At a point where many people are starting to contemplate retirement, Tom and Denise Turner instead leaned hard into a new career as the owners of a Royal Restrooms portable-sanitation franchise.

The contrarian move proved to be a wise choice. The Georgia-based business, Royal Restrooms of Columbus, has grown significantly since the couple bought the franchise in 2016. And along the way, the franchise — which rents only restroom trailers and shower trailers — also spawned an ancillary business, Specialized Rentals, run by the Turners’ daughter, Taylor Turner.

“I should’ve done it decades ago,” says Tom Turner, 63. “We love working for ourselves.”

The move was a risky gambit. To fund the franchise purchase, the couple sold their retirement home, then slowly grew the business while they lived in a 41-foot-long fifth-wheel for two years.

But by working long hours and slowly building business relationships with a wide array of clients, ranging from luxury special events to long-term rentals for big-box retailers, the Turners created their own success story.

The couple started out with two restroom trailers and now own 24, plus one shower trailer. And they built the business by themselves.

“We work all the time,” Turner says when asked how he and Denise, 63, built the booming business with just two people. “We just work hard. But we’re very blessed. We enjoy it and meet tons of such great people who really appreciate our product. That’s what has kept us going.”

AHA! MOMENT

A decade ago, going into business for themselves wasn’t on the Turners’ radar. But then Turner’s sister told him about her husband’s nephew, who had started Royal Restrooms.

“He needed help because the business was growing like crazy,” recalls Turner, who worked in the commercial tire industry for years. “So in 2007, he hired me to sell franchises.”

A couple years later, Turner had an epiphany when he realized Royal Restrooms didn’t have a franchise in Columbus, which is located in far west-central Georgia, near the Alabama-Georgia state line.

“I literally had a lightbulb moment,” he says. “I was heading back from my daughter’s college graduation when it hit me that there’s no franchise over here in the state’s second-largest city.

“So I asked Denise if she wanted to go on an adventure at age 55,” Turner continues. “After she said yes, we sold our retirement home and used the proceeds to start buying restroom trailers.”

Why doesn’t the business rent traditional portable restrooms, too?

“It’s not that we can’t,” he explains. “But David’s philosophy [Royal Restrooms co-founder David Sauers] is we’re going to focus only on restroom trailers and do it better than anyone else in this industry.”

MARKET NICHES

The franchise’s customers range from luxury special events, such as weddings and corporate functions to businesses that need long-term trailer rentals during construction projects. For example, Turner recently rented an ADA-compliant trailer to a BMW car dealership for eight months and counting, he notes.

“They wanted nice restrooms for their clientele while they’re building a new dealership,” Turner says. “A lot of big-box retailers and restaurants also want nice restrooms for their customers and employees during remodeling projects.”

Renting out restroom trailers to businesses undergoing remodeling or construction projects, as opposed to just special events, is beneficial because it generates consistent revenue, he says.

“Those business remodels help because it’s steady income, whether it’s cold or hot,” Turner explains. “It used to be we were busy seven or eight months out of the year and the rest of the year, the phone wouldn’t ring. No one does much outside during summers in Georgia.”

A critical factor in the Turners’ success has been investment in quality trailers and then personalizing them for customers.

“People are so impressed when we pull up and they start using the trailers,” he says. “They’re just blown away by the quality.” Making the restrooms feel more homey with touches such as nice rugs and paintings on the walls also bolsters customer loyalty, Turner says.

Moreover, the high cost of breaking into the business creates somewhat of a barrier to market entry for competitors, Turner points out, noting that the least expensive trailer he owns costs about $35,000 (minus taxes and delivery charges), plus about $80,000 for a diesel truck to tow the trailers.

EQUIPMENT MATTERS

The company’s two dozen trailers range in size from two- and four-stall units to eight- and 10-stall units. The trailers are made by Pace American, UltraLav, Forest River Mobile Restrooms, Optimus Industries and Black Tie Products.

The company also owns three RAM 2500 pickup trucks to tow the restrooms.

Owning so many restroom trailers in such an array of sizes is beneficial because the company can meet the needs of a wide variety of customers, he says.

But the business doesn’t own any vacuum trucks to pump out the trailers’ waste tanks. Instead, the Turners bring the trailers to their shop and use a Wacker-Neuson diaphragm pump to transfer the waste into a 2,500-gallon underground tank.

When the tank is full, the Turners hire a septic-pumping company to pump it out and dispose of the waste. The Turners also hire a restroom-rental business to pump out the tanks in long-term rental trailers at businesses, he says.

While disposing waste this way is convenient and reduces transportation expenses and eliminates time spent on trips to and from treatment facilities, Turner still wishes he’d bought a vacuum truck. But they continue to hold off on the truck purchase due to cost considerations.

“I should have bought one when we opened the business. Sometimes it’s a challenge getting a pumping company to pump out the tanks in our long-term rental trailers when we need it,” Turner explains.

The business also owns a combination shower trailer from Optimus that’s equipped like a full bathroom in a home, with a toilet, a shower and a sink. It’s primarily rented out to summer youth camps, he says.

INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY

Turner also owns two so-called hygiene pods from LuxLav Trailer Sales. Each unit features a flush toilet, a sink and a hand dryer, plus air conditioning and heat. The primary advantage is the units can be plumbed to empty into a septic tank or a sanitary sewer, which eliminates the need for a waste tank, he explains.

“It’s basically a half-bathroom that’s self-contained, with no holding tank, so there aren’t any pumping charges for customers,” he says. “It’s a step between a chemical toilet and a [permanent] restroom.”

The cube-shaped pods are about 4 feet wide, 5 feet long and 7 feet tall. They can be customized for various applications and can be placed inside buildings — warehouses, for instance — which provides added versatility, Turner says.

The company didn’t rent any of the units in 2024, but Turner expects them to eventually catch on.

“They’ll be a perfect fit for someone,” he says.

WHY A FRANCHISE?

One word summarizes one of the primary reasons the Turners decided to buy a franchise: marketing. Royal Restrooms pays for and handles most of the marketing efforts, with a strong focus on search-engine optimization on the internet, Turner says.

“If you wanted to start a restroom trailer company, I think marketing would be the biggest hurdle,” he says. “It costs a lot of money to market this kind of company.”

In return, franchisees pay Royal Restrooms a monthly royalty, which is a set percentage of revenue. Part of that revenue is plowed back into marketing campaigns, he says.

The Turners still do some marketing on their own. The company belongs to several local chambers of commerce in an effort to forge relationships with local businesses that might need restroom trailers, he says.

Owning the franchise also provides another perk to the Turners: assistance from fellow franchisers. For example, if the Turners need an eight-stall shower trailer and their unit is already rented out, they can “borrow” one from another franchise and pay it a percentage of the rental fee, he says.

“We don’t have to do that very often, but it’s a great benefit if you need it,” Turner notes.

Turner declined to say how much it cost to buy into the franchise, but says it was a big up-front expense. The price of a franchise varies according to the size of its territory and how many trailers are needed to get started, he says.

“You’re taking a big leap of faith,” Turner says. “But for someone who wants to hustle and work hard, you can make a great living.”

LOOKING AHEAD

The Turners would like to keep growing the business. “If you’re not growing, you’re dying,” Turner notes. But the couple is limited somewhat because three people can only do so much. Furthermore, they’re limited to doing business only within their territory, Turner says.

“To really grow, we’d have to buy more territory or diversify our existing business,” he says.

While the Turners have no formal succession plan in place, they expect their daughter, Taylor, will take the reins when the time comes. (Another daughter, Jessie Turner Lennihan, and her husband, Peter, own Royal Restrooms of Alabama, a franchise based in Montgomery.)

“I plan to keep doing this as long as I can,” he says.

Looking back, Turner says he and Denise have only one regret about jumping into such a demanding business so late in life.

“We wish we would’ve started this when we were in our 20s,” he says with a chuckle. “Man, we might own 10 franchises by now. Running your own business is so satisfying.”