It’s a painful fact of life for PROs: No matter how much money you invest in your restroom inventory or what precautions you take, field damage to units is inescapable. Despite manufacturers’ best efforts at making their units damage-resistant, some of it just can’t be helped.
Much of it is caused by simple wear and tear, some by rough or careless handling, and not a small amount is outright vandalism. There’s probably a whole psychology to explain the latter, but it doesn’t really matter what causes the damage. What’s important is how to deal with it in the most efficient and cost-effective manner and get the unit back into the field.
There are probably as many approaches as there are PROs, but we share a few of their methods here, in hopes that you can take something worthwhile back to your own shop.
Bill Downs, owner of D & S Portables Inc., runs a small crew, so damaged units must be repaired as quickly and easily as possible to avoid a lot of unnecessary, unbillable running around. “Most of the time,” he says, “we’ll just fix it right there in the field, unless it’s a roof repair.”
He keeps his service truck stocked with door springs and latches (the most common form of damage on his units), urinal parts and other small pieces that routinely need to be replaced, along with a box of tools. Vandalism in the form of graffiti gets cleaned off immediately with any number of products created for that use, which are also carried along on the route.
If the nature of the damage is more extreme — say a buckled wall or burned panel that needs replacing, “we’ll just make it part of the next route run,” explains Downs. “We either write it down on the job ticket or just remember what needs done.”
Sonya and Grason Gillespie, owners of Georgia Dawg Houses, take a more formal approach to managing and servicing damaged units. Their route service sheet has a comment area for drivers to make notes about anything out of the ordinary.
If a unit is discovered to have damage, the driver will note the date and time it was discovered, along with any details about the type and apparent cause of damage. The information is transferred to the invoice at day’s end. The renter is charged for the repair, as the company’s contract requires them to be responsible for all units on their project or event site.
Then, a type of field triage is done. “If the unit can still close securely,” explains Sonya Gillespie, “We’ll leave it in the field. The driver will bring along whatever parts are needed — springs or whatever — on the next service call, and make the repair in the field.”
If the door won’t close securely, a special trip is made to pick up the unit and bring it back to the shop. “We’ll inventory the damage as it comes in,” says Gillespie, “and do the work here. If it needs parts we don’t have, we’ll order them, and get it back in circulation as soon as possible.”
