Real estate experts will tell you that some home remodeling jobs or expensive luxury items provide the best return on investment when you sell the property. They say would-be buyers are impressed with a new kitchen or bathroom, while that hot tub in the back yard or your wild new shag carpeting might not generate the same market frenzy.
Can the same be said for your portable restroom inventory? Are there steps you can take to truly upgrade the user experience for the no-frills guy working a construction site? Can a minor alteration to an event restroom prompt a woman with children at the county fair to seek out organizers and compliment them on the bathroom facilities?
I think so.
Just like home-remodeling experts come out with an annual list of the projects with the biggest investment payoff, I’d like to present my first list of changes you can make to impress users and generate more business. There is nothing scientific about this list; it’s simply the result of talking to PROs all year long about the little enhancements they make that draw the biggest positive reaction. If you want to add to my list or take issue with a suggestion, please let me know. With your input, we can improve the list and refine user preferences for 2009.
Without further adieu, here’s Jim’s 2008 Top 10 Restroom Improvement List:
1. More square footage:
Elbowroom is something your construction customers can never have too much of. Just like homebuyers today want a three-car garage, so too do construction workers want room to maneuver in a restroom. The guys are bigger nowadays. Workers carry a lot of expensive specialty tools and safety equipment that they might not want to leave laying around unattended outside the restroom. Consider whether you can offer a basic enhanced-access unit for construction site use. These units could come in handy to meet ADA requirements for other customers.
2. Scent-sational odor control:
Experiment with a variety of deodorants to find the ones that best match your needs based on climate and pumping intervals. You might be surprised to find different scents and brands provide optimal odor protection in different situations and different times of the year. If you haven’t done a comparison in a while, consider asking several deodorant companies for samples and compare them side-by-side when you set up several units at one event. Then ask the event organizers if they have a preference.
3. A solid foundation:
A rickety restroom on a construction site isn’t exactly a confidence-builder for muscle-bound users. Go through your inventory this spring and look for wobbly panels, weak springs and sloppy skids. Stock up on replacement parts and rivets and get to work reinforcing all units so you don’t have to worry about maintenance during the busy season.
4. Gender-specific units:
Women the world over issue a sigh of relief when they walk up to a bank of restrooms and find units earmarked for their discriminating use. You can easily make this change with your existing inventory. For women’s units, first remove all urinals. Add hooks, mirrors and shelves inside. Badge them specifically for women.
5. More bathroom tissue:
Upsizing tissue dispensers has been a positive trend in recent years. Unless you’ve had trouble with users routinely wasting tissue, bolting in bigger dispensers makes a lot of sense. Going from a two-roll to a three-roll dispenser may extend the time between servicing and ensure a positive experience for more users.
6. Baby changing units:
Buy a few ADA or large units, install a baby-changing table and have them available for use at festivals. You may be surprised to see your special events customers buy into placing these specialty units based on requests from families that frequent the events. Be sure to provide a wastebasket outside the unit for diapers. Consider offering sanitary wipes and placing hand sanitizers inside the units. Adequate ventilation is also an obvious issue.
7. Sanitizers and sinks:
Someday soon, I think even your least-discerning construction customers will demand better sanitation. When it comes right down to it, nobody should have to use a restroom and then settle in for a lunch break without washing their hands. Whether you place sanitizer dispensers or sinks in the unit or order stand-alone options outside of the unit, a time will come soon when hand-cleaning options will be demanded by customers or mandated by government regulation.
8. Interior lighting:
With an increase in nighttime events and commercial construction customers who might work past the daytime shift, interior lighting is something you might want to offer as a standard feature. You can achieve this with simple battery-operated tap lights that stick to the wall in the unit or electric lights that require an extension cord. Or if you live in a sunny locale, consider solar lighting options that offer a convenient green answer to remote power needs.
9. Better signage:
Do you want users to believe you’re serious about cleanliness? Add signage inside and out of your units including a cell phone number where users can instantly report an overused restroom. While you’re at it, upgrade your stickers with a more distinctive look or professionally produced logo to make a more inviting unit.
10. More frequent service:
Nothing, I mean NOTHING, turns off portable restroom users more than walking into a unit filled nearly to the top of the waste tank. The most obvious answer to this problem is making sure special events are monitored closely and full units are taken out of service. If you can’t add units to the order, make sure you find a way to clean more frequently. In the future, you might also place a priority on larger holding tanks when you add to inventory.
