Franchisee Profile: Skip Barrett

Name: Skip Barrett
Development Date: January 1, 2011 

Brand: We Do Lines
Territory: Nassau/Suffolk, NY.
Phone Number: 516-320-4750
Email: sbarrett@wedolines.com

Skip Barrett is a Huntington, New York native with a background as a franchisor. His first company was Garage Tek, a franchise he started with a partner that focuses on garage storage systems. Skip was previously the Director of Franchise Development for We Do Lines. His belief in the company and the We Do Lines system was so strong that he evolved into a franchise owner in Long Island.

Q: How did you learn about the brand?
A: When the housing market turned down I found myself not being able to keep working for Garage Tek in the capacity that I wanted. I decided that I wanted to be a part of a company that was a necessity in these hard times rather than a luxury. I began doing research and attending forums on different franchises, and I found out about We Do Lines. I contacted Chris Couri, CEO of We Do Lines, and we began building a relationship. I felt We Do Lines was a perfect fit with my background.

Q: What was appealing to you about joining We Do Lines?
A: We Do Lines offers a service that is a necessity for other businesses. Currently the market for parking lot striping is fractured. It’s exciting to be working for a company that is quickly growing and expanding as a leader in the industry. The centerpiece of the We Do Lines success is a strong set of corporate ethics coupled with a vision of social responsibility that ensures continued growth, brand development, and loyalty.

Q: What makes your business different?
A: We Do Lines offer its clients a higher class of focused operators. Our processes are standardized, and our employees are trained professionals. Most of our competition is unskilled and unreliable private contractors looking for one time work opportunities. This allows us the opportunity to build greater relationships in the communities that we service in order to become the transcending brand within the industry.

Q: What are your business development plans?
A: As a continually growing company, our goal is to be the leading national brand for parking lot striping solutions.

Q: Do you have any other interesting hobbies or passions?
A: Aside from being a tri-athlete, I am currently learning to be a pilot. Flying allows for an incredible experience that focuses your senses, and lets you escape the stresses of everyday life. I primarily fly single engine planes. My son also flies, and trains me directly sometimes. It’s a great way for us to spend some unique father-son time together.

ABOUT WE DO LINES, USA Based in Ridgefield, Conn., and founded in 2008 by three friends looking to revolutionize a $1 billion segment of a $29 billion industry, We Do Lines, USA, a full-service parking lot striping franchise provides quality, professional, and reliable line striping services in a timely and cost efficient manner. Its services make parking lots everywhere safer, cleaner and more functional, while enhancing the overall aesthetics of the property. We Do Lines, USA accomplishes this mission by utilizing a combination of state-of-the-art technology and trained professionals to ensure a top-quality end result. For more information, please visit www.wedolines.com.

We Do Lines featured in The Long Islander

Most of the We Do Lines business flies under the radar for most Americans, when they pull into a parking lot they expect to pull between the lines… but the truth of the matter is that many of these lots need a reliable source for restriping. And that is the business that We Do Lines is cashing in on. They were recently featured in The Long Islander in an article entitled “Painting The Line on Reliability” discussing one of their most recent openings under the leadership of Skip Barrett and Rob Schlosser. Scouting out new business and recognizing that most lots should be painted every 18-36 months, Skip and Rob are happy to now be open for business in Huntington. View the full article below, or click here!

We Do Lines featured in Newsday

Newsday has published an article called “Parking-line painters expand in LI,” which focuses on Long Island’s newest parking lot line stripers, Skip Barrett and Rob Schlosser of We Do Lines, Long Island. Skip describes how he became involved with We Do Lines from a corporate perspective and then turned franchisee all while still managing franchise development for the brand. Check out the article here.

Parking-line painters expand into LI
By JAMES BERNSTEIN

Three entrepreneurs have proved that just about anything can be made into a business, including painting those ubiquitous white lines in parking lots.
We Do Lines, a Ridgefield, Conn.-based franchiser that began only two years ago and boasts customers from Maine to Florida in its first year, is expanding to Long Island.

Skip Barrett and Rob Schlosser, both of Huntington, are the company's franchisees for Long Island and Westchester County. Barrett was We Do Lines' franchise development director before taking up some territory himself. The Island, Barrett said, is perfect for the business.

Sometimes, he said, Long Island seems like one long parking lot. The shopping malls, businesses, schools, and municipal buildings all have lots, and the spaces need to be maintained. There are also guidelines required by the Americans with Disabilities Act. Airports too need lines.

(Read More)

What Does an Alliance with Sherwin-Williams Mean for We Do Lines Franchisees

By Skip Barrett, We Do Lines Director of Franchise Development

We Do Lines has just entered into a strategic partnership with Sherwin-Williams to provide training, supplies and expert knowledge to We Do Lines franchisees. The partnership will position We Do Lines for further growth and development. Working with North America’s largest single-source paint and coatings supplier lends tremendous quality recognition and brand power to the company. Here’s how:

• There are over 5,000 Sherwin-Williams commercial sales representatives nationwide who are referring and actually selling for their local We Do Lines franchisee.

• The extensive Sherwin-Williams National Accounts operation will begin referring We Do Lines’ local operators to their accounts of $500K or more.

• The Sherwin-Williams stores will act as warehouses, supply centers, and repair depots for We Do Lines’ operators.

• Offices in Sherwin-Williams stores will be made available to We Do Lines’ franchisees for training, interviewing crews, and client meetings.

• Franchisees can use the Sherwin-Williams logo on We Do Lines’ trucks and marketing.

• There is a seamless internet ordering interface with N/C delivery by Sherwin-Williams to We Do Lines work sites.

• Special pricing on paint and supplies will be given to We Do Lines franchisees.

• Special leasing options on equipment will be given to We Do Lines franchisees.

This arrangement is unique in the striping industry and makes our offering all the more attractive. Through our partnership with Sherwin-Williams, we have taken a large step toward branding We Do Lines nationally and professionalizing the parking lot line striping market segment. In addition, it has dramatically increased the value of our franchisees’ businesses.

We Do Lines was recently featured in Franchise Update!

We Do Lines Wants To Stripe Your Lot!

Outside of parking your vehicle, who thinks about the painted lines in parking lots? Chris Couri, Tom Darrow and Dan Rella that's who! Couri, Darrow, and Rella co-founded We Do Lines, a parking lot striping franchise, in February 2008; Lenahan joined in April 2009. After testing the concept up and down the East Coast, they're ready to pursue the approximately $1 billion striping niche of the $29 billion U.S. parking lot market. "There's not one national parking lot striping company out there. The market is completely untapped," says Couri, president of the Ridgefield, Conn.-based concept. The four have teamed with Skip Barrett, who co-founded GarageTek in 2000. "I have seen a lot of franchise concepts, but none with the potential of this one, especially given the landscape of this industry," says Barrett. Start-up costs range from $77,000 to $134,000, with the leasing of a truck and equipment making up the bulk of costs. The company also places a high priority on being eco-friendly and socially responsible. (Read More)

We Do Lines was recently featured in the Fort Worth Business Press

Parking lot painting firm earns its stripes with growth

BY LESLIE WIMMER
April 26, 2010

Chris Couri believes a well-maintained parking lot is good for business.

Couri, president of We Do Lines, a Connecticut-based parking lot striping business expanding into Dallas-Fort Worth as well as Houston and other large Texas cities, works to sell businesses on the idea that spending money to maintain their parking lots will benefit their business in various ways.

“Our job is educating our clients on the benefits of having a properly marked parking lot, and the advantages of doing so,” he said.

While Couri said he doesn’t often hear from business owners who are skeptical of spending money on parking lot maintenance, when he does the issues he discusses include compliance with various regulatory guidelines such as Americans with Disabilities Act rules and proper fire lane striping, as well exterior benefits as customers will have a better opinion of a business with a well-maintained parking lot, he said.

“A parking lot can be a liability issue, but it can also be a marketing opportunity,” said Skip Barrett, director of franchise development for We Do Lines. A parking lot “is the welcome mat for a store. If you drive to a store that has a freshly striped and sealed parking lot you’re going to think better about that business than one that has potholes and faded lines and such. Companies recognize the marketing value in having their lots maintained.” (Read More)

We Do Lines was recently featured in the Long Island Business News

Parking lot painters get in line

by Ambrose Clancy
Published: April 9, 2010

Thirty years ago, Rich Mailand was farming cabbage and string beans in Suffolk County when a cousin called and asked if he’d help out painting lines.

After a summer night running a painting machine, creating stalls in a parking lot at $3 a pop, Mailand figured the work beat farming. “Then it just snowballed,” Mailand said in the spacious Brookhaven Hamlet headquarters of Parkline Maintenance, which he owns and operates with his brother, Robert.

Since its humble launch, Parkline has grown into a full-service paving and property maintenance business specializing in anything and everything to do with parking lots. Today, the company has government contracts, handles large commercial projects and works as far afield as Florida on shopping centers and other paving business.

With the weather warming, the striping business will be hitting full stride soon, as Parkline and a handful of other big companies paint everything from the corner-deli lot with five stalls to the parking expanses of airports, shopping centers, universities and hospitals, which count thousands of spaces each.

Mailand and the big boys have their share of competition, notably those the trade calls “gypsies” or “pirates,” usually two guys with a hand-operated painting machine who work for far less than the standard $5 to $6 rate for a stall these days.

But you get what you pay for, professional stripers warn, so beware the pirate with a paint sprayer working out of a U-Haul trailer. Few carry insurance and fewer still will take the time to scrupulous clean a lot before striping. Others perform shoddy repair jobs with watered-down sealants.

“You shouldn’t hire some guy who’s moonlighting,” said Bob Lewis of Bay Shore’s DuMor Construction, which not only stripes but, like Parkline, maintains lots in every capacity.

Lewis’ firm maintains a $5 million umbrella insurance policy.

“It can be dangerous out there,” he said.

Although the National Parking Association reports that a majority of its members saw a loss in volume and revenue last year, lots still have to be striped.

The companies get a leg up from new environmental regulations that call for latex-based paints, which usually last but a single season. In years past, oil-based striping lasted three years, Mailand said.

Hoping to get some green from black Long Island lots this year is a new Connecticut-based franchisor, We Do Lines. The cleverly named company has sold six franchises around the country, but is still looking to hit pay dirt on Long Island. (Read More)

We Do Lines was recently featured in the Gulf Coast Business Review

Company tries to stay in the lines

By: Gulf Coast Business Review

February 19, 2010

A startup franchise company with ambitious growth goals — and a catchy tag line — has targeted the Gulf Coast for its nationwide debut.

We Do Lines, a Connecticut-based company that repaints parking lot stripes, says it hopes to bring sexy to the parking lot business.

We Do Lines was founded in 2008 in Ridgefield, Conn., by four business partners in the commercial landscaping industry. The partners looked in vain for years to find a good, reliable company to pave parking lot lines. “We couldn’t find anybody,” says We Do Lines co-founder Tom Darrow. “It was like a vampire industry.”

So Darrow and his partners founded We Do Lines to bring some order to the industry. The company, through Internet search engines and its database of landscaping clients, grew quickly. It took on a job to pave lines for the parking garage of a $60 million condo project in Stamford and last year it was awarded a large job at the Doral Resort in Miami. (Read More)

We Do Lines was recently featured in The Register Citizen

Line painting company exceeds expectations

Published: Sunday, February 7, 2010

By DAVID HUTTER

David Choplinski hired We Do Lines to paint lines in a parking lot of a medical property in New Milford, and raves about the company’s work.

The president of Hudson Construction Associates, Choplinski touts the company as having far exceeded his expectations.

“Without a doubt, I’ll keep hiring them. They are professional in every way,” Choplinski said. “We Do Lines exceeded my expectations. Usually guys who do lines are not as professional (in general).”

Founded by friends Christopher Couri, Craig Lenahan, Dan Rella, and Tom Darrow in February 2008, We Do Lines is a Ridgefield-based company. Besides painting lines in parking ltos, they also paint curbs, install traffic sign, and stage warehouse floors. (Read More)

Executive Biography: Skip Barrett Director of Franchise Development

Skip has more then 25 years in both business to business and business to consumer sales and franchising.

In 2000 Skip co-founded GarageTek the world’s first garage remodeling franchise where he was instrumental in all aspects of the start-up including: business model conception, raising venture capital, creating sales training procedures, marketing strategies, franchisee recruitment, and awarding of franchises. Skip helped guide GarageTek through several stages of growth and was responsible for awarding hundreds of domestic franchises and negotiated international development licenses in five countries, including Russia and South Africa.

Skip brings a wealth of franchising experience to WDL and a commitment to franchisee satisfaction and financial success. Away from work Skip enjoys flying with his son, sports car racing, reading and spending time with his wife of 25 years Joanne and his daughter Katy, and the family’s four retrievers.

Executive Biography: Thomas E. Darrow CEO of Operating Company

Tom has always excelled in the service industry. Both his commitment to his clients and his attention to detail have been the backbone for his companies since the very beginning.

Born and raised in Ridgefield, CT, Tom quickly entered the business world starting a lawn service. Tom grew the lawn service, which he ultimately sold, to concentrate on the landscaping and irrigation division. The company, Pinnacle Landscaping, Inc., with headquarters in Ridgefield, is a leader in the turf industry and manages large scale landscaping and irrigation projects from Nantucket, MA to Heathrow, FL.

Tom's latest venture, with long time friends and business associates Chris Couri and Dan Rella, reinforces his commitment to the service industry. Residing in Ridgefield with his Girlfriend Jacqueline, Tom fills his down time with golf, drag racing and mountain biking.