Parking-line painters expand into LI

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.

Barrett says he wants to bring a measure of respectability to an industry - line striping - that has been populated by fly-by-nights.

Chris Couri - along with Tom Darrow and Dan Rella, all friends in Connecticut - came up with the idea for the business in 2008, after working in landscaping and other outdoor service industries. Last year, Couri said, "We got work from Maine to Miami. Somebody would Google search, and We Do Lines would pop up."