So you’re starting up a brand new construction project. I’m guessing you’re overwhelmed by all the rental items you’ll need. Item #1 that you’ll need, however, is the porta potties for your team.
But you might have a few questions, right? How many porta potties do I need? What kinds of porta potties are out there, and which option is right for me? Deciding on how many porta potties you need for your construction site isn’t hard, but there are some variables to consider.
Questions to Ask Yourself
If you just call up a porta potty rental company to get your restrooms, they’re going to have some questions for you. Be ready to let them know:
- If you require flushing restrooms, or just standard porta potties?
- If you need any specialty porta potties such as hook units, mobile restrooms, or high rise restrooms?
- How many workers are going to be on site on a daily basis?
- How many hours per day those workers will be on site?
All of these factors will help determine how many portable restrooms you’ll need for your construction site, and what types of porta potties will best suit your needs.
Which Porta Potties Are Right for You
Deciding which porta potties are right for your construction site is one of the first steps in determining how many restrooms you need. There are a few general options to choose from.
Standard Porta Potties
Standard porta potties are the usual plastic portable restrooms that you see on most construction sites. These are the most common type of restrooms used in construction because they’re easy to place on any level surface, and fulfill most basic restroom needs.
Mobile Porta Potties
Mobile porta potties are just standard porta potties secured to a towable trailer. These are the best portable restrooms for road construction jobs. They can easily hitch to a truck and be towed when workers move on to another stretch of road.
Hook Porta Potties
Hook porta potties are used on construction sites where you want to lift the portable restrooms onto a roof with a crane. If you’re going to have workers on roofs or different levels of buildings, this is an easy way to prevent workers from having to come down every time they want to use the restroom.
High Rise Porta Potties
High rise porta potties are a great alternative to hook units, when you’re working on enclosed high rise buildings. These restrooms can fold down in order to fit in a construction elevator. You can move them up and down easily for servicing.
Fresh Flush Mobile Office
The Fresh Flush Mobile Office is a system that hooks up to the restroom facilities in your job trailer. This is convenient if you have an office environment on site, and would like to provide flushing restroom options to your employees. It also works great if you have a lot of site visitors.
Flushing Bathroom Trailers
Looking for something a little better for your construction workers? Bathroom trailers have become more and more common on construction sites. These trailers have flushing restrooms, running water hand sinks and are even heated and air-conditioned. Great for use on site’s where you are renovating a bathroom at a current retail location or office space that will stay open during construction.
How Many Porta Potties for Your Construction Site
We base our porta potty recommendations off of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the Portable Sanitation Association International (PSAI) standards. These regulations are as follows:
So 1 porta potty per 10 workers on a standard 40/hr work week. We’ve all seen an overused porta potty on a construction site. Just remember these are the restrooms you and your workers will use every day. Providing one portable restroom per ten workers will also reduce the chances that you’ll run out of toilet paper and hand sanitizer.
By getting the recommended number of porta potties on your job site, you’re also going to make sure all of your workers have access to a restroom when they need it. This can even help make your construction workers more productive over time.
| Standard Porta Potty | Mobile Porta Potty | Hook Porta Potty | High Rise Porta Potty | Fresh Flush Mobile Office | Flushing Bathroom Trailers |
1 per
10 people | 1 per
10 people | 1 per
10 people | 1 per
10 people | 1 per
10 people | Depends on Trailer Size |
Extra Services VS More Porta Potties
Some construction sites have a tight space to work with. So let’s say you don’t have a lot of space to fit all of the porta potties that you need. There’s a solution for that problem as well. Ordering multiple weekly services can allow you to host fewer porta potties on your job site, and still make sure the ick factor doesn’t get out of control.
So let’s say that you have 50 workers on your construction site, and you only have space for three porta potties. You could order three portable restrooms and have them on twice a week service. This means twice a week, you’ll get your restroom tank evacuated, your porta potty cleaned, and have the toilet paper and hand sanitizer re-stocked.
Now sometimes the best option may be to order more porta potties and stick to once a week service. This would be a situation where your construction site is harder to navigate. Porta potty service trucks are not the easiest piece of equipment to drive around. Because of this, renting more portable restrooms with fewer services may be easier. You only need to let the service technician onto your site once a week, instead of having to wait for your restrooms to be serviced several times a week.
Having more porta potties on site with fewer services also allows you to space them out around your construction site. This gets your workers in and out of the bathroom quickly, which means they’re more productive overall.
Finding out how many porta potties to have on your construction site isn’t that hard. Just remember one porta potty for every ten workers on your construction site. But it may take a little more thinking to figure out what portable restrooms would work best for you. You can also supplement more weekly services in order to save space on your construction site. Any salesperson at your porta potty company of choice can help you make the best decision to get your portable restroom needs met.
On Site Companies is a portable restroom provider for both construction and special events. If you have more questions about portable restrooms, or you’d like to order one in the Minneapolis / St. Paul, Rochester MN, Mankato MN, or St. Louis MO area, please reach out to us through phone at 1.800.210.8407 or email at sales@onsiteco.com.
