Waste can create a lot of issues for your construction site. But, there’s no way to completely eliminate waste when you’re doing a project. Partly because of the materials used or demolished and partly because you need humans to work the project and humans create waste out of necessity. A good dumpster rental can take care of the construction waste, but you’re going to need portable toilets to tackle the other kind of waste. Portable toilets, like all other necessary pieces of equipment, should be considered one of the essential elements of equipment that every construction job site requires to keep running smoothly, along with tools, materials, and hard workers.
There’s no denying that renting portable restrooms on a construction site benefits morale and efficiency. Who wants to wonder where they can go to the bathroom anyway? Plus, if you don’t have one, your crew will have no choice but to take care of business offsite. At some work sites, this might be a convenience store up the street, while on more remote job sites it can mean a lot more travel just to find a toilet. Without a doubt this will only lead to 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.
But there are still many factors to determine. Like, how do you determine how many portable toilets you need for construction sites? How often will they need to be serviced? Where on the job sites should toilets be placed? Below are some tips from the waste management experts here at redbox+ Dumpsters of Richmond for understanding the factors affecting portable toilets for construction sites:
Getting the Porta-Potty Serviced
The frequency of service is dependent on the amount of traffic/use and the length of time for the construction project. Maintaing sanitary conditions is simply a must. To keep things sanitary and to meet industry requirements, long-term construction projects will require numerous toilet service visits. It is recommended by health professionals to have your toilets serviced and cleaned on a weekly basis. However, this will vary depending on the amount of workers on the site (some weeks there may be more than others), as well as the time of year—summer heat will definitely lead to more frequent servicing—and usage volume.
You Need to Plan for the Actual Amount of People You’ll Have
The math is actually pretty simple. As a rule, 1 toilet will meet the needs of about 10 employees. If there are more than 20 employees on your site, 1 toilet seat and 1 urinal per every 40 workers is the well-known standard. These are fairly small jobs though. So let’s up the number and size of project a bit. If your crew numbers exceed 200, one toilet and 1 urinal for every 50 is what you need to shoot for. Whenever possible, having a urinal/toilet combination unit onsite is recommended to accommodate a higher volume of use.
Look at the Layout of Your Job to Better Place the Portable Toilets
For large worksites covering a lot of space, placing all your toilets in one location will lead to log jams, literally. To avoid this, take a look at your layout and try to place your toilets in multiple easy access places. Obviously, you don’t want them getting in the way of your work so planning ahead is crucial.
Having toilets strategically placed within the working area will also lead to a reduction in the time it takes for crew members to answer nature’s call regardless of where they’re at on the site. Those saved minutes will add up over the course of weeks and months which will equate to more efficient completion times, happier work crews, and more satisfied customers.
It Pays to Have a Porta-Potty Onsite
Everything you do for yourself, client, and crew needs to be viewed as an investment. The portable toilet is no different. Having portable restrooms on your site can easily cut down on the distance workers must travel to use a toilet and the time they need to search for an alternative facility since no near restroom is available. As a wise man or woman once said, “Time is money,”. Here’s the actual amount of money your spending for 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).
Clearly, the portable toilet is a solid investment. Everybody needs the bathroom after all so even if it didn’t make the most amount of fiscal sense, why would somebody want to work for a person unwilling to give them easy bathroom access? It’s clear, you need to have a portable toilet on your job site.
If you’re trying to find a high-quality porta-potty in the Richmond area , be sure to check out redbox+ Dumpsters of Richmond! Our innovative waste management product called The Elite Dumpster, combines a portable restroom and a dumpster to create the most efficient option for your construction site. Call us at 804-455-8222 to learn more!