Built from the Field Up

Built from the Field Up — The Story

From the Engine Room to Building Systems.

Christopher A. Cavnar Founder & President, Genesis Building Systems Built under pressure. Proven in the field. Chris’s path didn’t start in a boardroom. In 2005 at 19, after a colorful, less than desirable childhood, he joined the U.S. Navy as worked up to Engineman Second Class Petty Officer aboard USS Shoup, keeping HVAC, refrigeration, hydraulics, and auxiliary systems running through overseas deployments — where downtime isn’t a schedule slip, it’s a mission risk. That standard followed him home. He earned an Associate of Applied Science in HVAC/R from Bellingham Technical College, then a Bachelor of Applied Science in HVAC/R Mechanical Engineering from Ferris State University. In 2012 he entered commercial building automation — and over nearly fifteen years worked every seat that matters: Controls Engineer, Project Engineer, Project Manager, Senior Project Manager, Controls Sales Engineer, and Automation Construction Manager. The results are concrete: more than $35 million in commercial BAS contracts across healthcare, higher education, commercial office, manufacturing, government, mission-critical, and industrial facilities. As a department leader he consistently delivered healthy margins while growing the team and increasing revenue year over year. Nearly twenty-five years in the industry — from wrench turns to P&L — is the foundation Genesis stands on. What makes Genesis different Genesis isn’t another sub chasing a one-off controls package. It’s built for owners, GCs, and mechanical partners who need a controls lead that owns the outcome — from preconstruction and estimating through engineering, installation, programming, commissioning, and turnover. Platform fluency across Distech Controls, Johnson Controls Metasys / Facility Explorer, Honeywell, and open-protocol networks (BACnet IP, MSTP, Modbus RTU, TCP/IP) means Genesis works inside your existing infrastructure, not against it. Faith, family, and responsibility Outside the job, Chris is a husband of fifteen years and a father to many children — a life that keeps the work honest. Guided by faith and 17 years of sobriety, Genesis reflects the friendships, opportunities, and purpose that have shaped his path. Those values show up as accountability on the jobsite: clear communication, realistic commitments, and standing behind the system when it has to perform. Purpose Driven Responsibility - Not a Brand, a daily choice. Choose it on every project, every wire, every promise. That’s how we lead and build. That’s the Genesis way — and the challenge we leave with you. Built from the Field Up.