Fresh out of UCLA in 2021 with a degree in business economics, Tom McClain was eager to enter the world of private equity. However, after a few years of putting in long hours managing money for others, he yearned for a stronger connection between his efforts and the customers he served.
In 2024, he made two commitments to himself — to buy a business and move to San Diego, a city where friends and family members lived.
“I wanted to get into a business that sounds boring at a dinner party, and something that’s not going to get disrupted by AI,” McClain says. “I had to do something small, considering the amount of capital that I had saved up, but also something with a good profit margin that I could scale up with an eventual goal to sell.”
STARTING FROM SCRATCH
He approached brokers in the San Diego area and considered service businesses ranging from print shops to HVAC firms. Then he came across a portable restroom trailer business for sale by an owner who was retiring.
“Restroom trailers are high-ticket items, and it seemed like a pretty straightforward, simple business,” McClain says.
He dove into the industry and learned as much as he could. After six weeks, he submitted a bid — one day after the seller accepted another offer.
“I was pretty upset at first,” he says. “But I wondered how much it would cost me to start it up myself. I would need to put more money into marketing and struggle a little bit more to get my name out there. I believed I could buy trailers and a pump truck, and get it off the ground for about the same price.”
McClain ordered four trailers: a pair of two-stall restroom trailers from Black Tie Products, customized in cottage style; a Satellite Spa two-stall trailer; and a Satellite Spa four-stall trailer.
He also purchased a pump truck — a used 2017 Ford F-550 MD 950 Satellite with a 650-gallon waste/300-gallon water stainless steel tank and Masport pump.
“Getting quotes from pumping companies, it seemed like getting a pump truck right off was the best thing to do,” McClain says. “I didn’t have a truck that I could haul trailers with, so I might as well make it a pump truck. And a 950-gallon tank is the largest you can drive in California without needing a commercial driver’s license.
He launched Golden Coast Restrooms from a rented yard in September 2024.
TRAILERS VS. PORTABLES
Although he’s worked with contractors providing plastic portable restrooms, McClain prefers renting trailers.
“The rental rates for portables are much lower; it’s very competitive, and you have to pump them often,” he says. “I’ve modeled it out, and I would need at least 100 units to start, and I’d have to keep them in a very tight geographic range to make it work. I have a lot more growth in front of me in pure-play trailers, and I don’t think I’m close to being tapped out of that yet.”
Deciding to only offer trailers came with an understanding of where and how he was going to market them. “You’re not going to convince people to get a restroom trailer if they don’t already want it,” McClain says. “I dove headfirst into Google Ads and invested heavily in SEO from the jump to reach people with high intent. I also did a few wedding shows, which was a great way to meet people in the industry. I tried to position myself as one of the higher-end brands in the area.”
McClain also strives to provide an easy rental process for customers. “I don’t ask people what trailer they want,” he says. “I tell them which trailer will work best for their event. Don’t worry about power or water. I tell them I see a great spot for the trailer on Google Maps. If you convince them that you’re the guy who will handle everything, you’ll win the business, even if you’re not offering the lowest price.”
BUILDING THE BUSINESS
While a series of repairs had McClain wondering if he’d made the right decision to buy a pump truck, it has worked in his favor.
“I’ve been getting a lot of long-term bookings for strip malls doing repairs on their bathrooms, a church and a warehouse,” he says. “Not a lot of my competitors that do pure-play restroom trailers have the ability to pump, and it’s become a differentiator for me, allowing me to win these lucrative long-term rental contracts.”
To keep up with the added work, McClain hired his first part-time employee in late 2024, placing him on weekend duty, to provide himself with some much-needed downtime. He recently hired another part-time employee to work weekdays.
“It’s been a big unlock for me to be able to do more work, and to be able to scale the business,” he says. “I’m thinking about hiring somebody else soon.”
TRUSTED HELP
McClain sought guidance from a number of sources, including PRO magazine, and Facebook and Reddit groups.
“A family friend, Lance Soares, runs a portable restroom business, Clean Site Services, up in North Highlands,” he says. “He helped me with marketing ideas, and he had me at his lot a couple of times and had his employees show me how to pump. I would just follow Lance and take notes.”
He also credits his father, a lifelong entrepreneur, for guidance. “He always encouraged me to try new things,” McClain says. “He instilled in me that if other people were succeeding in this business, I could too. I wouldn’t be where I am without him.”
GROWTH AND REVENUE
McClain added two new trailers to the inventory in summer 2025: an additional pair of Satellite Spa two-station trailers, the most popular rentals for the company.
“I aim for 100% rental on all of these trailers,” he says. “Even if I spend triple what other guys spend on marketing, if I get another rental or two throughout the month, it pays for itself. If someone hits me up for a rental for this coming Saturday, and I have two or three trailers on my lot, I’m going to give them a great deal. The gross profit margins in this business are pretty good, so you can flex a little bit. You want to maintain your brand, but the name of the game is getting your trailers rented.”
McClain recently sealed a deal to acquire his first business, San Diego’s Five Star Event Trailers, which included six trailers by Rich Specialty Trailers — a pair of two-stall models, a pair of three-stall units, a four-stall and an eight-stall trailer — along with a 2021 Ram 3500.
“My goal is to become the largest restroom trailer rental company in Southern California, and eventually the West Coast,” he says. “I want to keep adding trailers. I think I can dominate this market.”
LESSONS LEARNED
McClain says he tries to dissuade people who want to buy a single trailer to rent out on weekends as a side hustle.
“Invest in good equipment, buy multiple trailers, commit your time, get all the right paperwork, insurance and permits,” he says. “Offer fair prices, top-notch service, ask for reviews and build relationships. But it’s capital-intensive. You can’t expect to take money out of the business for a couple of years, at least. Eventually, the ball will start rolling, and it’ll start to pay dividends.”
Some of those dividends are personal. “There’s something rewarding about delivering a trailer, picking it up the next day and the client telling you that everybody loved it,” McClain says. “You know you earned that paycheck and delivered a valuable product and service to somebody. There’s something beautiful about that.”
