We Do Lines in Ridgefield has taken a streaky profession into the daylight and to the national ”“ possibly international ”“ level. With franchisees at the starting gates, the owners are primed to line parking lots perhaps as far away as Dubai.
“It”™s been two years, so we”™re still pretty new,” said Christopher Couri, chief operating officer and CEO of We Do Lines. “We started this as a separate side business.”
Couri and one of his two partners, Daniel Rella, began the line business as a part-time, easy-to-operate business to parallel their primary business, Young’s of Ridgefield, a lawn and garden retail store, which remains active.
The pair joined in the venture with Ridgefield native Thomas Darrow, founder and owner of Pinnacle Landscaping in Ridgefield.
Craig Lenahan would join the trio a year in as an investor and fourth partner.
While searching for a side business Couri, Rella and Darrow remembered their yearly parking lot lining issues.
“The reason we started it was we always needed to get our parking lot done at Young”™s; it was a big pain,” said Couri. “Nobody would call you back. There was no professionalism, nobody knew about the industry. It”™s a vampire industry; nobody knows who does their lines. We jumped right in.”
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The company gained a large part of its business through an Internet presence and soon adopted a name that was thrown out originally as a joke.
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“I was really kidding; with the slang meaning, I was thinking we”™d never do churches, schools or rehab centers,” said Couri. “The point became though, that it will catch your eye and ear. You may love it or hate it, but you”™re not going to forget it.”
For a building to receive a Certificate of Operation it must have its parking lots lined. Couri said it”™s a process that most landlords don”™t relish.
“They just want it to be done,” said Couri. “But it”™s a business”™ welcome mat, it sounds corny but it”™s the first thing you see when you come into a business.”
Couri said in general the people who do the work in the industry do it as an extra source of income. “It”™s the police and firefighters who do the work because it works with their hours, or the DOT worker, who borrows the equipment at night,” said Rella. “There”™s no customer service, there”™s no face to the business.”
The business began getting calls from out of state, and with a think-big attitude has taken its operation as far south as Miami. Rella said they try to get as many jobs during daylight as possible in order to gain more exposure.
“Obviously the Internet is extremely powerful,” said Couri. “We became national very quickly. We just did a job up in Maine at L.L.Bean.”
Couri said basic business courtesies like calling back the customer enabled the company to build a name in an industry that was formerly anonymous.
In a year into the operation, talk of franchising began. The expansion move came was after running the numbers by franchising veteran, Ron Summers of New City, N.Y., and receiving his blessing that the group decided to go full speed ahead.
“We knew we had something,” said Couri. “It was a method of distribution. Our goal is to be the nation”™s No. 1 parking-striping company. We see the market, it”™s a $29 billion industry, our market segment of that is $686 million. It”™s a big market. The franchise way makes sense; it makes our franchisees have skin in this.”
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Couri said the business has 125 franchisees ready to begin. Requests have come from places as far away as Dubai, Egypt and Canada.
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“We”™re looking for business owners, not people to just walk behind a machine,” said Skip Barrett, director of franchise development at We Do Lines. “We want people who want to make this a primary means of income.”
Lenahan said the franchising opportunities have garnered response from all types of professionals, many looking for new opportunities after losing their positions because of the economy.
“The hours are flexible; you don”™t need more than one employee, a laptop, equipment and a truck,” said Lenahan. “Guys who had this big dream of being their own boss can do it. They can make real money, have their own business and even see their kids. Once you”™re a dominant player, this is a recurring-business business.”
According to Barrett, the company has remained lean, kept its operating costs low and utilized technology to its best advantage.
“In addition to the Internet presence, overhead has remained low by doing things like using Google Earth to quote jobs,” said Barrett. “We”™re taking a low-tech industry and realizing surprising margins in it.”
Couri said the first year was spent growing the operating company and the second year has been focused on franchising and operating.
“If you look at the Forbes Franchise 500, very rarely is there a small gap between year franchised and year started,” said Couri. “We”™re on track.”
