, or for a better customer experience.

Klaus Roofing Systems dealers are typically exclusive, and dealers get accessories from us, and particular shingles through approved local distributors. A salesman can run two leads a day, and a crew installs $10,000 - $17,000, a full roof in one day!

Klaus Roofing Systems has a national training center-the largest roofing training center in the world-in North Windham, CT. Two of the partners in Klaus Roofing operate large and successful roofing companies for you to see and learn from.
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Gutter Shutters

Premium Gutters

Contractor Nation has the strongest gutter in the world. It handles the most water, and leaves cannot get into it. Gutter Shutter.

Traditional gutters are weak, small, clog, sag, and don't last long. People want something better and Gutter Shutter is it. It is the simplest of all our services as gutters are a narrow focus. One salesman can run three leads a day and a crew can install $5000 to $8000 a day from a specially outfitted truck.

Gutter Shutter dealerships are most often exclusive, and dealers get the materials from us.

Training is done in our 57,000 sq. ft. training center in North Windham, CT.
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Bright Brothers

Exterior Cleaning & Christmas Lights

Bright Brothers is Contractor Nation's only franchise. We primarily do exterior washing. Think pressure washing, but we don't use pressure because it damages materials and leaves streaks. Instead, we use chemicals sprayed from a specially outfitted Bright Brothers truck with a two-man team.

Bright Brothers cleans roofs, siding, buildings, decks, driveways, patios, and more. Go ahead look around-everywhere you see nasty-looking roofs, black algae, green algae, and streaks all over everything that has been outside a while.

The work is simple when you know what you are doing. Salesmen can run three or four leads a day, and a two-man crew can do medium-sized jobs with minimal materials.

Around Christmas, Bright Brothers sells holiday lights. You may not think that is a business-guess again. In a world with so many people who don't use tools and won't get on a ladder, there are plenty of people who pay a lot of money to put Christmas lights up. We install them, take them down, and store them until next year. Sell the customer once and keep going back each year, building a book of accounts. It is a great addition to exterior washing!

Bright Brothers is a franchise, and we will train you with everything you need. Our master trainer, Pat Clark, has been in the business for years and is a well-known leader in the industry.
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National Radon Defense

National Radon Defense is a dealer network for those providing radon testing and mitigation services. Curt Drew is passionate about radon and indoor air quality and will show you how to succeed in the business.

Larry Janesky, the founder of Contractor Nation, was the largest Radon Mitigation contractor in the United States from 1989 to 1994. National Radon Defense will show you how it's done to be profitable.

Salespeople can run three leads a day. A crew can install two typical jobs a day.
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CN Air Group

Air Purification & Dehumidification

CN Air Group is a non-exclusive dealer opportunity great for almost ANY contractor. We get you into the indoor air quality business easily with a focus on air purification and dehumidification.

Our Aspen Air Purifier is the best in the world and removes ALL indoor air pollutants with no excuses and no apologies. Let us prove it to you. Watch the video

Our SuperDry XS dehumidification unit will dry any space permanently, so mold doesn't stand a chance and odors go away! Watch the video

These two machines are best in class and ones you can be proud of. No homeowner has ever said they don't think they are working. They are easy to sell and easy to install-take them out of the box and plug them in! Your customer cannot buy them in the store or anywhere cheaper.

Being a CN Air Group dealer is a great easy add-on for HVAC, mold remediation, indoor air quality, carpet cleaning, duct cleaning, remodelers, floor covering, plumbers, and really any kind of contractors.
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Basement Systems

Basement Waterproofing

This is our first original service back from 1987. Unfortunately, our territories are full except for a few sparsely populated areas in the south and west. Jump on a dealership in one of our other services before they are gone, too!
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CleanSpace

Crawl Space Encapsulation

This is a system we invented! Most territories are taken except for select areas in the south and west and in Canada. Consider being a dealer in one of our other services before your area is taken.
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School of Entrepreneurship

The Contractor Nation School of Entrepreneurship (SOE) is where contractor millionaires are made! It is free to any dealer in any of our networks. But any contractor who is not providing one of the services we provide in our networks can learn to be a winning thinker and leader at the SOE, too.

Now online at thesoe.com, the course is a multi-year educational experience. It's funny how we want to be successful so that we can send our kids to an expensive college to learn something they may never use, yet we don't invest in our own education to learn how to be better at the career path we have chosen and committed to: being a home repair or home improvement contractor.

At the School of Entrepreneurship, your instructor is Larry Janesky. Larry is the founder of Contractor Nation and all its divisions. He started right out of high school as a self-employed carpenter. Today, he operates a $45,000,000 a year local company in Connecticut that he started from scratch. He also owns or partners in 36 home repair companies in 32 states with over 2000 employees, and collectively, over $650 million a year in sales. And, Larry hasn't worked a weekend in 30 years! Larry knows what he is talking about-and this is his life's work all laid out for you to follow the recipe.

Leadership is the critical variable. If Larry took over your business, he'd have it growing bigger and more profitable in no time. Let him show you how to do that. Here's a secret: there is no magic. It is simple knowing WHAT TO DO, and HOW TO THINK as the leader. You have to make the transition from worker or salesman to team-builder-in-chief.

Most contractors say they are too busy to stop and read a little or watch a video each day-and they remain stuck the rest of their lives, struggling to pay the bills and have time for fun and their families. Most of them will not survive in business. The SOE is for those that want to learn and know that if they don't take some time to learn and start doing things differently, all their time will be consumed trying to keep up forever.

Being a successful businessperson is the challenge of a lifetime, but if that challenge is met, you will get to live a life like few others can. This is what the SOE is about.

The SOE is a subscription service with a monthly fee until you graduate. The value to any home service, repair or improvement contractor is priceless.
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M.C. Fence

A New Standard in Fence Installation

Through our newest division, M.C. Fence, Contractor Nation is building more than fences-we're building a nationwide brand rooted in durability, innovation, and extraordinary customer experiences.

While most fences start to shift and sag within months of installation, M.C. Fence systems are engineered to last, with deeper footings, stronger materials, and smarter connections. Every part of an M.C. Fence is designed for long-term performance.

The "M.C. Fence Way" is backed by the values of exceptional teamwork, continuous growth, and "Wow!" customer service. For Contractor Nation dealers, M.C. Fence offers a differentiated, value-driven product line with a strong brand story-built to outperform and outlast the competition

Interested in joining one of the dealership networks or want to visit the Contractor Nation campus?Request more information

Benefits for Contractor Nation DealersResources to Help Dealers Grow Their Business

Dealers in the Contractor Nation network receive all of the following benefits to help grow their business:

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Experience

Success takes hard work. But plenty of contractors work hard day after day, year after year, and do not make progress and have little to show for it in the end. The key variable is knowing WHAT to do. At Contractor Nation, we know WHAT to do.

Most contractors will say "I can't get enough leads," "I can't get good people," "I can't sell, people aren't buying," and "I can't make a profit beyond paying my bills." We know how to do all these things.

If you can make 20 years of progress in 10 years, shaving 10 years off your learning curve, wouldn't that make a huge difference to you? If you could make two years' income in a year, or thirty years' income in ten years, think what a difference that would make to you and your family.

This long list of benefits to CN dealers is powerful. You will know what to do and have the missing tools to do it. Your chances of success are infinitely higher than your competition who has none of these tools or knowledge.
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Treehouse Marketing

In order to be the market-leading company in your area, you have to be the best-marketed company, online and offline. But what does the average contractor know about marketing? And who has the time?
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Sales Training

When you and your team know how to sell, you don't mind spending money on marketing, right?

Being a marketing and sales-driven company is required if you are going to grow. We have an effective, structured sales process that is easy to teach, easy to learn, and that feels right for the salesperson and the customer. We will teach it to you and your salespeople in live classes, on video, in books, and with email lessons to keep you and your staff sharp.

Our sales process has been developed and refined over decades. Our sales trainers have real-world experience at the kitchen table and will take you through each step so you can do it too.
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Sales Software

When you do a sales presentation, you want to look professional and have the tools to communicate well to the customer, and to produce professional proposals easily on a computer. Contractor Nation dealers have access to the best sales software, developed specifically for what you are selling.

Interview the customer and find out what is important to them, show them the benefits of your company, do amazing presentations with pro videos, images, and animations, and take them shopping, right through the checkout line! Being on our team makes you way ahead of the other guys so YOU get the job, and not them.
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Production Training

Your installers must be experts. The homeowner doesn't care what anyone else does in your company-just what those guys do from the time they get out of the truck in the morning to the time they get back in. What the production team does is what the marketers advertise, what the salespeople sell, and what the customer is paying for.

We will teach your guys how to get results for the homeowner and the company. AND, we will teach you how to keep your production talent so they get better and better year over year.

We have live training, videos, training manuals, weekly production meetings all done for you, and training via email to your employee's inbox.
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Contractor Nation School of Entrepreneurship (SOE)

Leadership & Business Training

Running a small business with one or two employees is not super profitable, but it is simple. To create and run a much larger business, you, the leader, must know more. You must be able to understand many areas so you know what your people should be doing in Marketing, Appointment Center, Sales, Production, Hiring, Service, Accounting and more.

We make all this very doable for you. Larry Janesky has made countless millionaires out of contractors across North America, and he will be your teacher each day. You will be educated, coached, and counseled. Larry knows what you are going through and how you feel. He gets it. But he knows the way through to a better you and a better business. If you stay open, you can achieve what you never thought possible through the business.

There is no school in the world that teaches leadership like this, and nowhere can you learn how to grow a successful home improvement or repair company like at the School of Entrepreneurship at Contractor Nation. The school is online so you can watch a video a day, and there are written lessons and workbooks that are easy to follow.

Consider this: One example of where contractors are lost is accounting. One SOE student said, "My accountant and others have been trying to explain my financial statements to me for years and I still didn't get it. I learned more in one hour at SOE. I finally understand it now!"

More than how to run all the important parts of your business, the SOE teaches your people how to do it so you don't have to. Further, it has a big focus on what goes on in the leader's mind that is holding your company back, and how to think right and make good decisions. You will become a leader people want to work for, give their best to, and stay with.
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Dealer Support Team

Most contractors are on their own to run their businesses with very limited knowledge.

Contractor Nation dealers have a team of people to call when they get stuck or have a question. Our dealer support specialists are here for you. They specialize in sales, marketing, production, hiring, and more. Don't know what to do or how to handle something? Dial the phone. We are here.

You will forge friendships with our experts and never feel alone on your journey again.
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MoreHouse Financing

We have an in-house finance company to finance the jobs you sell to homeowners! If a homeowner gets three estimates for their project, but you offer them a way to pay for it with comfortable monthly payments, you are the only one they CAN buy from.

Our finance representative will get you set up to get financing approved at the kitchen table with one phone call. You will sell bigger jobs and more of them when you offer financing. And don't worry-you are not responsible for the money if the customer doesn't make their payments.

We will increase your homeowner's buying power with you with our MoreHouse Finance program, only available to Contractor Nation dealers!
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CN LIVE!

Annual Dealer Convention

Each autumn we hold our annual dealer convention at the Connecticut Convention Center. Over 1300 people from our dealers across North America attend and bring their team members.

You'll get charged up, inspired, learn, meet other CN dealers and have fun with -

  • A keynote speech by Larry Janesky.
  • Find out what is new that will help your business.
  • Breakout sessions by service type for your team members.
  • Classes for marketing, salespeople, production, appointment center, owners and more.
  • One day is held at our campus in Seymour - the "mothership" where you can see how world-class contractors do it.
  • An elegant awards dinner for our top dealers, community service, and more with amazing entertainment.
  • We close out with the biggest, most fun party you have ever been to-with a different theme each year!

CN Live is a celebration of what we are all doing all year long and will make your team feel like they are part of something much bigger beyond the walls of your own building.
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Owners Meeting

Each year in January or February we have a trip to a warm place, like a Caribbean Island or Mexico, for owners and their spouses only. We have two days of meetings to talk about owner issues. Spouses are welcome to attend, or they may hang out at the beach or pool or go shopping. You will meet other owners and forge friendships and build a community inside our network.

It's a trip everyone looks forward to each year and a great time to get away in the winter.

Interested in joining one of the dealership or membership networks?Request more information

Contractor Nation StoriesReal Contractors + Real Results = Great Stories

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About Our FounderLarry Janesky

Larry Janesky, Founder of Contractor Nation

Larry Janesky's mission, and that of Contractor Nation, is to help contractors succeed. He knows how to do this because he has been a contractor for over 40 years (since 1982) and has the real-world experience and success that he can teach to others.

As a kid, Larry became an Eagle Scout. He graduated high school in 1982. College was never talked about in his family and there was no money for it. Larry put an ad in the newspaper: "Carpentry, call Larry, no job too small." He wound up building his first house at age 18, framing, roofing, siding, windows, doors, and a deck. From there he built 23 more homes until the building bubble burst in 1987.

The early days of Basement Systems

Larry then started a basement waterproofing company. In 1990, he started developing a dealer network of basement waterproofing companies for a few products he had developed at the time. Today Larry has 32 patents. Larry realized that in order to help his dealers grow, he had to assist them with training and tools for all areas of the business.

Basement Systems grew into the largest network of basement waterproofing contractors in North America, and many dealers grew to over $10 million, $20 million, and even $40 million.

Larry's thinking has completely revolutionized multiple industries in home improvement and home repair.

Contractor Nation headquarters in Seymour, CT

Today, Contractor Nation and its partners have over 2000 employees in 32 states, and over $650 million a year in sales. This does not include our dealers and their employees and their sales.

Larry is not interested in selling Contractor Nation and he will tell you that with firm resolve-he believes investors who don't understand and love the business will ruin it. He has seen that out there many times before. He wants his employees and dealers to know their future is secure. Larry loves what he does and comes to work five days a week to work with his team to fulfill its mission: to equip contractors for even greater success.

Larry's mission statement is "an extraordinary life of shared experiences."

His values:

  • Be the best person you can be using your talents in service to others.
  • Do the right thing and it will come back to you many-fold.
  • Don't quit.
  • Only when employees win can the customer win.
  • Being a leader is a great challenge, responsibility, and opportunity.
  • Get better every day, week, and month.
  • Have fun-life is an adventure.
  • Don't neglect your family by working too much.
  • Go for it. You can do more than you think.

Larry has been writing a short message of the day called "Think Daily" and a second one called "Think Daily for Businesspeople" since 2009. There are over 20,000 subscribers and it is free. Sign Up for Think Daily

He has written many books including the award-winning book "The Highest Calling." The emotional story is about a contractor who struggles, and how he figures it out. It is available at Amazon and Audible. Buy Online

Larry lives 21 minutes from the office with his wife. He has 5 children.

Larry racing in the Baja 1000

Larry is an avid motocross rider and has his own track. He loves the woods and outdoors. He races long distances in the desert in Baja. He is the oldest solo finisher of the Baja 1000, the longest off-road race in the world. Larry's races are chronicled in popular movies on YouTube. He also won the Baja 1000 in 2015 on two wheels and 2023 on four wheels.

Watch "Into The Dust", a four-part series about Larry's tours of the Baja 1000:

Larry continues to be a steward of Contractor Nation and all its "citizens" ensuring the company stands the test of time and continues to fulfill its mission.

"Never quit."

Want to know more?

If you're interested in joining our dealer networks or want more information about our training programs, take the next step and contact us today!

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