Ruston Ueckert had a long career as an ironworker, never guessing that in 2022 he’d start a business doing something completely different in an industry he knew nothing about. COVID was the culprit.
Ueckert owned an ironworking company and during the pandemic was having trouble hiring people and getting them to wear masks. In a grumble session with a coworker, he noted how easy the portable restroom guys had it, not having to wear masks if they were alone in a truck.
That led to complaining about the poor service they were getting on portable restrooms. And that’s what made him pull the trigger on an idea that had been brewing in the back of his mind — to start his own portable restroom company.
He had a lot to do to make that happen — learn everything, take a test, get licensed, come up with a name and logo, buy equipment, build a tank — but by August 2022, he was in business.
His company, Flush It Portable Toilets, is located in Texarkana, Arkansas, a town on both sides of the Arkansas-Texas state line, with separate municipalities. They offer portable restrooms, hand-wash stations, holding tanks and a luxury restroom trailer to customers 30 miles into Texas, and 100 miles into Arkansas. They work out of an 8,500-square-foot warehouse in town and store most of their equipment on a six-acre property outside of town.
Ueckert’s wife Janelle and daughters Mallory and Lainey help with the bookwork. Adam Howard has been with him almost from the beginning. “He’s been a lifesaver,” Ueckert says. “We had a mutual friend and [Adam] was looking for a job.”
BEFORE GETTING STARTED
Ueckert was anxious to get his new business going but knew there were a few steps to go through first.
Education: The first step was to learn as much as he could about the portable sanitation industry. He joined several Facebook groups, read voraciously and asked a lot of questions.
Truck and equipment: Ueckert didn’t have enough money to buy a vacuum truck, but as an ironworker and welder, he was able to build his own out of an old 500-gallon steel propane tank. He also built the trailer for it. “Then I talked to a lady at Masport who told me what pump I needed,” he says. “I bought two pumps in order to have a backup, which is something I’m glad I did.”
Ueckert found 60 used portable restrooms for sale from a contractor in Iowa. He drove up there to get them and the gentleman gave him a lot of information and advice. They still talk and discuss business.
Name and logo: Ueckert says the name popped into his head one night lying in bed. The wife of a guy he knows is a graphic designer. She and her son came up with the logo. They showed him a few ideas and he picked one.
Licensing: When he felt ready to start, Ueckert went down to the Arkansas Department of health to get a license. He had waited to do this until he finished all his ironworking projects. In hindsight that was a bad idea. “It took months,” he says. “That was the biggest shocker to me. I just figured I’d go down and say, ‘Hey, I need a license,’ give them some money and they’d give me a license. That was not the case at all. You had to apply for it, and I guess they were shorthanded, so it took them several months.”
And then there were permits to obtain. “That was hard because the cities won’t give you a permit unless you have a state license, and the state won’t give you a permit until you have a place to dump with the city,” he says. “Finally, a guy at the local water department helped me out. The state inspectors were also helpful.”
EARLY DAYS
Ueckert may have been new to the industry but he had several things going for him — which made it surprisingly easy to get work. One, nearly every contractor in town knew him from his 20 years of ironworking. “I had good relationships with them so I just reached out and told them what I was doing,” he says. Two, the contractors were generally unhappy with the quality of service on their portable restrooms. And, three, he just simply did what he said he was going to do — service units properly and timely — and people appreciated it.
Ueckert’s original hand-built trailer held the vacuum tank and could carry two units. But it was a little questionable, he admits. “It was a pretty funny-looking setup. I really don’t know how we did what we did because it was absolutely horrible to try to do portable toilets out of it.”
He was soon able to transition to better equipment. His 2004 Isuzu NPR has a 250-gallon waste/300-gallon freshwater steel tank built out of a propane tank, and a Masport pump. And he bought a 2005 Freightliner M2 built out by Best Enterprises with a 1,000-gallon waste/500-gallon freshwater stainless steel tank and a Conde (Westmoor Ltd.) pump. The Freightliner has a rack on the back and can haul two units. He also has a number of hand-built trailers ranging from a small 10-foot unit to a 30-foot gooseneck.
Ueckert likes the Freightliner but is partial to his hand-built unit. “As far as working out of it, it’s easier,” he says. “It’s also better at getting into tight spots. We were able to set it up exactly how we wanted it. The Freightliner is a really nice truck, but there are some things I would have done differently if I had built it.”
The company uses the Texarkana municipal treatment plant for disposal. Their deodorizer and graffiti-removal products are from Walex.
INVENTORY
Ueckert eventually replaced his original used restrooms with new ones from PolyJohn. He now has 300 standard units (mostly PJN3s), three wheelchair-accessible units, 30 hand-wash stations (PolyJohn) and six 300-gallon holding tanks.
He wanted his units to have a color that would stand out. He started out with bright yellow ones until he realized PolyJohn had neon green, which is now 80% of his inventory. For events he has 10 charcoal gray units, a color that matches the hand-wash stations. And he has 50 safety orange units, which are currently being used solely by one industrial customer. He bought those when he was trying to win the contract with that customer. He told them he would buy new units and thought orange would be appropriate for an industrial setting.
In 2023, Ueckert picked up a three-stall Forest River restroom trailer in a shared purchase with his cousin Stephen Garrison in Hot Springs. “He and I are a lot alike,” Ueckert says. “We can’t just get in a little bit. He has a fireworks show every Fourth of July which grew over the years from just a few friends to a lot of people.”
Garrison’s wife didn’t want all those people using their bathroom so one year Ueckert supplied portable restrooms. The next year Garrison rented a trailer for $1,300. But when the cost skyrocketed to $2,500 the following year he asked Ueckert if he wanted to go in with him on buying a trailer. Ueckert rents it out every couple months but hasn’t really advertised it yet.
About 90% of the company’s work is for construction which includes a good mix of commercial development projects and housing units. The company also has several industrial customers. Their events include the Four-States Fair and Rodeo, a 10-day event for four adjacent states — Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma. They also do the Hot Springs Christmas parade, private parties, weddings and corporate events.
EXPANSION PLANS
When Ueckert started talking about getting out of ironworking and starting a portable restroom business, his wife didn’t take it too seriously. “I was always coming up with stuff that sounded fun, so she thought I was kidding,” he says. “I think she finally believed me when I told her I was going to Iowa to buy a truckload of toilets. But she’s been very supportive.”
He’s already working on opening up a satellite location in Hot Springs, Arkansas, about 120 miles away. He has customers up there and once a week he or Howard services their portable restrooms. He is also able to store a few units on land his family owns there, and can call on his cousin to help out in a pinch.
Ueckert has no regrets about getting into the new line of work. “People appreciate what you do. And it’s neat being able to build stuff, like the tanks and the truck beds, and then actually use them to work. It’s a lot less stressful than ironworking where you hang a bunch of iron, go home, the wind starts blowing and you’re just hoping you put enough temporary bracing so the building doesn’t fall down. I don’t have to worry about anything like that. It’s been a good ride.”
Flush It Portable Toilets, Texarkana, Arkansas
OWNER: Ruston Ueckert
FOUNDED: August 2022
EMPLOYEES: 2
SERVICES: Portable restrooms, hand-wash stations, holding tanks and a luxury restroom trailer
SERVICE AREA: 100-mile radius
WEBSITE: flushitportables.com
