Every Construction Site Needs a Portable Toilet
Construction sites are notorious for creating waste. That includes waste from the workers. They are all human after all. That’s why Portable toilets, like all other necessary pieces of equipment, should be considered one of the essential elements of equipment that every job site requires to keep running smoothly, along with tools, materials, and the hard workers themselves.
A portable toilet can benefit you in at least two primary ways, efficeny and morale. On a construction site with no porta-potty, crews have no choice but to take care of business offsite. That’s pretty easy in some cases if you’re working close to a local gas station or gas station, but it might be a little harder in other cases. Workers may have to spend a decent chunk of time just trying to find a bathroom. We all know what that loss of time can mean: less productivity and higher costs per man-hour of work, not to mention potential liability issues. When you consider the pros and cons of portable toilet rental, having a portable restroom on a construction site simply makes good business sense.
Now that you see why portable toilets make sense, let’s go over some important factors. Factors like the amount of toilets you need, how often they need to be serviced and cleaned, and where to actually place them on your site. Below are some tips for understanding the factors affecting portable toilets for construction sites:
Servicing a Porta-Potty
This may seem like common sense, but the more traffic and use a portable toilet sees the more often it will need to be serviced. As a general rule, let’s say you’re working on a long-term commercial construction project somewhere in Allentown. If you have the average amount of workers using the toilet, you should have it serviced every seven days or once a week. However, this may vary depending on the amount of workers on the site (some weeks there may be more than others), as well as the season—summer heat might necessitate more frequent servicing—and usage volume.
How Many Portable Toilets You Need
Figuring out the number of toilets you need on your site can be challenging. The industry standard is typically one toilet for every ten workers you have on the site. If there are more than 20 workers, 1 toilet seat and 1 urinal per every 40 workers is standard. On especially large projects where crew numbers exceed 200, one toilet and 1 urinal for every 50 is the standard. Whenever possible, having a urinal/toilet combination unit onsite is recommended to accommodate a higher volume of use.
Place the Toilets Strategically
This will require you to really know the layout of your job site. Basically, you can avoid issues by not just placing your toilets in one spot. Instead, look at the layout and think about what would be the easiest places for multiple people to find and have easy access to a porta-potty. Having toilets strategically placed within the working area reduces the amount of time it takes for crew members working in the far back lot to “take care of business”. Those saved minutes can really add up over the course of weeks and months so proper planning and placement are important to avoid lost time and productivity.
Portable Restrooms as an Investment
Obviously, a portable toilet isn’t free. But it should be viewed as an investment. Think of it as renting a way to cut down on the time it takes for employees to find and use a bathroom, something they’ll have to do. Say that takes them 10 minutes. Well, here’s the annual cost of 10 minutes of wasted toilet time per employee, per day:
Hourly Rate 5 Employees 10 Employees
$10.00 $2,125.50 $4,250.00
$13.00 $2,762.50 $5,525.00
$15.00 $3,187.50 $6,375.00
(Formula: Hourly Rate divided by 60 Minutes Per Hour x 10 Minutes x Number of Employees x 255 Days Per Year. Referenced through a study conducted by the Portable Sanitation Association International).
When you think about the disadvantages of not having toilets it’s easy to see why having portable toilets on site has become a must. Because builders and laborers require bathroom breaks just like those who work in an office environment, keeping a few clean portable toilets on hand is important for employee morale as well as being seen favorably by clients. Keeping both satisfied is critical to success.
If that doesn’t convince you to get a portable toilet, we don’t know what will! And while you’re at it, you probably need a dumpster rental too in order to take care of that pesky construction waste that also exists at your job site. Luckily, you can get both services in one product with our Elite Dumpster rental. This revolutionary dumpster has combined a portable toilet with a dumpster to let you take care of your waste management needs with just one invoice. Reach out today to learn more.