Finding and keeping good workers is a five-alarm challenge for many portable restroom contractors. But the Harris clan of North Reading, Mass., has found a unique way to leverage a family tradition of firefighting careers as a way to staff their upstart restroom business.
Nelson Harris is the former fire chief of this northern suburb of Boston. He held that position for 13 years and was a firefighter for 32. Eldest son Richard Harris, with 31 years as a firefighter, has held the fire chief post for four years. Richard’s youngest brother, Tom, is a full-time firefighter with 25 years at the station.
For the past five years, the father/sons team has operated New England Restrooms Inc., providing restrooms to the greater Boston area and beyond. Theirs is a story of more than a family business. It’s a tale of how that family has found a way to meld firefighting and portable sanitation into an uncommonly successful business approach.
MOONLIGHTING
Since 2003, the Harrises had augmented their firefighting careers by owning a solid waste management business, and, “we wanted to add another service to our inventory,” recalls Tom Harris. “We figured when someone calls for a roll-off container, they also need portables. It was a natural outgrowth.” But the downturn in the economy killed the trash collection and disposal side of the business, so the Harrises cut their losses by selling the roll-off rental segment at the end of 2009.
Even during the downturn, portables rentals have grown for the company “due to hard work, turning over every stone (in the search of new business), and being willing to take the jobs no one else wants,” Harris reports. “People may have an office trailer they want to renovate to include a restroom, so we’ll come in and take care of that. We’ll bring in the water to fill their tanks, whatever they need.” He says intense customer service focus drives the company’s offerings.
Tom’s sister, Dottie Harris, owns a cleaning business. She also pitches in with the portables venture, cleaning VIP units and sometimes serving as an attendant at special events. “She gives it the ‘ladies’ touch’,” Harris says. “She dresses up the units with flowers, makes sure the walls are washed and that everything smells good.” She cleans units before they go out and when they come back into the yard, at least once or twice a week.
WE ARE FAMILY
Firefighters are famous for functioning as extended families, and things are no different in North Reading. The close relationships forged at the firehouse have been a boon for New England Restrooms, as the Harrises hire fellow firefighters to help with the portables business. With his brother as fire chief, Tom Harris knows the schedules of all the firefighters. “And hauling hose is hauling hose,” he says. “I know they can handle the physical part of the job.”
There are other very real benefits to this arrangement, he adds. “I don’t have to pay health insurance, because they’re already covered. I can get a guy in here at a moment’s notice. I have three or four guys I can call. One is regular staff (with us); the rest are on-call.”
One of the full-time restroom staff, Richard Harris’ son Cory Harris, is a shop foreman and just became an on-call firefighter. The rest of the regular crew consists of non-firefighters.
Tom Harris says he doesn’t notice that customers seem to have any particular expectations of his portables staff because they’re also firefighters. “We don’t advertise that. Some people know. Some other firefighters also are construction contractors and they call us. They like to keep the business in the family.”
TOOLS OF THE TRADE
The company’s inventory consists of 475 standard units by various manufacturers including Satellite Industries Inc., PolyJohn Enterprises Corp., PolyPortables Inc. and Armal. New England supplements these with 10 PolyPortables hand-wash stations, 25 275-gallon holding tanks, and 15 PolyJohn WaterWorks Fresh Water Delivery systems.
Special events trailers include a 2010 custom-built JAG Mobile Solutions Inc. combination shower and restroom trailer with three bathroom stalls with sinks, which the company purchased at the Pumper & Cleaner Environmental Expo International in Louisville. The unit was built for display at the show, featuring a hideaway door that closes the showers off for special events.
The company recently purchased a 2010 Alpha Three three-stall trailer from Alpha Mobile Solutions. These are joined by a 2009 JAG Mobile Solutions Porta Lisa two-stall trailer; a 2008 Comforts of Home Inc. VIP trailer; a 2008 and a 2009 Wells Cargo C.O.G. Elite 3 shower trailer, each with three showers and three stalls; a 2008 Wells Cargo ADA trailer with one ADA stall, one women’s and one men’s standard stall, and a 2009 Cottage Series trailer from JAG Mobile Solutions.
These are hauled and serviced by a fleet including a 2009 Isuzu NPR with a 900-gallon steel flat tank from Crescent Tank Mfg. and a Masport Inc. pump; a 2008 Chevrolet 3500 with a Dyna-Vac Equipment Inc. slide-in unit carrying a 225-gallon waste/125-gallon freshwater steel tank; a 2006 Chevrolet 5500 with a Masport pump and a 1,000-gallon Dyna-Vac steel tank; a 2004 International D5500 with a 1000-gallon Lane’s Vacuum Tank Inc. steel tank and Conde 1500 Series pump (Westmoor Ltd.); a 2005 GMC flatbed delivery truck with lift-gate and a 12-unit custom-built delivery trailer.
TRAFFIC SNARLS
Metro Boston is notorious for its traffic congestion. “It’s a problem,” admits Nelson Harris, who co-owns the business with son, Tom. “Traffic is backed up from 6 to 10 a.m., then again for afternoon rush hour. Getting units where they’re going and then back, we try to route them around all that.”
Another major challenge is the area’s extreme climate. During treacherous snow or ice storms, New England Restrooms pulls its trucks and drivers off the road. “We have them work in the shop fixing units, or doing truck maintenance for the day,” Nelson Harris reports.
Roughly 80 percent of New England’s portables business comes from construction customers, with the remainder in special events. Harris says the events area shows slow but steady growth every year. These gigs consist of weddings, work in Boston’s Navy Yard, bike ride marathons and fundraising events. They’ve also provided some units for Walmart during area store renovations. Part of their work for the Navy includes a three-year contract for mobile shower units for an annual event in which chief officers are promoted.
Another area of specialization is the entertainment industry. New England provides restrooms for photo and movie shoots. Its first such gig came when movie producers found the company on the Internet to provide accommodations for the cast and crew of the upcoming film, The Zookeeper. The shoot called for three trailers and 15 flush units, serviced daily. “We were there all summer,” Harris recalls. “We brought the guys in early and dedicated a truck to the job all week. We always had to be off the set by 5 a.m.”
The portable sanitation side of the business benefited from some early good luck, Tom Harris recalls.
“We had gotten calls for a restroom and didn’t have one. We wanted to just ease into it, so we bit the bullet and took a gamble. We bought a trailer unit very apprehensively, not knowing if we could place it. But a week later, someone called for a six-month rental that turned into almost a year. We ended up buying another one as soon as that one went out.”
RELATIONSHIPS WITH COMPETITORS
Though some companies might run into difficulties keeping pace with growth, Harris says his company has filled demand when necessary by maintaining a good working relationship with local competitors. “When we were just starting out,” he explains, “we needed service out on the Cape, where we don’t usually go, and (our colleague) needed a trailer. It was and remains a reciprocal deal. We will sometimes borrow a shower trailer for a large event.
“We work with three other colleagues. We’ve gotten calls for chemicals when one guy ran out.” The arrangement works through mutual respect, he says. “If it’s a competitive bid, it’s anybody’s game, but we try not to go after someone’s customers.”
Nelson Harris says it’s important for any business owner to cultivate friendly and respectful relationships, and also to have someone in the industry you can trust to mentor you.
Tom Harris agrees. “We had a guy like that, who we could call any time we had questions, concerns or needed help making a decision or sourcing supplies. He was a great resource for everyone.” He says his father now fills that role, and it’s clear that same mutual respect rules.
“If it wasn’t for my father leading us with his knowledge and experience, we wouldn’t be where we are today. I call him many times almost every day. We talk about everything from employee issues to office decisions. That’s why this all works. We’ve never had an argument about running the business. The key is communication.”
