Diversification and bringing on minority investors with industry-specific experience transformed Sierra Restroom Solutions from a part-time portable restroom business to a multi-faceted enterprise offering an array of services, including street sweeping, trash hauling and stormwater prevention planning.
The Reno, Nev., company was launched in 2003 by partners Keith Capurro and Charles Oppio, both with a long family history in the area, but no actual experience in wastewater industries.
The business sprouted from a suggestion from an executive restroom operator in Las Vegas, where temperatures in the summer months can hit 115 degrees and outdoor activities come to a near standstill. The Las Vegas operator hoped his friends Capurro and Oppio might help him place units in more temperate Reno, where there are many outdoor summer activities requiring portable restrooms.
STARTING SMALL
The suggestion inspired the two Reno men to consider opening their own business to bring in additional income. Oppio was managing a 1,000-acre cattle ranch for his father and Capurro was a physical therapist.
Their initial inventory consisted of 200 units and a 2003 service truck, an International chassis with a 2,000-gallon aluminum tank and a Masport pump from Pacific Truck Tank. But in short order, the partners realized there was an opportunity for growth and made substantial changes to their startup plans.
As Oppio describes their progress, “We just went full-bore at becoming a full-service restroom company. We continued to promote our services by contacting people we knew. We spread the word, and we took a lot of people to lunch. We learned a lot by our experiences.”
They set out on an aggressive plan to build inventory. Currently the company has:
• 1,700 portable restrooms, including 1,500 Satellite Industries Inc. Maxim 3000 units, 200 Hampel Corp. Global restrooms, 50 handicap units from Satellite (Freedom and Liberty models).
• 90 The Wave hand-wash units from Satellite, 10 PolyJohn Enterprises Corp. VIP units, one PolyJohn shower unit, eight NuConcepts units (two to a trailer), two VIP restroom trailers built by Owen Trailers Inc., 90 PolyJohn holding tanks (250 gallons).
• 30 insulated, enclosed non-potable water trailers for construction offices; 90 Satellite units mounted to FMI Truck Sales &?Service trailers.
• Their fleet of 11 service trucks includes Chevrolets, GMCs, Isuzus, all with Masport pumps. Tank sizes range from 600 to 1500 gallons. The trucks were built out or accessorized by either FMI Truck Sales & Service or TankTec.
• A 2008 Peterbilt truck from Satellite Industries to collect septic, grease, sand and oil waste, with a 4,000-gallon steel tank, Masport pump and a Hydro-Jetter Tool Box from O’Brien Manufacturing.
• A 1994 Ford F-800 2,000-gallon non-potable water truck.
• Six industrial street sweepers from Schwartz Industries and TYMCO Inc.
PEOPLE POWER AS WELL
Capurro and Oppio also realized the importance of having people in the company who knew the business, and they wanted employees who held an interest in the company. Within a year, they added two minority investors with experience in portable sanitation.
Chad Belding had worked for another restroom company prior to joining Sierra Restroom Solutions.
“His experience was very beneficial for us,” says Capurro. “Chad had a lot of sales contacts and good knowledge of the industry. Jeff Palmer came to us with prior experience as operations manager for another restroom company. For us he started as a service attendant, but with his expertise in the industry he eventually fit into the operations manager position. Chad is our sales representative.
“We believe this policy of allowing investment keeps employees motivated as they have a vested interest in the company,” Capurro said.
With experienced employees and a growing equipment base, what started out as a venture to bring in a little extra income has grown far beyond expectations. But there was more to come.
At the time they opened the business in 2003, construction was booming in the area, and interest rates were low. It was a promising start.
DIVERSIFYING AGAIN AND AGAIN
“It was never in our initial plan to expand into any related services,” says Capurro. “But you go into an industry and you see what’s going on. The opportunities eventually present themselves if you pay attention and listen.”
He says new opportunities seemed to pop up. In one instance, he noticed that some of their commercial customers were hiring a street sweeping company from 100 miles away.
“That’s when the light went on for us,” Capurro says. Here again in order to start a new company to provide such services, there had to be investors. Capurro, Oppio and Belding, along with a silent partner, started Sweep Nevada with two commercial grade sweepers and hired operators. That enterprise has grown to six sweepers and ten employees. Most importantly they are positioned to offer established restroom customers another service. A separate street sweeping company, High Sierra Sweeping, owned by Capurro, Oppio and Belding, a union signatory street sweeping operation, emerged as well.
A formula of finding niche markets and finding investors with specific industry experience has triggered further expansion.
Another needed service involves The Clean Water Act and Storm Water Pollution Protection Planning — known as SWPPP. This sets the standards for protecting the nation’s water supplies and assuring that industry does not foul the public waters.
Adding SWPPP to Sierra Restroom Solutions did not require financial investment, but training of key personnel.
Several employees, along with upper management, received SWPPP certification from two local agencies, Paradigm Engineering and TEC Engineering, as well as individual home developer training in both Reno and Sacramento, Calif.
Once again, it was a situation where opportunity knocked and few others were opening the door.
“This service involves keeping a clean jobsite,” Capurro says. “Making sure material on the jobsite stays on the jobsite and does not go onto streets and into rivers. This requires, primarily, delivering and setting up and maintaining materials such as straw wattle, silk fencing, filters in drain inlets to keep debris contained, and collecting the waste materials.’’
Capurro says that for the SWPPP work, they generally are following instructions provided by an engineering company.
OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS
To keep in step with competitors, the company began offering temporary power and temporary fencing. They’ve found another revenue stream: trash hauling within the industry.
Rather than start a new venture, Capurro and Oppio invested in Castaway Trash Hauling to offer additional services to their customers. They do no residential collection.
By 2008 Sierra expanded to include Foam Insulation So-lutions.
Capurro explains their involvement. “A friend had seen a niche in the insulation marketplace and we were invited to participate. This is an environmentally friendly product, and is more efficient than traditional fiberglass insulation. We saw an opportunity to invest and bring in more people.”
Broad diversification has been an unexpected plus in the current slowing economy. With the slowdown in construction, Sierra has shifted employees within the operation and kept them on the payroll.
A challenge during all this growth was finding a suitable location to house the growing fleet and equipment inventory. Initially the company operated out of and stored equipment on the ranch in Sparks, Nev., belonging to Oppio’s family. However, in 2007, Sierra purchased a 2-acre property in Reno where it has a 10,000-square-foot shop and 2,400-square-foot office.
Oppio says that they just have a tough time telling people they can’t do something.
“First and foremost is providing exceptional service,” he says. “If we believe we can expand into doing something else and provide exceptional service in our new ventures, it will probably be worthwhile.”
