Portable Toilet Hire – Finding the Restroom Ratio

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By Sufidreamer

Portable Toilet Hire – A Necessary Evil

Whether you are organizing a huge music festival, or planning a garden party, portable toilet hire is an essential part of the process. It is relatively easy to organize the music, catering and drinks, but finding a reliable portable toilet supplier is more complicated than you may think. Planning large events is difficult enough, without worrying about the sanitary logistics.

Hiring portable toilets should never be a mere afterthought, because the quality of the toilet facilities often determines whether guests have a great time, or a horrible ordeal. Filthy, smelly and broken portable toilets will send customers away with bad memories, ruining all of your meticulous planning.

David Shankbone- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Porta_Potty_by_David_Shankbone.jpg
See all 3 photos
David Shankbone- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Porta_Potty_by_David_Shankbone.jpg

Choosing the best portable toilet hire company is important, whether you need one for a construction site or a few hundred for a sprawling music festival. Finding the lowest price is not the most important factor, because you really do not want to compromise on reliability and quality. The secret is to take your time to find a professional company that will provide and empty your portable toilets, with a minimum of fuss.

Instead of selecting the first company that you stumble across, because you are too embarrassed to talk about portable toilets, take your time and question a selection of portable toilet hire providers. They are professionals and want to help your event to be a success, rather than enter the realms of notoriety.

Portable Toilet Hire – How Many And What Type

When organizing a function, party or concert, you must estimate the number of toilets needed, and attempt to find the best type for your needs. You should hire at least one toilet for every hundred guests, although a more favorable ratio will be appreciated by all – the clients at a garden party will be less forgiving than hardened music festival goers. You should also take into account the duration of the event, as some of the toilets will fill up, over time, and will be unusable until emptied.

Other factors will influence your choice, and you need to decide whether any guests will need baby changing facilities or disabled access. In most circumstances, it is good practice to hire some anyway; apart from the moral issue, most states and countries have legislation stipulating that there must be disabled access to toilet facilities.

If you plan to serve alcohol, this will affect the number of portable toilets required, by up to 15%. In addition, if you are going to have a larger proportion of women attending, you will need a more favorable ratio of people to toilets, because women take a little longer, on average. Most portable toilet hire companies will be delighted to help you estimate the number of toilets needed, as part of preparing a quote.

Many people tend to think of portable toilets as the ubiquitous plastic cubicle, found at concerts or on construction sites. In fact, portable trailers are readily available, and these are a great option for longer events, or where a ‘higher class’ of clientele will be attending.

Holger Gruber - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:DIXI-Toilette.jpg
Holger Gruber - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:DIXI-Toilette.jpg

Portable Toilet Hire - Cleaning Up After The Event

Reputable portable toilet hire companies take responsibility for emptying the portable toilets once the event is over, and they will dispose of the waste safely. If you hire a toilet for a longer period, such as the semi-permanent types used on construction sites, you will need to arrange for it to be emptied at regular periods. Overflowing portable toilets do not create a good impression and are extremely unhygienic, so question the provider about their disposal routine.

A good number of portable toilet hire companies offer environmentally friendly waste disposal, where the waste is recycled as compost. For the ecologically minded, this is yet another factor to consider.

Portable Toilet Hire – Getting It Right

Portable toilet hire is integral to planning an event or gathering, and ensuring that you find the right company is paramount. Ask the right questions and make sure that you choose a company with a good reputation. Otherwise, toilet nightmares can leave a bad memory that lingers long after the function is over.

Uninvited Writer profile image

Uninvited Writer Level 4 Commenter 2 years ago

Interesting, I've never thought much about renting toilets :)

Great hub.

Sufidreamer profile image

Sufidreamer Hub Author 2 years ago

Thanks for visiting, UW - they are one of the things that everybody forgets about, but would soon notice a lack. I used to attend music festivals and I am still mentally scarred by the bathroom facilities!

PirateFX profile image

PirateFX Level 1 Commenter 2 years ago

An interesting and much overlooked topic :)

Dame Scribe profile image

Dame Scribe Level 2 Commenter 2 years ago

I had to make such arrangements and so totally relate, lol

Sufidreamer profile image

Sufidreamer Hub Author 2 years ago

Thanks, PirateFX - we would be lost without portable toilets!

Dame Scribe - Thanks for dropping by; always a pleasure. We had to, for a film shoot. Important to get it right!

wesleycox profile image

wesleycox Level 2 Commenter 2 years ago

An excellently written hub sufidreamer. I can totally relate to the portable toilet scene because they are what we (soldiers) use in Iraq. Nice job.

Sufidreamer profile image

Sufidreamer Hub Author 2 years ago

Thanks for stopping by, Wesley - I can imagine that things would rapidly become unpleasant if the toilets overflowed in that heat!

emohealer profile image

emohealer 2 years ago

Great write up... definitely not an after thought!

wordscribe41 2 years ago

I almost have a phobia near these, Sufi. A few too many bad experiences. Gulp. Well done though.

Sufidreamer profile image

Sufidreamer Hub Author 2 years ago

Thanks, emohealer - not the most interesting subject to write about, but they are an essential part of life!

Thanks for dropping by, wordscribe - I have been to a few music festivals, so I know how you feel!

chris almond 2 years ago

A lucid and coherent article. Well written and concise. I guess you've at sometime worked in the industry. Well done!

Sufidreamer profile image

Sufidreamer Hub Author 2 years ago

Thanks, Chris - always a pleasure to receive feedback from an expert.

I never worked directly with the industry, but I have been involved with event planning and am all too aware of the perils of poor portaloo planning!

Green Lotus profile image

Green Lotus Level 6 Commenter 2 years ago

What an interesting, informative Hub Sufidreamer! I've seen my share of "honey wagons" in the entertainment industry and they sure run the gamut. Never knew they were going 'green', however. You've inspired me!

Right now, we have a design business that involves managing a lot of projects. It would be so much better to recommend a good clean, green portable toilet for the job site subs! The general contractors often forget this important item and you wouldn't believe some of the stories of worker "misconduct" :( Thanks for so many terrific sources.

Sufidreamer profile image

Sufidreamer Hub Author 2 years ago

Thanks for commenting, Green Lotus.

'Honey Wagon' - I might have to see if that is a good keyword! Very glad to be your muse and I must visit your Hubs so that you can return the favour :D

I have worked on many construction sites and I am fully aware of such misconduct *shudders*. There are a few options available and the prices are pretty low - certainly preferable to digging holes :|

WryLilt profile image

WryLilt Level 2 Commenter 22 months ago

Visiting one of these at 3am, drunk at rodeo is not a good idea. And since when do women take longer!!??

And as an afterthought - maybe the reason people buy crap from Amazon is because after reading all your hubs on the subject it's all they can think about...

Sufidreamer profile image

Sufidreamer Hub Author 22 months ago

That could be a messy experience at 3am. I reckon that women do take longer - I don't know what you all do in there, but the queue for the women's toilet is always longer in nightclubs.

I must write more Hubs about crap - it seems that selling poop may be the most productive use of my writing talents.

bgamall profile image

bgamall Level 4 Commenter 19 months ago

I never liked the ones that were, how shall I say it, bottomless. You know, the splash was like miles down. :)

Sufidreamer profile image

Sufidreamer Hub Author 19 months ago

hehe - that is true. I have had to use enough of those at music festivals. Drowning in one of those would not be a good way to depart this mortal coil!

chris almond 19 months ago

Hey guys, the toilets without the flush mechanism are actually referred to in the industry as "drop n splash" The other associated term is "blue bum syndrome" I don't think I need to explain do I? :)

Sufidreamer profile image

Sufidreamer Hub Author 19 months ago

Thanks for the chuckles, Chris!

saintodd profile image

saintodd 15 months ago

sufidreamer - I'm glad I found you on HubPages. Your articles are wonderfully written. I've become a student of writing hubs and you've raised the standard for me to work towards. I'm deeply impressed with you smooth use of keywords as your add relevance indicates. There is so much to look at and read in this article. But its the unseen things that you incorporate that I'm really enjoying. Thanks for writing. Voted up, rated and bookmarked. saintodd

Richard Giles 15 months ago

Chris is definately the expert in this field. He loves a good portable toilet!

Sufidreamer profile image

Sufidreamer Hub Author 15 months ago

Hi Saintodd - Welcome to Hubpages! I looked at your Hubs and you are certainly going about things in the right way, learning from some of the experienced Hubbers on here. Best of luck and keep producing good content :)

Cheers, Richard - It certainly seems that way :)

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