Northeast Sanitation Blog

Construction season has begun; private residential construction, commercial construction and municipalities doing road construction. Whatever your construction site demands, you need portable toilets for your site workers.

It has been shown that having a portable toilet on-site increases worker productivity. Northeast Sanitation has the expertise required to accommodate your construction site, ensure a safe and sanitary work site, and increase worker productivity.  At NSC Restrooms we pride ourselves on our safety record.

Whether your construction site is a high-rise, a highway, or a residential job, we want you to get the portable toilet product that you need for your specific site. Regardless of the size of your job,  we can accommodate your needs for portable restrooms.

With everything else you are coordinating on your job site, no contractor wants the extra work of finding the right portable toilet.  NSC Restrooms also has a variety of porta potties and portable toilet products for construction job sites, including holding tanks for on-site office restroom trailersthat are designed to accommodate office trailers and/or campers that do not have sewerage or septic available, lift kits and portable sinks.

How Irish Dancing Got Started through the use of Portable Toilets.

WEBSITE BUILDS BONDS

At first, McNamara relied on established business contacts — the “golden Rolodex,” as he puts it — and word-of-mouth referrals. But three years ago, he realized the company also required an Internet presence. The current website was revised about a year ago, and he says it’s a continual work in progress.

“In today’s world, people want to know you have a website,” he adds. “Everyone should have one that shows their products and explains what they do. But you also have to deliver on what you say on the website.”

To keep the website interesting, McNamara posts a weekly blog that talks about a wide array of issues, from strategic placement of units on construction sites to how many restrooms a customer might need for a wedding or party.

“We aim for information people can use,” he says. “At the same time, we’re also always looking for creative ideas to have some fun with it, too.

We ask our drivers for ideas, and they’ve come up with topics like how to protect units on site, putting stone pads in front of units when it’s muddy, placement of hand sinks and so on. It’s all aimed at benefitting the end-user.”

IMAGE IS MARKETING, TOO

NSC also emphasizes less subtle forms of marketing, like new, clean and well-maintained trucks; uniformed, clean-cut drivers who are courteous and professional; and use of new technology, such as global positioning systems, which helps improve customer service.

“We purchase anything that makes us more competitive in the marketplace,” he says. “We try to stay ahead of the curve on that because it saves you money in the long run.”

The NCS fleet includes a 2006 Ford LCF with a 350-gallon waste/150-gallon steel tank, made by Best Enterprises Inc.; a 2007 International 4300 with a 1,500-waste/500-gallon freshwater aluminum Progress (Progress Tank LLC) tank; a 2008 Hino 268 with a 1,500-gallon waste/500-gallon freshwater aluminum Progress tank; a 2008 International 4300 with a 750-gallon waste/350-gallon freshwater flat steel tank from Crescent Tank Mfg.; two 2010 Hino 268s with Progress aluminum tanks (one 1,150-gallon waste/350-gallon freshwater and the other with a 1,500-gallon waste/500-gallon freshwater); and a 2007 Ford LCF flatbed truck for deliveries. All of the trucks use Masport Inc. pumps.

NSC also owns 1,100 standard portable restrooms, mostly Integra units from PolyPortables Inc.; 60 handicapped-accessible units (30 made by Satellite Industries Inc. and 30 made by PolyPortables); and two restroom trailers, a 15-footer made by JAG Mobile Solutions Inc. and a 24-footer manufactured by Comforts of Home Services Inc.

The upscale JAG trailer has four 18-inch, flat-screen televisions. Customers who run charity events or weddings often burn their own DVDs with photo slide shows and play them continuously on the TVs.

“We’ve gotten lots of positive feedback about the TVs. I’m not sure it makes us more money, but you know people talk about it,’’ McNamara says. “New equipment is a great marketing tool. We wash and clean trucks every day. We want to create the perception that we’re the best company out there … when people see our trucks, they remember us.”

GPS technology helps improve customer service. NCS uses a system made by Navtrak Inc. that provides detailed information, from how fast technicians drive to the duration of a service call to the exact time the vacuum power on trucks is turned on and off. If a customer questions whether a technician made a service call, NCS can e-mail them a GPS report that proves they did.

If there’s any question at all in a customer’s mind, though, McNamara follows the premise that the customer is always right, which means a technician will go back and re-service the units in question again. Most times, however, the report does the trick, and customers realize later on that, for example, a landscaping crew came on-site unbeknownst to them, which explains why units were full or dirty so soon after being serviced.

by Ken Wysocky

Prompt service, sharp-dressed technicians and keeping promises to customers is the success formula for upstart Massachusetts company Northeast Sanitation Corp.

Back in February 2006, a semi-retired Brian McNamara heard opportunity knocking and wasted no time answering the door — and stepping smack dab into another full-time career. Within five months, Northeast Sanitation Corp. in Sudbury, Mass., morphed from nothing more than an idea into a full-service portable restroom outfit.

Since then, NSC has enjoyed considerable growth, aided by the acquisition of two more portable sanitation businesses. And the decisive McNamara says he expects further expansion and revenue growth.

The key to the company’s quick success? Great employees and a simple but effective business philosophy: Do what you say you’re going to do.

“We don’t mess around,” McNamara says when asked how he took a company from concept to corporation in just five months. “I thought I saw a good opportunity in the marketplace, and so far, it’s proven to be just that.

“Our motto is, ‘The difference is in the details,’ ” he continues. “Whether it’s delivery, service or professionalism, it’s all about how you treat people … that’s what forges relationships. If you say you’re going to do something, do it. If you can’t, don’t be in business.”

MAN WITH A PLAN

McNamara spent most of his career in heavy civil construction and residential development. Working in New England, where the construction season is short and lousy weather is a fact of life, taught him how to make things happen fast. He eventually went into semi-retirement as a real estate developer. But while building a home in early 2006, a brush with unresponsive portable restroom service spurred his second career.

“They never came when they said they would,” McNamara recalls. “I’d have to call them three or four times to get service. So I started thinking that if they have this much market share and provide this level of service, there’s definitely a niche to be exploited.”

McNamara started by doing research on the Internet to determine the level of competition. Then he learned about the Pumper & Cleaner Environmental Expo International —which by chance was being held the following weekend.

“I went to the show, which was a great experience,” he says. “I found out about all the players in the industry, and ended up ordering 120 restrooms.”

By March, NSC was incorporated. And by July, the company was up and running. Growth occurred quickly, thanks to McNamara’s widespread network of construction industry contacts.

Revenues quickly grew. “We’re probably four times bigger now than the year we started,” he says. McNamara says a fundamentally sound business plan was critical to the company’s fast growth. That included forecasting sales revenue and net-profit goals, and asking friends and business associates to “shoot holes” in his business premises.

“I’d recommend that anyone start with a sound business plan,” he notes. “You can’t run blind. You’ve got to have forecasts, then be sure you hit the numbers. It’s not easy, but if you stay focused on your plan — which is your road map to success — you’ll succeed.”

Currently, construction-related rentals generate about 75 percent of the company’s sales revenue; the remaining 25 percent comes from special events. McNamara says his business plan calls for a 70/30 split after five years, so the business is on track. “We have to rely mostly on construction because in this area, there are only so many special events,” he says.

Portable restrooms need to be secured for both high winds and from mischievous kids who think tipping over porta potties is a fun activity. Typically some sort of metal spikes or rebar are used to spike down the units however in the winter with frozen ground this is impossible, therefore, sandbags from your local hardware store are the best measure.

Many of our seasonal sports leagues, who are tired of the nuisance caused by kids that think tipping over units is a “fun” activity during the summer, will secure the portable toilet with a chain against a link fence. Usually this is done by municipal fields that have no shortage of kids looking for fun. When a restroom is tipped over, we do ask our customers to call us. We will then dispatch one of our trucks to clean up and possibly replace the unit.

In the winter months, high winds caused by winter storms do cause more problems for portable restrooms than throughout the rest of the year. If you have a portable restroom and you have not anchored the unit down with spikes yet, you may not be able to given the frozen ground, so your next solution is either sand bags or poly rope and cinder blocks.

However, we think that using sand bags is the easiest way to help prevent high wind tip over’s, but putting the unit in the right place, such as along a building or construction container will help as well. Please keep in mind however, for safety reasons; whatever is used to secure the units should not interfere with entry or exiting the unit

Long term construction projects offer many challenges to the foreman, and winter construction sites offer even greater challenges. Not the least of those challenges is portable restrooms for the workers on the site.  If you are starting a long-term construction project this winter, and plan to have a trailer on-site you will need a sanitation solution.

You can achieve this without running water lines and digging for a temporary septic tank. A Fresh Water Flushing Mobile Office System can be installed in just a few hours and they cut down on the traditional high costs of running lines and digging holes. The water supply is provided, along with the RV toilet and the waste tank. The system is easily installed and maintained weekly.

You can eliminate the expense of digging and running a temporary water service to the job trailer and there is no need for the temporary water line and large concrete waste tank. 

With mobile office trailer equipment, you can alleviate the stress of wasted materials, manpower, and the associated costs that go along with them. 

Not to mention the decrease of down time for your employees by having a restroom facility on-site. Decrease your loss time, costs and stress and increase your comfort and convenience with mobile office trailer restroom units.

There is so much road construction and bridge work being done these days in Massachusetts. NSC Restrooms is providing the portable restrooms for the road workers in many cities and towns around Boston. By having the portable restrooms in the construction zones on the roadways, the safety of the highway department employees is that much more ensured. NSC has been invited to be the provider of these portable toilets because of the safe way in which they transport, install and maintain their porta potties. With this in mind, NSC restrooms would like to remind you to drive safely on the roadways while winter driving, and especially in areas of road and bridge construction.

Black Friday is the traditional “kick off” for the holiday shopping season. Not only is the holiday season fast approaching so is winter and the inclement weather. Snow, sleet, and icy conditions will add to an already hectic time of year for many. Combine long work hours, fewer daylight hours, add a snow storm, and you have the ingredients for increased stress and poor judgment in some cases when driving.
Please, remember to drive safely and consider the following when out and about this shopping season.

• Never tailgate a commercial vehicle. You must be able to see both side mirrors of all commercial vehicles, this ensure that the driver can see you.
• In stop and go traffic, commercial vehicles leave space between the vehicles in front of them. This space helps to compensate for the added weight with which these vehicles operate. Compared to the average automobile, large commercial vehicles require a significant amount of distance to stop. Resist the urge to cut in front of these rigs and especially in poor road conditions.
• And lastly, please obey the reduced speed limits in road construction zones. Remember all these road and bridge workers have families who want them home for the holidays.

Once again, the foliage throughout New England offers us a brilliant display of color. Our mornings are becoming crisp as the days get shorter and soon the daily temperatures will drop and the holiday season will arrive. This means freezing temperatures and winter weather are not far off. NSC wants you, our customers, to know that we will be adding a brine solution to our office trailer equipment and portable restroom units this November to prevent freeze-ups of our units. We will keep this solution in our units throughout the winter season.

Freezing temperatures during the winter can present unique conditions on your construction site where employee safety needs to be at the forefront of project management. Also, at Christmas tree u-pick farms where employee and customer safety and comfort are essential, the winter can pose challenges. As always anything you can do to ensure that your employees and customers have safe access to portable restrooms while reducing slip and fall conditions are greatly appreciated all the way around. At NSC your safety and comfort are always on our minds.

The Mobile restrooms offered by NSC restrooms are great enough for Governor Patrick.

Governor Patrick, Senator Kerry and Congressman Delahunt went to Weymouth, MA this past July to break ground on the long awaited East-West Parkway and NSC restrooms joined them there. This parkway will link the regional highway with the commuter rail system in Weymouth.

The groundbreaking marked the beginning of phase I of construction on the parkway. This is a significant infrastructure project which is geared to the redevelopment of the South Weymouth Naval Station. With a project this large and hopes of a great economic impact, the organizers of the Southfield project saw fit to use NSC restrooms for this $30 million project. NSC offers portable restrooms, flushable units, restroom trailers and units for construction sites. When you need to make a great impression, whether it be on state officials, guests, clients or employees, call NSC restrooms.

Construction

Construction sites are certainly a treacherous place to work. All of us at Northeast sanitation came from the construction industry. In fact we have over 40 years of experience in construction. We were very frustrated with the quality and level of service from the portable restroom and sanitation companies out there, so we decided to do something about it. We started Northeast Sanitation. Our construction background gives us the knowledge and expertise to be able to service your construction site. We have a full compliment of products for the construction site, ranging from portable restrooms to water delivery systems and portable sinks. Additionally, we have everything you need for high-rise construction as well, including the NSC indoors which is a smaller, wheel based unit, as well as lift kits for standard sized units. We know that the last thing you need is workers that have to come down off the job site. NSC can not only help you with a safe and sanitary site for your employees, we can help you increase their productivity. In most cases, same day delivery is available.