The recession of 2008 and 2009 devastated many businesses. But oddly enough, it was a blessing in disguise for TLC Services, a landscaping and excavation company that was forced by economic headwinds to perform an abrupt business U-turn and head in a different direction.

Today the company, based in Belgrade, a town near Bozeman in southwestern Montana, is a fully diversified business that rents and services restrooms; pumps septic tanks and inspects and installs septic systems; and offers hydroexcavation, excavation, concrete and gravel-shooting services. (The TLC in the company name stands for Tree and Lawn Care, its initial service offering; the Dooleys kept the name to retain its high level of brand recognition)

And in an everything-comes-full-circle scenario, the company — founded in 1991 — also re-entered the excavation field and once again owns a large fleet of dump trucks, road graders, front-end loaders, skid-steers, bulldozers and more.

But back in 2008, offering a full array of such services wasn’t even remotely on the agenda for owners Lori and Wes Dooley Sr. Instead, the couple was in full-blown survival mode, says Lori Dooley.

TOUGH TIMES

When the recession hit, people stopped doing excavation and landscaping. That spurred the Dooleys to consider providing more essential and necessary services that also were more recession-proof. And portable restrooms and septic-related services seemed like viable options.

“We had about a half-million dollars’ worth of equipment just sitting there, so we found a buyer that wanted most of the iron on the excavation side,” she says. “Then Wes went to the Water & Wastewater Equipment, Treatment & Transport (WWETT) Show and bought more than a quarter-million dollars of septic and restroom equipment.

“It was a bold move, but we had to do it,” Dooley adds. “It was very humbling because the successful company we were running suddenly was dying, which left us wondering what to do.”

Being part of a diversified company has been good for growing the restroom division because customers for one service like to use complementary services offered by the same company, Dooley says.

“We gain customers for a lot more than just one service,” she explains. “They might go from renting a portable restroom to having us dig a foundation for their house to hiring us to pump out their septic tank or replace their septic system,” she says. “They like dealing with just one company for multiple services, plus they get better quality control and don’t run into potential scheduling or timing issues caused by using multiple companies.

“We don’t use subcontractors — we like to do things ourselves.”

RAPID GROWTH

On the restroom end of the business, the company started out with 70 restrooms and a Sterling service truck outfitted with a 950-gallon waste/225-gallon freshwater aluminum tank from Satellite Vacuum Trucks.

Today the company owns nearly 700 restrooms, many bought from PolyPortables, which was purchased by Satellite Industries, and others from Satellite.

“That may not seem like a lot and we could have a lot more restrooms out there,” Dooley explains. “But we don’t want to grow too fast and not be able to service them properly.”

Growth occurred rapidly in 2009 and 2010, with sales increasing 33% each year. Today monthly rentals, primarily from construction contractors, generate about 80% of portable restroom revenues, with special events kicking in the balance.

The primary reason for that quick growth? Great customer service, she says.

“We truly listen to what customers need,” Dooley says. “We also educate customers about how many units they’re actually going to need, which benefits both them and the users. Their employees are happy because they have clean restrooms and our employees are happy because units aren’t destroyed from overuse.”

As for marketing, Dooley says the company never had to do much advertising because clean restrooms do the talking. “Most of our business comes from word-of-mouth referrals,” she says. “Contractors talk.”

TRAINING TIME

Accountability has been key to the restroom division’s success. Company officials maintain quality standards from cleaning by doing spot checks on restrooms, either by calling customers or checking units in person, she notes.

“But we’re really lucky because our guys are really great.” Dooley adds. “I always tell our guys the only thing we can sell differently is service. We don’t overload our drivers with too many units to clean. It’s simply a matter of doing for customers what you’d expect someone to do for you.”

For training, new hires spend about a month driving routes with at least three other technicians. Why three?

“All our guys have their own style and quirks for how to do things,” Dooley explains. “So they learn some things from one guy and other things from other guys.”

RELIABLE EQUIPMENT

The roster of equipment also includes 10 family units and nearly 30 hand-wash stations; six double-sink hand-wash stations from Satellite; and a semi-trailer from Great Dane that can transport up to 28 restrooms for special events. It features a lift-gate from Tommy Gate.

“We provide restrooms for Montana State University football games [in Bozeman], so being able to carry that many restrooms at one time is a total time-saver,” Dooley says. “That gives our guys more time to set up restrooms and get them ‘wet’ and ready to go.”

For service trucks, the company owns two RAM 5500 trucks featuring 600-gallon waste/300-gallon freshwater steel tanks from Imperial Industries and vacuum pumps from National Vacuum Equipment; and four Ford F-550 trucks. Three of the Fords feature 900-gallon waste/400 gallon freshwater aluminum tanks from Imperial and pumps from NVE and Masport; the fourth features a 680-gallon waste/300-gallon freshwater steel tank from Imperial and a Masport pump. Two more RAM trucks are on order.

All but one of the service trucks are equipped with four-wheel drive because of the treacherous winter conditions, she says. Also, the Dooleys prefer smaller tanks because it’s easier to comply with Montana’s weight-restriction laws for vehicles, she says.

BIG SKY BOOM

Given what happened in 2008, isn’t Dooley concerned about being too dependent on one business sector — in this case, construction contractors — for portable restroom business? Not really, thanks to a prolonged construction boom in the Bozeman area as well as the so-called Big Sky region, which straddles Madison and Gallatin counties, about 45 miles southwest of Bozeman.

Construction activity in the thriving Big Sky area — home to numerous celebrities such as Tom Brady, Justin Timberlake, Jeff Bridges, Phil Mickelson and Bill Gates — is centered on multi million-dollar homes and luxury ski resorts being built throughout the region.

“Big Sky is the home of the uber-elite — the one-percenters,” Dooley says. “It’s been great for business because they’re building a lot of $18 million houses that take five years to build.

“There also are new ski resorts being built like the One & Only Moonlight Basin with 500 people working there on just one portion of it,” she continues. “We’ve had around 60 units out there for about three years and we clean 35 of them every day.”

The company also rents about 20 restrooms to another resort that’s been under construction for three years.

“Once we decided to service the Big Sky area, a lot of contractors started calling,” she says.

Dooley initially was concerned about servicing Big Sky because getting there requires taking U.S. 191 through Gallatin Canyon, a hazardous drive in winter.

“It’s very dangerous — there’s a crash almost every time it snows,” she says. “But one of our big clients down here [who also does construction in the Big Sky area] said he needed our units up there because we clean them.

“I said it would cost a lot of money and he said that’s OK, so I said OK,” she continues. “I was anxious about doing it, but we didn’t want to leave a lot of money on the table.”

TLC dedicates one driver to the Big Sky area, she says.

GROWTH AHEAD

Dooley says she expects continued growth, as evidenced by orders for more service trucks and restrooms. But she prefers advances to come slow and steady to avoid potential declines in customer service.

“We just want to be sure it’s controlled and sustainable growth,” she says. “There still are a lot of opportunities for growth, but we plan to take it slow.”

The Dooleys also are busy preparing three of their four sons to run the business after they retire. Wes Jr., age 24, now runs the hydroexcavation arm of the business as well as excavation work for septic system installations; Zachary, age 22, manages the gravel-shooting and concrete-work divisions; and Timothy, age 15, is being groomed to work in the portable sanitation and septic divisions.

“Wes and I are so proud that we run a business our sons want to work for,” Dooley says. “They each want to run their own divisions and seem very happy with that.”

As for retirement, the Dooleys plan to stick around for a while.

“We feel very blessed to have built our company into a very good business,” she says. “But we’re not done yet. We’ve got even more building to do. We’re not ones to sit still.”