While helping to grow the fledgling Moon Portable Restrooms in Louisville, Ky., co-owner B.J. Davis always kept the clever marketing motto of its parent company, the Moon Companies, top of mind: “Ask for the moon, and get it.’’
In a few short years and working through a slumping economy, Davis has helped the portable sanitation service provider grow from one truck and 23 restrooms to four vacuum trucks that keep more than 600 units sparkling fresh and in the field.
“What sets the Moon Companies apart is that we do what we say we’re going to do,” Davis says. “Our customers know we take their business seriously, and that they can depend on us. Our workers are well-groomed, we drive clean trucks, we deliver clean restrooms, and we keep them clean as long as they’re on-site.”
Low man on the totem pole
Davis, 34, started with Moon Companies about five years ago after losing his job as a corporate accountant. His father-in-law, David Pottinger, the main owner of Moon Companies, took him on as a laborer with no promises other than $10 an hour if he worked hard. At the time, Pottinger and his partner, Bob Jones, were about 15 years into growing their leasing-and-rental business for storage containers and trailers, which also includes mini-storage, office trailers, over-the-road vans and semi-trailers.
Davis started working in the Moon Companies’ storage yard, where he swept and cleaned containers, and got them ready for the next delivery. “I was painting trailers, greasing hinges, picking up trash and straightening up the yard,” Davis recalls. “I drove a forklift, moved the containers in and out, and kept them ready for over-the-road semi-drivers. I worked out there eight months.’’
Then, Pottinger moved Davis into sales, asking him to hit the road to rent out containers. Even though he had no sales background, Davis learned fast and performed well enough his first five months to encourage Pottinger to offer an even bigger challenge: launching a portable restroom business. Pottinger said Moon Companies would put up some money for trucks and restrooms, and Davis would have three years to make Moon Portable Restrooms a viable business. If he succeeded, he would become an equal owner in a three-way partnership.
Now, more than four years later, Davis is a vested partner in Moon Portable Restrooms, having built the inventory, which includes several luxury restroom trailers. The company serves the Louisville area and concentrates on special events. It expanded into Lexington full time in 2008, in part because it secured a contract to service the University of Kentucky’s football games at Commonwealth Stadium starting in 2007.
