When Shea Slade launched Shea's Outhouse Service, Inc. in Honeoye, N.Y., 15 years ago, he immediately enlisted his father's help. It's been a family enterprise ever since, and for Slade that's one of the most enjoyable aspects of being self-employed. A love of family and community are what keep him going when the going gets tough.

"If it wasn't for family, you wouldn't be able to handle the good points and the bad points of the business," he says. "There's highs and lows. I believe in family."

UP AND RUNNING

In 1997 Slade was working part time for a portable restroom company while holding down a full-time factory job. When the owner of the restroom business decided to make a few changes, Slade saw a hole in the market he thought he could fill.

"The guy decided not to do route toilets or septic tank pumping, so I decided to do it," he says. Slade kept his day job but his father, Richard Slade, who had just been laid off from his job, helped get the company off the ground. His mother, June, and wife Rebecca, a schoolteacher, also helped out in every way possible to see the business succeed.

Slade began with about 100 used restrooms, a pickup truck, a used slide-in tank and a 2,300-gallon septic service truck from Imperial Industries, Inc. At first, his septic service work strictly involved pumping, but after a few years he branched out into installation, repair and inspections. With little competition at the time, his business steadily grew, and by 2002, he quit his factory job.

In 2007, when Rebecca was pregnant with their first child, Slade's sister, Sara Graham, stepped in as office manager. Since then, she's been handling bookkeeping, marketing, routing and dispatch. She recently took the septic inspection course and became a certified inspector, so she now enjoys getting out of the office from time to time.

Slade believes in supporting his people and helping them grow. "We're all family here," he says. "Nobody is treated like they can't do anything that another person would be able to do."

Three other people round out the current full-time staff. Dennis Lovejoy, Rebecca's uncle, is foreman of the portable restroom side of the business. He works with route driver Rudy Hubble, while Mike Guffey concentrates on septic work. Titles are only loose job descriptions. "Nobody really has a specific job," Slade says. "Everybody does a little bit of everything."

Not wanting to be left out, the kids of the brother-sister team are starting to get onboard as well. That includes Graham's son, Tyler, 11, and daughter, Abigail, 8, and Slade's two girls, Payton, 4, and Kylie, 1.

"We strive for our kids to be involved," Slade says. "Tyler does a lot of stuff. He'll go in the septic truck or digging with me. And the girls will help with the toilet paper and stuff at events." While Rebecca is no longer on the books, she inevitably finds herself helping out at those events, as well.

RURAL AMERICA

Honeoye (pronounced honey-oy) sits in the middle of the scenic Finger Lakes region of upstate New York, about 50 miles south of Lake Ontario and the Canadian border. Most homes in this town of 2,500 utilize septic systems. Septic work and grease trap pumping account for about half of the company's business. Slade replaced his original vacuum truck with two others — a 2001 International from Pik Rite, Inc. with a 3,900-gallon steel tank, and a 2001 Peterbilt from 27th Trucks, Inc. with a 4,200-gallon steel tank. For grease traps, he uses a Conde ProVac pumping system from Westmoor Ltd.

On the portable restroom side, the company works in about a 75-mile radius. Special events in this agricultural region include the Naples Grape Festival, the Hemlock "Little Worlds" Fair, and the Phelps Sauerkraut Festival. Construction activity is found near the city of Rochester, about 40 miles away.

The company also provides portable restrooms for the tourist industry at the many county parks in the area, some of which remain in place year-round. They have a variety of restroom styles in their inventory, most from PolyPortables, Inc. — Integra, Boudoir, Enhanced Access. In all, about 400 units.

At the 2012 Pumper & Cleaner Environmental Expo International Slade bought a couple of new items to add to their lineup. One was the compact TJ Shorty restroom from T.S.F. Company Inc., which they rent out for children's use at playgrounds, nursery schools and parades. The other was a PortaLisa restroom trailer from JAG Mobile Solutions, which quickly became a big hit at graduation and wedding parties.

The company has three portable sanitation service trucks — a 2001 Ford F-350 with a 300-gallon waste/200-gallon freshwater slide-in aluminum tank and a Masport, Inc. pump from Imperial Industries; a 2011 Dodge 5500 with a 500-gallon waste/300-gallon freshwater aluminum tank and a Masport, Inc. pump, also from Imperial Industries; and a 2007 GMC 5500 with an 800-gallon waste/300-gallon freshwater flat steel tank.

EXPANSION AND CONTRACTION

Competition has steadily been growing and has started to eat into Slade's profits in recent years. As the economy headed south a few years ago, price gouging and other questionable business practices became commonplace — but not for Slade.

"I don't believe in low-balling. People need to bring their prices up with the times. I want to be able to pay a fair wage to my guys. And I'm not going to try to sell something to a customer that they don't need. I believe in the small community I live in."

At one point, the company added a second location when Slade bought a business in Dansville, N.Y., but when the recession hit, he was forced to close that one down and move everything to the home office.

This part of the country hasn't seen the improving economy that other areas have, he says. But his hopes for the future go against that grain. "I'm optimistic, but I don't think we're back to normal yet."

Another challenge for the year is the cost of fuel. Slade is reluctantly considering adding fuel surcharges to his invoices. But he knows his customers are also feeling the crunch. "People aren't doing preventive maintenance anymore," he says. "They're only pumping if it's a dire emergency." The company used to have enough work to run two septic trucks full time. Now one can handle it all.

The other side of the fuel story is that oil and gas drilling is really taking off in the area. When Slade is not installing septic tanks, he spends much of his time using the second septic truck to haul water siphoned off from energy production wells. The water is stored in tanks Slade then pumps out and takes to a gas company water processing and recycling facility.

Currently the drilling is taking place about 90 miles away, near Mansfield, Pa. But Slade, along with many New Yorkers, is anxiously awaiting a decision by the state legislature to allow for drilling in the state. When that happens, he expects to pick up more work hauling water and possibly providing portable restrooms.

EXTENDED FAMILY

Slade still looks to his dad for guidance. But sometimes it's helpful to talk to other business owners in the same line of work. For Slade, this is one of the most valuable aspects of the Pumper & Cleaner Expo. In fact, he calls it a lifesaver. He's able to share concerns and bounce ideas off people without the awkwardness of being in a competitive situation.

"It's been extremely valuable for me and it's helped me grow," he says. He's especially grateful to Jay Brendel of Brendel's Septic Tank Service, in White Lake, Mich., for taking him under his wing and creating an invaluable friendship at one of the earliest Expos he attended.

STAYING POWER

Between the downslide in the economy and increased competition, Slade has seen some tough times, and he sometimes wonders if he'd do it all again. But he's hung in there through it all, and says he is actually happy with the size of the company right now.

"I love what we do," he says. "I do it because it's good to be your own boss and I love working with my family."