Northeast Sanitation Blog

Just because the weather is changing and getting colder, portable toilets are still a viable option for those who need restrooms on outdoor jobsites and farm stands in and around Boston.

NSC Restrooms adds a brine solution to office trailer equipment and every porta potty in the winter to prevent freeze-ups of all of our portable toilets for rent. This brine solution can be safely disposed of in treatment facilities and can be used all winter long to maintain the perfect functioning of your portable toilets and porta potty.

You may think that your outdoor construction site is an unreasonable place for portable toilets in the winter, not with NSC Restrooms.  At outdoor year round farm stands and tree farms, we have place portable restroom facilities, employee and customer comfort are top of mind year round.
 
This brine solution ensures that your employees and customers have  access to portable restrooms even in the winter.
 
NSC Restrooms always has the customer and end user in mind, contact us.

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.

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.

Can I rent a portable restroom for just one day?
Absolutely. Our special event restroom trailers and individual units can be rented by the day or for weekend rentals. We also rent units monthly.

Will the portable restroom be clean for my event?
Yes they will. NSC Restrooms take pride in the condition of our portable restrooms.

Where will you place my portable toilet?
We will place them per your instruction, however, we may have to relocate them for servicing and will make suggestions to you to ensure your guests/employees and our service people can safely access the restroom.

How far in advance do I need to reserve a portable toilet?
During peak times, we can possibly sell out, so as much lead time as you can give us. But as a minimum, we would like to have 48 hours notice and we can have your restroom delivered. For large special events or large construction projects, a week or more lead time is appreciated and advisable.

Where does the waste go after it has been pumped?
The waste water is taken to local waste water facilities and disposed of according to the regulations required by the facilities.

Am I required to have porta potties on my job site?
Most town and city ordinances spell out the requirements for portable restrooms on a job site. Town Inspectors will often require that the portable toilet is either ordered or has arrived on the site before approving the inspection.

What is the frequency of service on my portable toilet?
We service our portable restrooms once a week in order to keep them safe, clean, sanitized and stocked with supplies. If needed, we can supply service more often.

Does a portable restroom on my construction job site really cut down on expenses and time?
By supplying a portable restroom on your job site you cut down on the amount of time your employees are searching for and traveling to an alternate facility.

The following chart has been supplied by PSAI (portable sanitation association international). The annual cost of 10 minutes of wasted toilet time per employee, per day:

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.

Working on the job site in winter can be very difficult as the temperatures drop and things begin to freeze. In New England, conditions on long term construction sites throughout the winter can be hazardous enough. But when your workers want to take a break, their down time should not be hazardous as well. NSC Restrooms uses a brine solution in the tanks of your sites portable toilets and we also put salt in the portable urinals to help prevent freezing up. We know that injuries on the job and employee loss time can cost you quite a bit of money.

There are a few safety tips in regards to portable restrooms we would like to bring to mind as the snow piles up. Please remember to remove the ice and snow from in front of the porta potties, prior to snow storms make sure the path to the portable toilet is free and clear of debris that could trip or injure workers. But most importantly, DO NOT place gas or electric heaters inside the portable restroom units. The heat generated can melt the plastic and in worse cases start a fire. These safety tips can help you prevent serious injuries this winter.

At NSC, our experience in the construction industry has helped us develop our product line and safety practices. For your construction site, we can offer you wheel based units, lift kits and office trailer equipment. All of these products can increase your employee productivity; add our brine solution, salt and safety tips and you can have a much more productive and safe
winter construction site.

Hopefully, the recent news report of the collapse of the stadium dome where the Minnesota Vikings play will not be a sign of more disastrous things to come this winter. With the official start of winter a week away the collapse of the stadium roof reminds us how important being prepared for major storms can be. NSC Restrooms is located in beautiful Massachusetts and our neighbors in the Midwest know all too well just how quickly a small storm can escalate to hazardous conditions. The best we can do is take steps ahead of time to be ready at home, at work, and on the road. By now most of us should know the check list by heart. Did we change the batteries in the fire/smoke alarms? Do we have flash lights and candles and are the batteries for the house or car flashlights good? These are the things we can control. What about those we cannot?

Hopefully the snow that is surely on its way this winter will not bring down our roofs or freeze our pipes. However, in the event that we are met with our own natural disaster, keep in mind that NSC Restrooms can respond quickly to provide toilets to your family or facility. There is nothing worse than frozen pipes in your home or work, but if you are faced with this scenario this winter, keep NSC Restrooms in mind. With hundreds of portable toilets and restroom trailers available, and a speedy response time, NSC can make even natural disasters less disastrous.

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.