PRO last checked in with Jason and Cherlynn Waite, owners of JC’s Johns Portable Sanitation Service in Oskaloosa, Iowa 10 years ago. At the time, Jason was employed as a National Guard mechanic, and Cherlynn as a chiropractic assistant. They started the restroom company as a part-time endeavor in 2008 and grew to own 115 portable restrooms by 2013. Their goals at the time: expand the business to 350 restrooms and devote their careers full time to the business.
The Waites have done that and more.
Jason kept his promise and retired from the National Guard in 2013 and Cherlynn joined the business full time in 2019. They operate two vacuum service trucks and their business has moved to a new property with a purpose-built maintenance shop. Their restroom inventory has expanded to 450 units with more on order.
The couple started the business splitting duties as best they could and now operate as a full-time family partnership. “I continue to work mostly in the office,” says Cherlynn. “I also help on the routes whenever I’m needed, riding along and changing the paper, filling the units with water and providing deodorants and air fresheners — all that good stuff. When the business is working 16 hours a day, it helps shave some time off every service call.”
FAMILY COMES ABOARD
They once hired a part-time worker who eventually wanted to retire. He’s been replaced by the Waites’ son Cole, who was 13 at the time of PRO’s last visit. Cole was apprenticing as a heavy machinery operator but decided to become a full-time member of the business in 2021.
“We ran one service truck for the most part until about 2018 and then we bought a second one which we operated with part-time help,” Jason says. “With Cole’s arrival in 2021, we began to run two service trucks full time.”
Jason and Cole run routes every day in a service area that now covers a radius of about 40 miles around Oskaloosa. They generally split the routes north-south or east-west depending on the day’s work and alternate working on weekends to support weddings, sporting events, fairs and other local events. Son Jaxon, now 17, also works part time to support the family business when he isn’t working at a local hardware store.
Both parents have an open-door policy regarding the employment of their sons.
“We’ve always told our kids they need to go out and work for other people before they decide to work for the family business full time,” Jason says. “It gives them an outside perspective on how things operate in the broader world, as opposed to just being under mom and dad’s wing their whole life.”
TRUCK PHILOSOPHY
The current service fleet consists of a pair of Ram 5500s — a 2018 and a 2020 — built out by Imperial Industries. Each carries an 850-gallon waste/325-gallon fresh aluminum tank and Masport pump.
“I have the trucks painted silver-gray to match the restrooms,” Jason says. “It costs extra to create that distinctive look that separates us from the pack. But I consider my truck my office so I’m willing to spend a little more on it.”
With the success of the business, Jason is making good on his promise to switch out the trucks for new ones approximately every three years.
“I think there are greater advantages to owning a new truck at the top of its game,” Jason says. “And when I go to sell them, there’s a much stronger resale market for a nearly new pumper truck in great shape than one that’s eight or 10 years old.”
The Waites started their business buying restroom units primarily from PolyJohn and still do. The 450 restrooms are mostly PJN3s models. They also have six ADA-compliant units and 22 standalone hand-wash stations supplied by PolyJohn. JC’s Johns owns two trailers from McKee Technologies — each can transport 14 portable restrooms.
The company’s customer base started out at about 50% construction and 50% special events. Those ratios are holding, with maybe a slight turn toward construction, even as the number of clients has expanded dramatically. That includes large contracts with companies building wind farms and a corn-milling facility that operates year-round.
Contracts such as these have changed the seasonal nature of the business.
“We used to have a peak season from March to early November,” Jason says. “Now everything keeps going all year, so we’re just as busy in the winter as we are in the summer.”
KEEP IT CLEAN
The couple credit a lot of their success to keeping their units spotlessly clean and well-serviced, regardless of how busy they are.
“We continue to service our toilets with the same care, whether they’re going to special events or construction sites,” Cherlynn says. “We’ve heard from some construction clients that they get one-ply paper while special events get two. We believe everyone deserves the same care. In many cases we are taking on new clients because they approach us, not the other way around.”
The couple have attended the WWETT Show every year to check out the latest trends in technology and take back marketing tips to improve their business. However it’s become more of a family affair as Jaxon takes part, while Cole keeps the home fires burning.
The Waites’ plans for the next five years of business involve expanding the portable restroom inventory by another 50%, and building out the company service area to about 60 miles. They see 700 units as the sweet spot.
“We figure we need one service truck for every 250 restroom units,” Jason says. “So we’ll carefully add a third truck, and possibly another if the expanded service area requires it. Big enough to grow our company, but still manageable as a family-operated business.”
