The Eight Questions to Ask Before You Book a Porta Potty

Almost nobody in this trade publishes a rate, so every booking starts with a phone call, and two quotes for the same event routinely differ on things nobody mentioned. These are the eight questions that make the numbers comparable, with what our reading of independent operator websites says a normal answer looks like.

1. How many units, for how many people, for how long?

The starting point most of the industry works from is one standard unit per 50 guests for a four-hour event, from the ANSI/PSAI Z4.3 guidance, with more added for longer days and where alcohol is served. On a construction site the reference is OSHA 1926.51, roughly one unit per 20 workers. Work out your number.

2. Is an accessible unit included?

Ask early, because it is the answer most likely to be no. Only 55% of the independent operators we read name an ADA unit on their own website, and a public event that provides restrooms is generally expected to provide an accessible one. An ADA unit is also physically larger, so it changes the placement plan. What an accessible unit is.

3. How often is it serviced, and is that in the price?

Weekly pumping is the usual default on a long rental. For a busy two-day event that is not enough, and a mid-event service is a separate line nobody quotes unless asked. Get the interval and the cost of an extra visit in the same sentence. How servicing works.

4. What is the delivery and collection charge?

This is the single biggest reason a weekend rental can cost more than a month. One delivery and one collection is the same trip either way; spread over two days it is most of the bill, and spread over thirty it disappears into the monthly rate. Ask for it separately, then compare.

5. Is there a hand-wash station, and is it separate?

55% of operators we read name a hand-wash station. Food service at an event often makes one a requirement rather than a nicety, and it is nearly always priced on its own rather than bundled. Hand-wash stations.

6. Where exactly will it go, and can the truck reach it?

The unit has to be placed where a service truck can return to it, not just where it looks tidy. Soft ground, a gated field, a tight courtyard or a long carry all change what is possible and sometimes what it costs. Placement and access.

7. What happens if the event runs late, or the site floods?

Ask what a late collection costs and how much notice a change needs. Weekend events are the tightest scheduling in this trade, and the yard that can move a collection is worth more than the one that is twenty dollars cheaper.

8. Are you the company that will actually deliver it?

Worth asking plainly. A large share of the search results in this trade are brokers who take the booking and sell it on to a local operator, which is fine until something needs fixing at seven in the morning and the number you have is a call centre. Every company on this site is an independent operator, which is the point of it.

Which two matter most

Two and four. Accessibility is the one that can stop an event being compliant, and the delivery charge is where most of the unexplained difference between two quotes is hiding. If you only ask two questions, ask those, then put them to the operators serving your town.

Figures on this page come from the Porta Potty Finder. How the data is collected.