Sticking to What They’re Good At

Grant and Erin Stahla’s choice to focus their business efforts on specialty trailers has paid off with geographical and service offering expansion

Feb 06, 2025 | by Ken Wysocky |

Sticking to What They’re Good At — Given the harsh winter climates in the areas they serve, the Stahla crew has a few tricks up their sleeves to keep restrooms from freezing, like skirting the perimeter with hay bales from a local farmer.

When Grant Stahla was taking classes in the Engler Agribusiness Entrepreneurship Program during his junior year at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in 2013, he didn’t know what a restroom trailer was, much less a vacuum truck.

It didn’t take long for that to change. In January 2014, while still attending the university, Stahla used a $30,000 loan from his grandparents to buy a three-stall Forest River restroom trailer from Mobile Restrooms. And today, a little more than a decade later, Stahla and his wife, Erin, are co-owners of Stahla Services, which owns about 60 restroom trailers and 10 service vehicles.

Furthermore, the Stahlas have expanded the business from their home base of Gretna, Nebraska, located just southwest of Omaha, to locations in Denver and Kansas City, Kansas. The tech-savvy couple also has started an adjunct business by amassing a large, nationwide database that allows them to connect customers outside their service area and that need site services — restroom, shower and decontamination trailers, portable bunkhouses and restrooms, generators and the like — with vendors that provide them.

“I grew up in a family of entrepreneurs,” Grant says, explaining why he wanted to run his own business. “My parents worked together and ran several small businesses with aunts, uncles and grandparents, so running a company was an obvious option for me.

“Portable sanitation is a business that aligns closely with the values of agribusiness,” adds Grant, who graduated from UNL with a degree in business management. “And when I found out what a restroom trailer was, it seemed like a great business opportunity.

“I was very passionate about doing something that involved working with my hands and using technology and data to scale a business.”

Grant found a kindred spirit in Erin, who he met through online dating in 2021. The couple got married in 2022 and Erin, who earned a degree in public relations from Northwestern College in Iowa, then joined the company.

“It’s a blast to work side by side with Erin — a dream come true,” Grant notes. “We really enjoy geeking out over business operations and organizational development within businesses.”

Humble Beginnings

Grant’s first job involved providing a restroom trailer for the annual Cattlemen’s Ball of Nebraska, a large, well-known and long-standing charitable event that raises money for cancer research.

“My uncle ran the event and said he could use me,” Grant recalls. “It was super overwhelming. I didn’t even know I needed a pump truck. I knew nothing — I definitely started from zero.”

Then came a huge break in 2014: Grant won a $50,000 prize in a business-plan contest called the New Venture Competition, affiliated with the University of Nebraska’s Center for Entrepreneurship. He submitted a plan for creating a restroom trailer and portable restroom business.

“That was incredible — absolutely mind-blowing,” he says. “To show our gratitude, Erin and I go back and serve as judges at the competition every year.”

Grant used the prize money to buy a used pump truck and 25 portable restrooms.

The company also switched gears and focused solely on upscale restroom trailers.

“As we grew, we realized we wanted to be a specialty business — rent restroom trailers for different types of events,” Erin explains. “There definitely was a gap in the market, so we pivoted.”

In addition, the focus on trailers was familiar territory for the couple. Erin grew up on a ranch in northeastern Nebraska and drove a lot of trailers, she notes, while Grant used to fix up and “flip” houses, so he possessed the skills to maintain and repair the units.

About 20% of the company’s business stems from special events while the remainder is generated by commercial rentals — big-box retailers that need restroom trailers during remodeling projects, for example, Erin says.

Geographic Expansion

In 2019 and 2021, the business expanded into Kansas City and Denver, respectively.

“Grant felt he had a great product and it was a great time to expand,” Erin says. “There were a number of companies out there offering plastic units, but not restroom trailers.”

Expanding the business geographically turned out to be a good move personally because the couple enjoys traveling and can mix business with pleasure by combining work trips with visits to friends and family who live in or near the two cities.

“I was looking for good work-life integration,” Grant says. “The business allows us to work while also doing fun and adventurous things like hiking, mountain biking and skiing.”

Erin says expanding into a new market requires a careful assessment of whether it can support a business. It also helped that Denver and Kansas City have large populations, which provides a good base for business — and a larger labor pool from which to hire employees, which is always a challenge, she says.

“You also have to determine if your systems are built to sustain another location,” Erin adds. “You need to do an internal audit of systems — things that manage recruiting, hiring, equipment and logistics — to ensure they can maintain growth.”

In addition, breaking into new markets is never easy. So it requires hard work and perseverance, not to mention offering a great product and top-notch customer service, she says.

“So far, we’re making it happen,” she says. “Our team is awesome.”

More Customers, More Equipment

As the company grew, so did its fleet of equipment. Today the business owns about 60 restroom trailers, ranging in size from two to 10 stalls and made by JAG Mobile Solutions and Satellite Industries (including several three-stall Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant trailers) and eight shower restrooms from JAG and Satellite.

The business also owns 10 service trucks: A Ford F-550 equipped with a 750-gallon waste/350-gallon freshwater steel tank from Crescent Tank Mfg.; six Dodge Ram 3500s that feature aluminum slide-in tanks from either Imperial Tank (300 gallons waste/150 gallons freshwater), Crescent Tank (300 gallons waste with no freshwater) or Best Enterprises (350 gallons waste/150 gallons freshwater); and three Dodge Ram 5500s rigged out with 750-gallon waste/350-gallon freshwater steel tanks from Crescent.

All the trucks are equipped with vacuum pumps from Masport.

“We opted for slide-in units because they provide us with flexibility and don’t require commercial drivers’ licenses, which makes hiring route drivers easier,” Grant explains.

The company also owns 10 Honda inverter generators that provide power for the restroom trailers and four Airtug motorized trailer dollies, used to move trailers more easily into tight spaces.

Keys to Success

What’s the Stahlas’ secret sauce for success? Stringent hiring requirements, a solid training program and newer equipment, Erin says.

“We definitely are picky when we hire people,” she says. “We do a lot of onboarding and training. Things go a lot smoother if we’re all on the same path and have the same goals.”

The couple promotes a corporate culture that always emphasizes customer service, adding value for customers and communicating with customers from the time they receive a quote to when employees pick up a trailer after an event.

“We emphasize going above and beyond for customers,” she says. “Everyone on our team genuinely cares on a personal level about doing a great job.

Another big factor is well-maintained equipment, which helps avoid breakdowns that can frustrate and aggravate customers, she adds.

“Quality of equipment, a clean shop and well-maintained trucks and trailers go a long way toward attracting and retaining employees,” Erin says. “It all reflects that this isn’t your normal blue-collar job.”

Finding the Right People

How do the Stahlas find solid employees with shared values? They actively encourage employees to refer friends and family members for job openings, which Erin says is the best way to attract new talent. Employees can earn referral bonuses if new hires work out well, she says.

Job candidates also go through a series of rigorous interviews and must provide character references. And those references actually get called, Erin notes.

The company also ensures that potential hires really understand what each job entails and ask questions designed to determine how well they’d fit with existing team members.

To enhance employee retention, the company makes sure new hires feel supported through training and provides 30-, 60- and 90-day performance reviews. All employees also meet with their direct managers on a quarterly basis, she says.

“We want to make sure we’re all rowing in the same direction and take stock of why things worked or didn’t work,” Erin notes. “Good communication with employees promotes good ideas you might otherwise miss out on.

“If people don’t feel enabled, they might think of a great idea, but decide it’s not worth it to bring it up,” Erin says.

As an example, she points to one employee who suggested the company should implement a systemized trailer-maintenance program to ensure trailers are always in good working order. The program helps extend the trailers’ life cycles, she says, and minimizes the odds of equipment breakdowns during events that can harm customer relations.

“We also hire slow and fire fast when we see that people aren’t working out,” Erin adds.

Further Growth Expected

Looking ahead, the Stahlas aren’t ready to hit the brakes.

“We’d love to keep growing,” Erin says. “We’re definitely in a growth mindset.”

As an example, she points to a brokerage and logistics division that enables the company to help customers in regions Stahla Services doesn’t service connect with vetted vendors.

“We might get a call from someone in Texas, for instance,” Erin explains. “If we can’t fulfill the need, we can call fellow Texas portable sanitation companies and connect that customer with a local vendor.

“We help the provider and the customer get all the information they need to make things a success as seamlessly as possible,” she continues. “It’s been fun connecting with sanitation companies nationwide.”

Looking back at how far they’ve come, the Stahlas feel blessed for the chance to work together.

“Grant and I are Christians, and we think we’ve been given an awesome opportunity on this earth and want to capitalize on the gifts we’ve been given,” Erin says. “It’s pretty incredible to work in a business being married and co-owners and figure out a direction for the company. It’s been really fun for us.”