Many people dream of owning their own business, but few take the leap. It can be tough to leave the security of a full-time job. Philip Elliott was one of those people. Elliott and his wife Garner, both 49, wanted to start a business, but it never felt like the right time. Not until the pair got a little push. Elliott is an engineer by trade. He worked in the construction industry for more than 20 years until his employer shut down and he was laid off.

“My wife was like, ‘Well, why don’t we just start the business right now?’” recalls Elliott, co-owner of Peachy Portable Potties.

DO THE RESEARCH

Losing his job was the nudge Elliott needed to get started on his own. The husband and wife duo didn’t want to open just any business; they had a plan in place based on years of observations Elliott made while working in the construction industry. On remote job sites, Elliott often took notice of the portable restroom companies.

“It’s something that’s not glamorous. You don’t have kids graduating from college saying, ‘I’m going to do this,’ but it’s necessary,” Elliott says. “It’s necessary and it’s not going to get replaced by the next iPhone release.”

The couple launched Peachy Portable Potties in early 2022. Garner Elliott plans to remain in her full-time job as a human resources executive. At Peachy Portable Potties, she serves as the president and is responsible for oversight and strategy development for the future of the company. Philip Elliott runs the day-to-day operations.

The company is based in Gainesville, Georgia, roughly an hour north of Atlanta. The Elliotts live on the north side of Atlanta, so the business is conveniently close to home. They also selected Gainesville based on the lack of portable restroom companies in the area.

GETTING STARTED

The company runs a 2021 Ford F-550 patented PortaLogix truck built by Robinson Vacuum Tanks.  It has an aluminum 800 gallon transverse waste tank behind the cab along with the patented 350 gallon flat freshwater tank in the bed of the truck.  The flat water tank is also the platform that hauls four restrooms with the capability to add two more to the Theiman liftgate. The company owns 141 restrooms, standard models from Armal and handicap units from PolyJohn. In addition to the Elliotts, the company employs a driver, Andre Coman, and an intern, Lily Dery.

Peachy Portable Potties joined the Portable Sanitation Association International to have access to an instant network of industry experts. Elliott says they were able to seek advice and network by attending PSAI events. Elliott credits his company’s success to the helpfulness of the industry.

“I’d say there is a friendly competition amongst people, amongst companies,” he says. “You have companies that will help each other out. I have a core group of people that I can call that will be more than happy to share information.”

Elliott also started cold-calling construction companies in the area. Through conversations, he learned many were unhappy with current service providers.

“I often use this story as an example,” Elliott explains. “We were in business for about a month. We got a phone call from a developer. Their current provider was so bad that their workers weren’t using those restrooms. They were going into the almost-finished or finished homes and using the toilets. The developer was then paying to have the finished homes cleaned again.” 

TAKE YOUR TIME

Cleanliness and consistency are the keys to Elliott’s business model. He says the restroom business is a volume game, yet Peachy Portable Potties never takes on more business than the company can handle. The company won’t sacrifice service to save time, he says.

“We know what we can service in a week,” Elliott said. “I frankly don’t understand how you can effectively clean a restroom in five minutes, at least not somewhere I would want to go. We have a goal of 10 minutes. I tell my driver, ‘If you would let your mom go in there and go to the bathroom then it’s clean.’” 

CUSTOMER FEEDBACK

Peachy Portable Potties uses a system called AirVote to encourage customers to provide immediate feedback on their experience. Access to AirVote is through a sticker in each restroom. Users scan a QR code on the sticker, then select from green, yellow or red icons. Green means clean, yellow is so-so and red indicates a problem. They can also provide a comment. This feedback is sent to Elliott.

“We just got a comment that says, ‘Very clean, smells good, plenty of toilet paper,’” Elliott says.

Elliott has been pleasantly surprised by how many people use the app and generally provide accurate feedback, though he does get the occasional person who provides inaccurate information as a joke. The feedback provides important information. For example, if there are numerous complaints coming from one area, it tells Elliott either the unit is not being serviced enough for its usage or there may be external factors in the area causing problems. He says this system will be extremely valuable as the company looks to expand in the future.

“It will be able to help evaluate employee performance,” Elliott said. “If we get a bunch of green votes from one driver and red from another, we can see what’s going on. Is it that one driver has all the routes and another doesn’t have enough? Or is it that the driver isn’t doing their best job?”

INVEST IN TECHNOLOGY

Technology like AirVote plays a critical role for the new restroom provider. Before launching the business, Elliott worked with a web developer to make sure the company had a modern, functional website. They focused on branding and Google ranking. Elliott says that an overwhelming majority of his business comes from the website.

“About 95% will tell us, ‘I Googled and found your website,’ he said.

The company uses ServiceCore for their routing and billing. This system optimizes the routes for the company, handles the invoicing, and sends email to alert customers when their units have been cleaned. Elliott said he’s received a lot of positive feedback about the notification system.  

OBSERVATIONS

A little over a year since startup, Peachy Portable Potties is already prepared to expand. However, Elliott says he won’t take on more business than he can handle. He’s carefully monitoring the economy as he makes preliminary plans to buy another truck and more restrooms. In the short term, the company has purchased luxury restroom trailers for special events and weddings.

Advice: Elliott believes little things make a big difference. He’s received a lot of positive feedback about LunarGlo solar lights installed in the restrooms. “People are showing up at 5 a.m. to the job site when it’s still dark and when they get there, there’s a light on in the restroom and they really like that,” Elliott said.  

Long-term outlook: Elliott has big plans for expanding. He’d like to have seven or eight trucks and up to 1,500 restrooms. “We would like to have several trailers, maybe five or six, that can go out for events,” Elliott said.  

Surprises: Elliott says he’s been surprised by the camaraderie of the industry. If companies get into a jam, they call each other for help. “We all help each other out to make sure we can succeed,” Elliott says. “That has been very pleasant in this environment. They won’t let you fail and they won’t charge you something astronomical so that nobody would want to call for help.”

LOOKING AHEAD

So far, things are going well for the Elliots and their startup. Now the challenge is growing while maintaining customer service standards that brought them success.

“Right now I’m at capacity,” Elliott says. “Most of what we have is repeat business and we are at the point where we are turning customers away because I don’t have the capacity to be able to serve more people with the quality we are committed to.”