If you’re looking for more information about Mize Plumbing & Portable Toilets, don’t bother opening up your search engine. You won’t find much about the company online. Owner Johnny Mize built a successful plumbing and portable restroom business in Port St. Joe, Florida, through word-of-mouth referrals.

“We’re a family-owned business and we try to treat people the way that we like to be treated,” Mize says. “That’s the way I’ve built my business. That’s the way I was raised by my mom and dad, and I’ve passed it on to my kids and that’s a good heritage.”

While a company website is likely in the distant future, 66-year-old Mize currently has more business than he can handle. He credits the success to his company’s work ethic and the needs of his community. While plumbing is still his primary business, portable sanitation is also thriving.

Mize started his plumbing business 35 years ago. He initially worked part-time, while also serving in law enforcement for the state of Florida. After two years of juggling two careers, he made the transition to a full-time plumber. In 2007, Mize bought a restroom company that was going out of business. The acquisition opened up a huge service area and new opportunities.

“At that time, Port St. Joe was more of a rural area,” Mize says. “We’re between Tallahassee and Panama City right along the coast. This other portable toilet company that we bought ran about 100 miles both ways.”

Mize employs two full-time drivers. The company has about 380 Armal restrooms. The company operates four vacuum service trucks: a 2000 Sterling built out by Progress Tank with a 1,500-gallon waste/500-gallon freshwater aluminum tank and Masport pump; a 2016 International 430 from FlowMark with 1,250-gallon waste/300-gallon freshwater Bruder aluminum tank and Masport pump; a 2016 Ford built out by KeeVac with 900-gallon waste/300-gallon freshwater aluminum tank and Conde (Westmoor Ltd.) pump; and a 2016 Ford F-450 four-wheel-drive with a 300-gallon waste/150-gallon freshwater Best Enterprises aluminum tank and Conde pump. 

EXPLORE FIVE CHALLENGES THAT AFFECT MIZE PLUMBING & PORTABLE TOILETS:

1. Hurricane Michael CleanUp

Hurricane Michael was a Category 5 storm that made landfall near Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida in 2018. The area experienced wind speeds of up to 160 mph and caused $25 billion in damage. The area is still working to rebuild. “After four years, I’m just now getting my house back completely. I had damage but I’m lucky to have had a house to go home to,” Mize said. Restrooms were in high demand after the storm. Mize bought four semi-loads of units in the days following the hurricane, due in part to the loss of so many in the storm but also because of increased demand. Job sites required restrooms as companies from all over the state came in to help rebuild. Many residents moved into RVs, sometimes for years, as they battled insurance companies and their homes underwent repairs. Mize purchased Armal 250-gallon holding tanks due to the increased demand.

2. Windy Weather

While Hurricane Michael was a catastrophic event, hurricane season comes annually. Windy weather is a constant battle on the Gulf Coast. Anytime the area is put under a hurricane watch, restrooms within a mile of the coast must be moved further off inland. Occasionally, there’s no warning. “Sometimes just during a freak storm at night or whatever, it will blow toilets over,” Mize says. “The next day you have to pull plumbers to go stand up toilets and clean them when they blow over.” Mize says the Armal units are durable, however, nothing can stand up to hurricane-force winds. Mize’s yard is about 6 miles from the main path of Hurricane Michael. “The guy I rent the property from was on his porch during the hurricane and he kept saying, ‘I don’t know what those blues things are flying?’ He finally realized and said, ‘Those are Johnny’s toilets.’ They were flying through the air.”

3. Operating on Base

Tyndall Air Force Base is one of Mize’s biggest clients. The company has had a contract with the base for several years. They have primarily Armal portable restrooms, hand-wash stations and holding tanks for office trailers. Some portable restrooms and holding tanks are cleaned twice a week, while others are only cleaned once a week. The company works on both sides of the base, which includes the housing and construction side and the flight line. Drivers must have security clearance, which Mize says takes about a week and a half to get approved. The base looks for red flags that would prevent a technician from getting clearance, such as bad driving records, drunk driving convictions, misdemeanors and felonies. Trucks go through an inspection point every time they go through the base. If the base hosts special events, more personnel are needed.

4. Rural Service Area

Port St. Joe is a small beach town. The latest census shows the population at about 3,300. The entire county is only about 12,000 residents. It’s a large service territory for Mize Plumbing & Portable Toilets. The region also comes with some unique challenges. For 15 years, the company has had a contract with the federal government to provide restrooms on St. Vincent’s Refuge, a National Wildlife Refuge on an island. The four regular and two handicap restrooms are used during special three-day hunts in October, November and December. They remain on the island for close to five months. They are cleaned two to three days before each hunt. Getting the portable restrooms to the island is logistically complex. They are loaded onto a trailer, which is put onto a barge, owned by the government, then taken over by a ferry. Next, the service truck is taken across by barge. The company had to purchase a special service truck, a 2016 Ford F-450 with four-wheel-drive to operate on the island. The truck needed four-wheel drive to navigate the sandy, unpaved roads.

5. A Fluctuating Economy

With close to four decades in business, Mize has dealt with a lot of economic ups and downs. These challenges have included economic downturns and environmental catastrophes. In 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill caused panic along the Gulf Coast. “The day of the BP oil spill we lost five contracts on houses,” Mize says.  “People pulled out and said if we are going to have oil on the beach we don’t want to build a beach house.” Despite losing construction contracts, Mize supplied several hundred restrooms for cleanup efforts. “We cleaned those twice a day,” Mize says. “The portable toilet business kept us afloat.” More than a decade after the spill, the area is growing. Once known as a more affordable area of Florida, prices are rising and Port St. Joe is now attracting mostly retired people. The influx of people and construction is keeping the company busy.