How JMB Painting Co. Started

Hey — I’m Jon McFarland-Bateman, owner of JMB Painting Co. And this is the true story of how my business started.

Not with some big plan. Not with a ton of money. But with a conversation… in a sauna.

Back in the winter of 2020, I was spending a lot of time up in the White Mountains. One day I’m using the sauna at Waterville Valley Estates, and I start talking with this Russian guy named Edouard.

At one point he tells me he’s building a house nearby, in the neighborhood around the estates, on McLaren Drive. Just hearing the street name got me interested.

I told him, “I paint houses.”

Edouard looks at me and goes,“Come by tomorrow. Give me a price.”

The next day I meet him and he walks me through this 6,500-square-foot mountain home, overlooking Mount Tecumseh and the whole Waterville Valley area.

I tell him I’m interested in the job and I’ll be in touch soon with a price.

He stops me and goes:

“No — give me a price now.”

I completely shot from the hip and said: “35k.”

He looks at me and goes: “30k.”

And just like that… the job was mine.

Here’s the part that still sticks with me:

Edouard didn’t know me at all. We had one good conversation in a sauna the night before — and he took a risk on me.

That night — January 28, 2020 — I went home and officially started JMB Painting Co. And I accepted my first real job.

That job changed everything.

And I’ll always be grateful it happened the way it did.