Portable Toilets and Your Project: Let’s Get This Potty Started!

There are some really interesting, exciting things that go on when you’re building a home, finishing a basement, or adding on.  And then there are those items that fall under the category of “someone’s gotta do it”.  Portable toilets are in that latter category.  If you haven’t had workers around much, the thought has probably never crossed your mind that they need to go to the bathroom while the project is going on.  And trust me, whether you provide facilities or not, doesn’t change that fact.  So how do you keep your home clean and on schedule?  Drumroll…I present to you…Portable toilets.

Beware of the bucket in the basement

When I started building homes seventeen years ago, my co-workers quickly got me up to speed on what the business was all about.  As the old cliche goes, they included the good, the bad and the ugly.  During my first week, I was told, “Avoid the bucket in the basement at all costs.”  Apparently some workers were too lazy to walk a couple hundred feet to get to the portable toilets we provided.  And let’s just say that a bucket used as a bathroom is no good during the event…and is absolutely awful after a few warm summer days have passed.  I suppose the bucket is a better alternative to not having a bucket and still going on site.  This is my glass half full view anyway.

Why portable toilets?

If the bucket isn’t enough of an incentive for you to look into portable toilets for your new project, let’s talk about some other good reasons.  Let’s say you are having your half bath remodeled.  The project could take several weeks to complete depending on how extensive the work is.  This leaves the workers with only two options.  First, they can leave your project and find a bathroom a couple times a day.  This slows down the progress and annoys the workers.  The other option is for them to use one of your other bathrooms.  Call me crazy but I hate having a group of strangers going in and out of my master bath all day.  It’s sort of a privacy thing.  But it’s also a function of the workers being dusty and dirty and tracking it through the house.

What do portable toilets cost?

I have worked out deals with local companies to provide portable toilets for as low as $65 per month per unit.  This would include having the portable toilets delivered, picked up and cleaned once a week.  They will tell you the typical number of people each unit will accomodate for a week on one cleaning.

Place carefully: portable toilets have a bulls eye

In case you’ve never dealt with portable toilets, I’ll fill you in on a little secret.  Portable toilets might as well have a big bulls eye on them.  Every kid within a hundred miles of your project will want to turn them over, write graffiti on them, put them in their buddies front yard…you get the idea.  It’s been the object of excitement for many-a-Friday night for the teen crowd.  Needless to say, you want to place your portable toilets as close to your home as possible.  Be sure to place it out of the way of construction activities…including grading, materials delivery and so on.  Keeping your portable toilets away from the street also helps prevent overuse from the casual drive by guest.

Let’s Get This Potty Started!

Although not sexy or fun, portable toilets are something you should seriously consider for your new construction project.  It’s a small price to pay for a clean job site.  Do any of you have any crazy experiences with portable toilets?  We’d like to hear them.

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