Restrooms Anyone?

A poster wants to add portable sanitation services to his septic-pumping business and asks for advice on how to get started

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Question:

I’ve been thinking of starting to offer portables along with our septic business. I have many questions, but understandably enough am having a hard time getting info from guys in the area on where and what are the better units to buy and so on. Any help or thoughts would be helpful.

 

Answers:

I was thinking about this too. I don’t know anything about portables. My last boss just did septic pumping, and he told me there is little money in portables. Unless you keep a tight route.

 

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I kind of agree with keeping them close until you get your feet on the ground. But as was the case when we started doing septic work, within reason we went out to the calls, we kind of had a rule, anything outside 50 miles we charged extra, explained to the customer why we charged extra, made it a point to do the best job we could on the tank, and also had a rule not to cut the other guy’s prices. No one makes money doing that; we are staying quite busy doing septic work now. In my area, folks don’t give a lot of attention to their restrooms, only one company, in my opinion, keeps them clean. Good-looking units and keep them serviced. And I see his units at a lot of special events.

I don’t feel you could depend on portables to show a huge profit until you get your units paid for. But I do feel portables would be a good idea to get you through slow times. Just got to figure out details.

 

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I agree. So hurry up and buy them and get this started. Then come back and let me know what to do and what not to do.

When I bought the company I have now, I ended up with 19 units. While they are not a big moneymaker, they do make money. Where I have an advantage is the company I bought had the local special events for years. So I had customers from day one. So far I have found day rentals for parties to be my best paying jobs. The special event stuff is OK, but if you like holidays off, then they are not for you. With Memorial Day, Fourth of July, the county fair and such, I was moving and servicing units all over the place.

In this area, the contractors have not been forced to use restrooms, so the construction job rentals are not a lot and the contractors do not like to have weekly servicing as they don’t want to pay. I have walked away from a lot of contractor jobs due to that. I like to bring them back to the shop for a thorough cleaning. I have very clean older units. On-time cleaning is a must with special event units.

I am in the middle price range of my local competition. On average, I grossed about $600 per unit last year with a cost of $250 per unit. The cost per unit included payment on the loan, which will be paid over three years. The cost per unit does not include the cost of licenses or insurance, as I carry those just to pump septic. I would like to add about 10 units, but I really don’t have steady enough work for 10 more. I deliver and service up to 15 miles one way. More than that, I charge per mile one way.

The hard number to come up with is the cost per unit. But I am a numbers geek and keep very tight accounts. When I got into this I was told not worry about the fuel mileage, as it is what it is. But by tracking my mileage, I was able to determine just how much to charge per mile and when to charge per mile. The previous owner just charged what he felt the job was worth, but he was under-billing and doing a lot of work where it cost him money.

With restrooms, a happy customer is a repeat customer, regardless of cost and within reason, and they are the best advertising you will ever get. One bad job and your name is mud pretty quick in a small town.



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