What products and equipment do you need for your new Portable Restroom Rental Company?
Now that you have legally established your business and your finances are ready, it is important to get the portable restroom equipment you will need to operate on a daily basis.
Getting the essential equipment for your Portable Toilet Rental Business is one of the most important decision you will have to make, as this will be your biggest investment. It is best to invest upfront in high-quality portable sanitation products. This will ensure that you get your return without wasting money to replace cheap or broken parts.
When starting a new Portable Toilet Rental business, it is important to have these 5 essential portable sanitation products:
- Traditional Portable Toilets & Accessories
- Spacious Portable Restrooms for The Disabled or family-use
- Vacuum Service Tank to service the toilets
- Daily Service & Rental Management Software
- Portable Toilet Chemicals & Fragrance Enhancers
Find out all the information you need on these 5 Essentials for your Portable Toilet Rental Business:
-
STANDARD PORTABLE RESTROOMS
When starting a new Portable Toilet Rental Business, of course, you will need to acquire some porta-potties! You have the choice between various types and styles of portable restrooms from diverse manufacturers.
Traditional portable toilets are the norm and are the bare-essentials in your mobile toilet rental company.
You defined your target market and determined your niche in the previous steps of creating your new company, so you will chose to buy portable toilets accordingly.
Particular portable toilets are location specific and can include elaborate accessories, or be bare basics: construction sites, special events, weddings, parks, natural disasters, and etc. On construction sites you should choose an affordable, heavy-duty robust toilet that can withstand a lot of wear and tear. Most often construction sites do not require accessories such as a flush or a sink. You would choose a basic drop-tank, which means that you can see straight down into the portable toilet tank and that there is no flushing accessory.
Whereas, for special events and weddings you need to add accessories to make the toilet more “VIP” and offer the final user a better experience. Improve the portable toilet with accessories for events, wedding, parties, so you can offer the exact service your consumers will ask for.
Here are some Accessories you can add to create a more VIP experience for the users:
- Flushing system (recirculation or fresh water flush)
- Sink or Interior Hand-wash
- Urinal
- Interior Light
- Protective Floor Mat
- Hand-sanitizer
- Mirror…
Also check with your local laws and regulations on what is required. In the USA & Eastern Europe & parts of South America, drop tank portable toilets are the norm. In most parts in Europe, sinks and flushes are required by law for hygiene standards. You could try to be different and offer a better service by adding accessories to your loo if not required!
The portable toilet Industry also offers many different brands of plastic mobile toilets, that overall are pretty much similar. Some questions you should ask before buying are:
- What makes your toilet different from the competition?
- Does it come assembled?
- How long does it take to assemble?
- How is the plastic constructed? Is it double walled and can withstand daily abuse from being outside? Does it have UV protectant?
- What parts break more easily?
- Can I see a spare parts price list?
- Can I mould my company logo into the plastic?
- Can I talk to one of your customers, someone who has the same product for a reference?
- What are the weight and dimensions?
- How heavy is it to lift? Do you have a relocating device or tool to help move and relocate the toilet?
- How much will it cost to ship new toilets to me?
Some manufacturers have created unique, innovative portable toilets. For example a toilet that can be assembled and unassembled, a tiny-kid-sized toilet, & etc. These Innovative portable toilets are also important, such as a demountable portable toilet or a kid friendly porta-potty… Be more competitive! With this kind of equipment, you can be at the top of the portable toilet industry and offer a service that your competitors might not have.
It is also possible to get independent, free-standing accessories, such as an independent hand-wash or urinal station. An independent urinal station is interesting for big events, as it will reduce the number of portable toilets to provide, reduce the queue during the event, and allow men to do what they have to do without installing and servicing as many portable restrooms.
If you want to specialize in VIP events or weddings, you can also look into VIP High-end toilet trailers, which provide a high-end experience for the user and a large return on rentals.
Think about how your standard toilets will be different than your competitor: use of special colors, use of logo, additional accessories, what exactly sets you apart?
-
SPACIOUS PORTABLE RESTROOMS FOR THE DISABLED OR FOR FAMILY USE
These spacious portable restrooms are an important, necessary product to have in your fleet. You don’t have to have many, but at least one to start with. These large sized portable toilets allow access by a wheelchair or baby stroller to fully turn around inside. They also can accommodate an extra person when needed, such as a caregiver or family member. Spacious portable toilets are great for any places where families congregate such as parks, recreational sites, sporting events, & beaches. The larger space inside compared to a traditional portable restroom allows a parent to take care of their baby or accompany their kids when needed. Some also offer a baby changing station.
Disabled portable toilets are consequently bulky, harder to manoeuvre & heavier and are often a challenge to transport. They are also more expensive upfront costs. They feature metal grab bars which enable a person to pull themselves up and off of the toilet. Some of these family restrooms come standard with sinks and flushes, adding to the complexity. They also take longer to assemble.
If you want to work with special events rentals, make sure you know the local regulations and standards, because it is frequently a requirement to provide access to sanitary facilities for the disabled. For any kind of festivals and large gatherings, it is advised to include at least 1 wheelchair accessible restroom, or 5% of all units, never less than one.
Handicap Accessible portable toilets are more and more valuable element for a portable restroom rental company. By simply asking your clients if they need a Disabled unit with the regular toilets for their event, you will probably get to offer an additional service, meaning more work… which means more money in your pocket.
-
VACUUM TANK
Having good portable toilets is not enough, you have to clean and service them too! You will need a commercial-grade high-quality vacuum pump and high-pressure washer, often referred to as simply a Vacuum Pumper. These vacuum service tanks will safely remove the waste from the toilets and transfer the waste into the mobile waste tank. The clean fresh water is pushed out from the fresh water tank to hose down and clean the walls of the portable toilets and fill up the portable toilet tank. This machine is costly, but mandatory.
Vacuum Tanks come in many different liquid capacities, often determined by the local standards and regulations. Its important choose a vacuum service tank with a wastewater and water capacity that suits your business model.
There are many variations offered by the different manufacturers, but choosing a good vacuum tank depends on diverse variables:
- the size of your vehicle / dimensions of your truck / dimensions of the flat bed
- if you want a slide-in unit or directly mounted on the chassis
- over-all weight – there are high-way limits to weight you can carry
- the liquid capacity – how many toilets can you service in one outing
- the quality of the equipment: engine, vacuum and water pump
- what additional features can it do?
- what is the performance rating?
- what kind of maintenance is required?
- length of the hoses
- Does it have dual-sided hoses so you can service toilets from both sides of the truck?
- How many holding tanks does it have?
You need a good vacuum pump to suck out the waste properly and efficiently. Take into consideration how much junk people actually dump into portable toilet waste tanks: baby diapers, trash, clothes, cell phones by accident, you would be surprised how most people treat the toilet as a trash can. Pay attention to how much liquid it can pull per minute, the speed of the vacuum flow. The higher the l/m or CFM, the more expensive the vacuum.
- Metric: litres per minute or l/m
- English: cubic feet per minute CFM
The stronger the water pressure, the cleaner the toilet will be after a good spray down! You want to pay attention to the pressure:
- Metric: BAR = atmospheric pressure at sea level
- English: PSI – pounds per square inch
-
SERVICE EQUIPMENT & SOFTWARE
To operate your portable restroom business on a daily basis, you will need to have an organised method of doing day to day activities. There are a diverse numbers of software specialized for the Portable toilet industry to help you manage your business. They tell you many things:
- Where are your toilets out on job sites?
- GPS Tracking of toilets
- How many toilets do you have in your property / Warehouse / yards?
- Which toilets need to be cleaned today?
- Which toilets get picked up and returned?
- What is the most efficient route to send the driver on to clean more toilets and waste less time
- Billing & Invoicing
- Is it time to order more chemicals and toilet paper and soap?
- Track customer service
These software will help you to organize your business to be successful by spending less money and making more money. If you start as a small business with not too many portable restrooms, maybe you will not need this kind of software at first, but on the long run, it can be very useful and help you to be more organized and more efficient.
-
CHEMICALS PRODUCTS
The reason that portable toilets have a bad reputation is because they are often stinky! You need to use strong, effective fragrant deodorizers & enhancers that will control the odours and keep your mobile toilets clean and fresh in between services. Be weary of chemicals that are too inexpensive, because they are most likely not going to mask the smell. You also need to pay attention to local laws and regulations because certain chemicals or additives found in chemicals for portable toilets can be illegal in certain locations.
Most importantly you will need a powerful deodorizer to put in the portable toilet tank when you leave it out for use. Deodorizers come in concentrated liquid or as single portions – drop & go. These deodorisers will eliminate odors and help break down the paper and waste inside the tank, in order to liquefy everything until your servicing. Choosing between tablets or liquid chemical depends on you: portions might be easier to control quantity and don’t need any preparation, but liquid is usually more concentrated. With liquids chemical, you have to calculate the right amount each time or get a premix done in order to be more efficient.
These chemical deoderizers are made with or without Formaldehyde. In view of its widespread use, toxicity, and volatility, formaldehyde poses a significant danger to human health, that’s why it is not allowed in some countries, for example in the European Union. Make sure to know the laws regarding the composition and use of chemical products.
It is also important to use an Air Freshener or Fragrance Enhancer inside the unit, which is an odour control disk, and will leave a nice smell and complement the use of deodorizers. Depending on the supplier, you can chose from different scents.
You can also purchase graffiti removers, urinal tabs, cleaners and degreasers, hand soap and hand sanitiser refills.
These 5 elements – traditional or Handicap accessible portable toilets, vacuum tank, service equipment & chemicals – are all necessary and complementary to each other.
Research depending on your primary budget. Get in touch with suppliers and ask for quotes in order to compare prices, but don’t forget quality!
Now that you did the first steps to start your portable toilet activity, and have all the tips to choose the best equipment for your new Rental business, keep going with our series and discover the best Marketing Tips for your Portable Toilet Business!
The last article of our series will give you all the advices you need to give the best Portable Toilet Cleaning Service.
Tblustar offers a full range of portable toilets (traditional, spacious units or innovative cabins), innovative & high quality vacuum tank, and also chemical products. Have a look at our website and feel free to contact us at info@tblustar.com for any further information!
More tips:
