The 53-foot combination restroom/shower trailer from Comforts of Home Services Inc. is aimed at contractors who want to serve large crews involved in emergency-relief efforts stemming from forest fires, hurricanes, environmental disasters and the like.
“Contractors and municipalities can invest in this equipment and it may sit dormant for a while until something unfortunate happens,” says John Kent, sales manager for Comforts of Home. “But when those incidents happen, they can make good money with it. These trailers have become more popular in the wake of Katrina and the big California forest fires a few years ago.”
The trailers can be customized for virtually any configuration of restrooms, sinks and showers a customer requires. Comforts of Home does all the fabrication in-house, and builds the units atop aluminum, lightweight yet durable, Great Dane trailers. The units can be built for handicapped accessibility, with optional hydraulic lifts or fold-up ramps.
“The trailers typically connect directly to sewer lines or some kind of on-site waste disposal,” Kent says. “Or we can provide 1,500-gallon bladder tanks.
“There are a lot of logistics to consider, though,” he adds. “This system magnifies everything. It requires more water, more electricity, larger waste volume, more manpower for setup and a bigger truck.”
Kent points out that the trailer provides ample interior space, especially between stalls and sinks. The units also come in a variety of colors and offer aesthetically pleasing amenities that customers expect for a higher-price product. “It’s a capital expense, like buying a car,” Kent says. “If you’re going to spend $50,000 on a Cadillac, you want to be able to pick the color you want. It’s no different with this product.”
The units can be built as a trailer or lower-priced, semi-permanent drop boxes that have no axles, tires or hitch and offer a clean, permanent look. They also feature steel studs and roof rafters and easy-to-assemble aluminum, diamond-plate, non-skid stairs. “They’re lighter than heavy-gauge steel, so there’s less chance of injuries during setup,” Kent says.
For more information, visit www.cohsi.com or call 847/856-8002.
