What should I check before buying a portable toilet rental business?

A portable toilet business earns from units placed on sites and from the service visits that keep them clean. The units are the visible part. The routes, the trucks and the place where waste is unloaded are what make the business work from day to day. A buyer who looks only at the inventory may miss the parts that depend most on the current owner.

Units and trucks

Ask for a count of units by type, along with their age and condition. Standard units, accessible units and hand-wash stations may be used and priced differently, so ask how each is used. Then look at the service trucks. Ask how old they are, how they have held up and what repairs are due. One truck failing during a busy week can stop the whole operation, so ask what backup the owner has.

Routes and customer mix

Ask how many service routes run each week, who drives them and how they are scheduled. Then ask how revenue divides among construction sites, events and seasonal placements. Construction customers may keep units for months. Event work is concentrated in a few busy weeks. Seasonal placements follow the weather. A mix that leans heavily on one of these tells you how steady the income is likely to be.

Where the waste goes

Every service visit ends at an unloading site. Ask where the business unloads, on what terms, and whether that arrangement is held in the seller’s name or the company’s. If it belongs to the seller, ask whether it can be passed to you. Ask your lawyer whether the seller’s permits and haulage licences can move across in a sale.