Even when you live in paradise, running a portable sanitation business is not without its challenges. And Paradise Lua, a firm serving the Hawaiian Islands, is no stranger to the ups and downs of the industry. They just happen to face issues those on the mainland may never encounter.
Despite the challenges of serving multiple locations — separated by vast expanses of ocean — the firm owned by Jeanette and George Grace III has been a powerhouse concern in the state for more than 40 years. Today the business serves three of the state’s larger islands with an inventory of 2,500 restrooms.
Plywood units
Jeanette Grace calls the company’s founder — her late father-in-law, George Grace Jr. — a “pioneer” in the state’s portable sanitation industry, getting it up and running at a time when others weren’t as forward-thinking. He initiated his concept on the island not long after Hawaii gained statehood in 1959.
“He was a construction worker himself,” Grace says, “so experiencing no restrooms on a jobsite made him think.” He built a restroom out of plywood and fiberglass and toted the unit to a bank, looking for financing. “They thought he was crazy,” she says. “They couldn’t grasp the concept.” But he succeeded in convincing the bankers; then it was up to the public to embrace this newfangled idea.
“It was kind of slow going in the beginning until people started seeing it, using it,” she says. Paradise Lua mainly serviced the construction industry, but soon branched out into special events and military contracts.
Grace, who began working for the company in the 1980s, recalls the “interesting” atmosphere at Schofield Barracks, a U.S. Army training base on Oahu, which rented her company’s units. “I remember units on the training site getting run over by Army tanks. Sometimes they got mistaken for targets … and were blown up; it was interesting,” she says.
Based on Oahu, Paradise Lua continues to serve the military’s needs through contracts that they bid on. “What we cater to are the different branches of the military that come down for special training,” Grace says. “A lot of them are in remote areas where you need four-wheel drives to get to.” She estimates about 20 percent of the company’s business is on military sites.
When Grace’s father-in-law was ready to retire in the 1990s, Grace and her husband took over the business and continued to expand its market share and client base. She estimates about 60 percent of the business caters to construction, with the remainder made up of special events, the military and private individuals. The special events, Grace says, are similar to those businesses serve on the mainland, with the possible exception of luaus.
This is Paradise Lua’s second year servicing the Great Aloha Run, held on Presidents’ Day. They provide more than 200 units to the busy event, held in downtown Honolulu. Another high-profile special event they serviced was the National Football League’s Pro Bowl at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu.
“We are a supporter of the University of Hawaii Warriors, so we donated units to Aloha Stadium,” Grace says. “There were 44 units on the inside of the stadium for the Pro Bowl. We also had one of the restroom trailers out on the Wednesday before the game for the Paradise Cove Pro Bowl Luau (an event for Pro Bowl players and their families). We have been doing this event for years and enjoy it every time.”
In addition, Paradise Lua also serves private parties, concerts and golf tournaments. “Our rentals for special events range from portable units to restroom trailers, depending on the number of attendees and time frames.”
Growing pains
With growth comes expansion, naturally. But how do you expand across an ocean? That was the logistical challenge Paradise Lua faced when it decided to extend its reach beyond Oahu. That base camp is where the company stores the majority of its units, mostly from PolyJohn Enterprises Corp., and some from PolyPortables Inc. and NuConcepts, restroom trailers from Ameri-Can Engineering, and transport trailers from Explorer and Wells Cargo.
Grace says they keep 80 to 100 units onsite to fill short-term rentals, but most of the company’s 2,500 units are in the field — on one island or another. That goes for their fleet as well. Trucks — primarily Ford F-350s and Ford F-450s with a combination of Masport and Conde pumps — are delegated to each island, where they stay.
On the big island of Hawaii, Paradise Lua has three vacuum trucks — among them, a 1997 Ford F-350 4x4 that utilizes a Best Enterprises Inc. 300-gallon waste/110-gallon freshwater stainless steel tank. Three of its tank trucks on the other islands have the same capacity. Two service trucks on Oahu feature Keith Huber tanks, outfitted with Masport pumps.
Maintaining inventory on each island (Oahu, Kauai and Hawaii) has proven to be a time-saving and economical measure — ensuring that units are readily available on each respective island. “Now we really don’t have to take from the Oahu inventory,” Grace says, adding that each island’s base camp is kept fairly well stocked.
When the company purchases new units, for example, they have the manufacturer ship directly to the island where the units are needed because the cost of shipping is so high. “It’s cheaper for us to purchase unassembled units,” she adds. “We can fit 88 unassembled portable toilets into a container rather than 20 assembled units. We’ll fly people up there to assemble the units,” she says.
Likewise, Paradise Lua must pay a hefty shipping fee to get its trucks shipped from the mainland. Depending on the vehicle’s dimensions, shipping costs range from $1,600 to $5,000 per truck.
Occasionally, increased demand requires Paradise Lua to ship units or trailers between islands. And while that can get expensive, Grace says the company rarely passes the shipping costs on to the customer.
“Our biggest headache is shipping,” Grace says, “because only one company does it. That creates a challenge. You don’t want to run into an issue where a barge got overbooked and they’re unable to take our stuff.
“Everything is shipped by barge to the other islands,” she says, adding that the distance between the islands can range from 100 miles to several hundred miles. They can ship about 20 units in a 40-foot container load. It costs $605 to ship single units in a 20-foot container, $1,000 for a 40-foot container.
In its inventory, Paradise Lua has 10 restroom trailers, located on both Oahu and Hawaii. “If we have a special event that requires a restroom trailer, we do ship those from island to island,” Grace says. Roundtrip cost is about $1,300.
The price of doing business across an ocean is part and parcel of owning a business in Hawaii. But fortunately, “We’re at the stage right now where the units on each island are enough to service (that island); we haven’t had an instance lately where we’ve had to take from one island to another,” Grace says, adding that the company usually ships on a quarterly basis.
And to keep costs down, maintaining units in good working order is a priority, especially in a hot, humid climate, which puts added demands on deodorant products. “It basically means we have to purchase chemicals that are stronger than the others,” Grace says.
Branching out
Paradise Lua employs 28 full-time staff, moving them around as needed. The company transferred two Oahu drivers to Kauai, for example. And Grace also sent her niece and nephew to run that office. “I would say maybe 80 percent of our employees are family members,” she says. “I think it works out quite well. They are the future of Paradise Lua.”
As staff move to accommodate the growing business, Paradise Lua is focusing on even greater expansion in 2008. “We’re looking to branch out on Maui,” Grace says, hoping to add the state’s second-largest island to its chain by 2009. “We’ve had a lot of inquiries about our services.”
Grace admits it can be costly to take that leap, so Paradise Lua has been researching the market and scoping out sites for a base camp. “Once we plant ourselves and the roots start taking place, we don’t want to worry about moving around,” she says. “We want to do a bit more research (on Maui) to make sure there is a bit more work. We’d need to make sure there’s enough business to pay for itself,” she says. “We’d need to get a base yard and decide if we’re going to relocate drivers from Oahu to Maui or hire from that island.
Grace adds that there is a lot of construction taking place on Maui, but the company remains firmly rooted at its home base as well. “Oahu is always growing; Oahu is a smaller island, but it is very heavily populated; we want to make sure Oahu is taken care of before we branch out,” Grace adds.
While it may seem hard to believe that a water-locked island could provide ongoing construction projects to service, Grace says that hasn’t been a concern. “Construction is an ongoing thing … with people moving to Hawaii,” she says. Hotels, shopping centers, new homes and road-widening projects provide plenty of work.
Paradise Lua has followed the state through decades of change and growth, and it likewise has done the same. Grace credits their company’s longevity to its passion for customer service. “For me, the most rewarding thing is to hear people actually compliment my business. Customer service is a priority,” she says.
And that’s become especially important to Grace, who simply married into the portable restroom business, but has never looked back. “I never dreamed I’d be in the sanitation business, but I can’t imagine my life not in it.”
