Jonathan Nesmith grew up fixing appliances with his father Harold and uncle “Smitty,” who have both owned appliance repair companies for more than 35 years. So tools, service calls and problem-solving were part of the background of young Jonathan’s everyday life.

“Climbing into my dad’s truck was just normal life for me,” he says. “I loved going work with him.”

By the time he started working on his own, he could diagnose a dryer by the way it hummed and take an appliance apart with the confidence of someone who had watched it done countless times. That familiarity carried him into appliance repair work across Lake and Sumter counties, when he discovered a glaring pattern quickly became impossible to ignore.

“Most people think their dryer’s dying when it just can’t breathe,” Jonathan says. “It’s usually not old, it’s just might be suffocating.”

The issue showed up repeatedly, especially in The Villages, where many homes have dryer vents routed through the roof. Instead of replacing parts or entire machines, Jonathan began paying closer attention to airflow. He studied vent design, tested equipment and tracked how lint buildup affected performance over time.

“I realized the vent was the real problem,” he says. “Nobody was treating it like its own system.”

That shift in thinking changed everything. What started as a curiosity turned into a specialty, with Jonathan focusing on prevention rather than repair. He saw how restoring airflow could save homeowners money, extend the life of their appliances and reduce safety risks.

“This wasn’t something I planned,” Jonathan says. “I just kept running into the same issue, house after house, and figured someone should do something about it.” 

He created Lint Dragon, a dedicated division of his appliance business centered entirely on dryer vent cleaning, airflow testing and inspections. The brand is quite clever and lighthearted, but the work is practical and precise.

“It deserved its own brand,” Jonathan says. “Something people would remember and trust.”

On the job, he encounters problems most homeowners never see. Vent lines packed solid with lint, roof caps sealed shut by moisture and screens added years earlier that block airflow. He has even found birds nesting inside the lines. 

“Once airflow is restored, dryers often return to normal operation without parts or repairs.”

He’s come a long way from waiting for his dad in the passenger seat of the family repair truck and hopes to expand one day and add more vans to his fleet. For now, he works with one other tech and still maintains his appliance repair business in the area. 

“I want to keep building this the right way,” Jonathan says. “Add a few more vans, bring on the right people and keep doing work I’m proud of.”

For more information, go to www.lintdragon.com.

Photos provided.