THE TEAM
Steve Young is the owner of Event Restroom in Gretna, La., a suburb of New Orleans. He specializes in restroom trailers. His core team for the Zurich Classic of New Orleans included supervisor Steve Randall, drivers Carlos Tavarez and Billie Scott, and Jamie Verdin in the office handling phones, routing and invoicing. He borrowed four workers from his brother’s rental business to help with servicing, hired five trailer attendants, and brought in Scott Graham, a friend in the shower trailer business, to work as day supervisor.
COMPANY HISTORY
Not many people who got caught in Hurricane Katrina would say they were in the right place at the right time. But that turned out to be the event that kick-started Young’s business. In 2005, he had just gotten his graduate degree in entrepreneurship and was contemplating his next move. After consulting with his brother — who then owned the tent and party rental business Young had had for 10 years — he decided to get into the restroom trailer business with visions of serving the film industry and special events.
His first two trailers arrived one month before Katrina hit and he quickly changed direction. Two days after the storm, he bought another trailer and started renting out subleased equipment as fast as he could get his hands on it.
When things settled down, he went back to focusing on special events. He soon expanded into portable restrooms, as trailer customers often wanted both. Plus, that allowed him to get into the construction market, which exploded after Katrina.
MAKING CONNECTIONS
Four years ago, using his new trailers as bait, Young convinced the director of operations for the Zurich Classic to take a look at his inventory. The director was impressed and Young landed a contract for five trailers. With his foot in the door, he emphasized providing superior service at reasonable rates, and this year earned the contract to supply all the equipment for the event. But he’s not taking the high-profile job for granted. “It’s a fight every year because there are always people who want it, so we always have to one-up them, and set the bar higher,” he says.
THE MAIN EVENT
New Orleans has been an annual stop on the PGA Tour since 1938. The 2009 Zurich Classic was held the last weekend of April at TPC of Louisiana, 12 miles from the French Quarter, and had a purse of $6.2 million. The tournament was the backdrop for a week-long series of concerts, parties, business promotions, and charitable events. “It’s not just golf, it’s New Orleans. So it’s got to be done big and it’s all about food,” Young says.
BY THE NUMBERS
The company provided 125 tan PolyPortables Inc. Integra units, 20 of which were upgraded models with flushing toilets and hand-wash stations, and eight of which were Enhanced Access Units. These units were scattered throughout the course underneath tents in groups of eight to 10, with a Tag Along hand-wash station. To minimize noise, units were placed as far from the lines of play as possible, while still being accessible. They were turned away from tee boxes and in some cases covered in foam material.
The company also provided 10 300-gallon holding tanks for office and media trailers.
And nine restroom trailers were brought in — three OPTimum units from Black Tie Manufacturing Inc., one 24-foot Advantage Plus from Advanced Containment Systems Inc., one Comfort Elite III from Wells Cargo COG, one trailer from Comforts of Home Services Inc., one JAG Mobile Solutions Porta-Lisa, one JAG 24-foot Fantastic, and their latest, an 18-foot trailer from JAG they call “Custom Boutique.” Young and his wife, Robin Young, designed every aspect of this trailer. “We always want to be very involved. We know what our customers want, we know what breaks, we know what’s easy to fix, what parts are easy to get.” Interesting design features in the new trailer include cork flooring, bamboo walls, vessel sinks, and hands-free fixtures.
LET’S ROLL
The Custom Boutique trailer was showcased at the Pumper & Cleaner Environmental Expo International in February, then headed directly to TPC’s 18th hole so the grandstand and sky boxes could be built over it. The same for the Wells Cargo trailer positioned next to the 9th hole. The remainder of the trailers were delivered 10 days before the event.
Seven portable restrooms were brought in two months early for construction workers. The remaining equipment was delivered over the first two weeks of April using 10-unit trailers attached to their service trucks. Removal started the Monday after the tournament, other than a handful of units left for a few weeks for the construction crew.
KEEPIN’ IT CLEAN
Units, trailers and holding tanks were serviced immediately after each day’s play. “We tried to get as much done before dark as we could, but could go as late as midnight or 2 in the morning depending on usage,” Young says.
The company used three service vehicles with two uniformed technicians in each. The 2003 Ford F-550 from Best Enterprises Inc. has a 1,000-gallon waste/100-gallon freshwater stainless steel tank with a Conde pump. Both the 2008 Isuzu W4 flatbed with a 600-gallon waste/250-gallon freshwater tank and the 2007 Chevy 2500 with a 300-gallon waste/150-gallon freshwater tank were built by Crescent Tank Mfg. and feature Masport Inc. pumps.
On-site attendants maintained the trailers during the day.
SERVICE IS AN ATTITUDE
There were a lot of fires to put out during the event, and the company successfully tackled them all. Young believes service is what sets his company apart. “The reason I got in this business was to offer something no one else offers. Anyone can buy a trailer but not everyone can keep it serviced properly and cleaned all the time.”
Young extends that professional attitude to all customers. “Whether it’s the PGA or a backyard party of one restroom, I don’t treat them any different. We really try to give the same service to everyone, and I think that’s made a difference,” he says.
