Francisco Mateos Goes From Bicycle to Hummer

One of the best sights we’ve seen lately has been Francisco Mateos driving away in his newly-purchased Hummer.

Francisco began Best Valley Painting and Remodeling without a vehicle. In fact, when he opened his business in 2010, he was riding a bicycle.

“That’s how it all started. I knew everything about the business, but just didn’t have the funds for it. I had no truck, and no money for gas.”

Pedaling around to the different job sites, he then told anyone who would listen all about what he did. His brother later gave him a van, and it's the same van Francisco still uses on some of the jobs.

“People started calling me, and I showed them a bit of what I do, showed them around," he recalls.

Little by little, work started rolling in.

These days, Francisco is busy. He’s had to hire more people, and has bid and secured more jobs. He drove into our lot in a work truck that looked like it meant business.

“Now I’m tied up with everything, you know?” Francisco says, with the look of a wise entrepreneur, “I just need to decide which jobs I’m going to take, and how much to charge, because I still need to pay my guys and that.”

One challenge, occupation-wise, is that painting and remodeling can be seasonal, so he’s sometimes had to lay off well-trained, diligent workers, and then train up new ones.

Another challenge is that every so often, a customer doesn’t pay. 

“I’ve lost thousands, yet I still have to pay my bills and pay my employees.”

A credit to Francisco’s honesty.

When asked about a favorite job he’s done, Francisco smiles broadly.

“It’s the jobs I’m doing right now. They’re building this house for the cancer kids, for St. Jude’s. I’ve been painting this free house, straight right out, for nothing. The houses are in Meridian. The builder puts it together, and then we contract it as a donation. All of the contractors do their own donations. So, I donate my time to paint the house for free. That’s the jobs I’m proud of.”

He recalls, “When I did the first St. Jude house, back in 2012, I didn’t have much of an income. I wondered how I’d keep going, because I needed money to pay my guys.”

His sacrifice paid off in the form of a still-strong business, and involvement with a charitable event that blesses people in so many ways.

“You can buy a ticket, and you can win the house,” Francisco says, advertising what St. Jude's does, “I painted a house 2-3 months ago, and the lady that won it had purchased three tickets. Her pregnant daughter, who’d been living in another state, was in the process of driving home to be near her mother. When her mom won that house with one of the tickets, she gave that house to her daughter and grandchild.”

The sight of Francisco pedaling to commercial and residential painting jobs is long gone, and he warmed the entire Maverick lot with the triumph of his purchase. Before driving away in his shiny gold Hummer, he shook each of our hands.

Just a little proof that sometimes, nice guys really do win.

*Best Valley Painting and Remodeling, Licensed and Insured (208)-353-9067