In the world of portable restroom rental products, from no-frills basic porta potties to multi-unit high-end executive restroom trailers, there are a few especially memorable services in the United States. The Lavish Loo in Colorado is one of those. The company, its leadership, product concept, service model, growth strategy, internal culture, and even its unique name have a way of sticking with you. Due to the business’s growth plans and trajectory, it stands out nationally as one to watch. As such, ALW recently checked in with Brad Simpson, Owner of The Lavish Loo, now five years after our original interview to talk about the business’s growth in recent years.
The conversation went like this: ALW: Have you guys made your move into the Arizona market yet? Brad: We did, but we still don’t have a big presence there. We just got so big in Colorado that we have not yet turned our focus more on Arizona. Of course, few things can inspire an ALW interviewer like such a spectacular entrepreneurial success story in the industry. So, we were eager for details, and Brad gave us an exciting status update on what The Lavish Loo organization has accomplished over the years since our last talk.
Pre-Lavish Loo and Business Launch
For a little background, Brad had gotten his BA with a major in Psychology and then earned his Master’s Degree in Information Systems. He went on to work in IT, but he had always had an entrepreneurial drive. The Simpsons had long recognized a need for more temporary outdoor restroom facilities to serve the countless outdoor events in Colorado and decided to get into the luxury restroom business. So, The Lavish Loo was created and pretty quickly started building a customer base.
When we met Brad back in 2019, he had just bought out his partner in the business, hired a couple of new seasonal employees, and was planning the move into the Arizona market. Brad’s wife, Kim, a Colorado real estate professional, has helped a lot in building The Lavish Loo’s success.
She has pitched in to do anything needed to move the company forward, from driving huge trailer trucks and positioning the units ideally on customers’ properties to dealing with anxious customers and building the company’s trusted brand.
In 2019, the company had already acquired trucks and 10 multi-unit portable luxury restroom trailers, including two new units, because they were almost always booked up on weekends during the warm seasons and were booking up earlier and earlier in the season from year to year. Then, they found that their busy rental season was continuing even into October.
From Seasonal to Year-Round Business
Brad reflects on the company’s history of growth. From the outset, it was clear that the demand was seasonal, running from May through September. But, we’ve turned into almost a year-round business.
With western trailers and a lot of outdoor events, in the last three years, we’ve taken on more year-round jobs. Like one in Denver that is indoors for several months at an art show. Or, one in Boulder rented for several months to accommodate a movie crew making a film there and in the Hopper Mountains. What had started as a 6 to 7-month rental season has now become busy all year long, with a lot of repeat year-round customers.
So, we now have a General Manager, Chris Russell, who runs the day-to-day operations. This is his third year working with me. He is originally from Georgia. People love him. Anytime he’s involved, everyone is exceptionally satisfied. He’s a problem solver. Anything that could go wrong, he can fix it. For just one example, our trailers arrived at a customer’s site and were higher than the doors of the venue, which were lower than the specs we had received. So, Chris took all the tires and wheels off. It was an 8-hour job that saved a $70k account.
Growth of The Lavish Loo – 2019 to 2024
Since 2019, Brad has diversified. Today, in addition to standard luxury rental restroom units, The Lavish Loo also provides ADA units, handwashing stations, and just about anything customers ask for. He says the calls for those have continued to be very frequent since COVID.
He looks at the company’s progress over the years. When we first started, we had a few units. Now we have 17 restroom trailers, 2 shower trailers, a combined trailer, 8-10 porta potties, and 3 handwashing stations. Through the early years, we didn’t even have a building. We just had some storage and a little outside space to work (10 RV parking spaces). Everything was done outdoors. Now we have a 5,000 ft workplace.
We’ve always been in the Aspen area and Carbondale. Now we’re seeing more and more business in that area. It’s where we made our name, and now we have a satellite business up there. We’re going to Telluride and pretty much all over the state now. We also serve other areas of Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Nebraska, Arizona, and New Mexico.
The organic growth of The Lavish Loo throughout the state of Colorado and areas of adjacent states has been increasingly from word-of-mouth marketing — complements of satisfied customers. The company’s beautiful website further enhances its online reputation and facilitates its interstate rental sales program.
The Lavish Loo name is now trademarked. So, the company can move into other states with confidence in the business’s ownership of its attention-getting name.
Long-Term Strategic Growth Planning
Brad Simpson adroitly modified his long-range growth plan with the flexibility of the most agile US corporate planner. He has accurately read the signals from the Colorado market reaction to the real-time trajectory of his enterprise. Based on the positive indicators, he opted to continue base building in the Colorado market around him, vs. prematurely pivoting to turn his attention toward moving into the more remote desert market to the south.
His adaptive strategy has been to continue his company’s aggressive growth in Colorado and replicate that growth model later in Arizona. In the meantime, he has expanded the Colorado operations to three more inventory service points in Denver and two more in the mountains, including a new fully equipped satellite distribution location near Aspen. He has also developed many key connections for market entry into Farmington and Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The plan for next year is for a lot of growth. We want to almost double our plastics (handwashing stations, etc.), add 6 trailers, and two more trucks. And, we want to bring on 3 more employees. We want to stay true to The Lavish Loo business we’ve built, but we want to go further into construction and residential services.
How Lavish is The Lavish Loo Product?
In our initial talk with Brad he had created and realized one of Denver metro’s most innovative concepts of portable restroom accommodations. These portables are not typical high-end restroom trailers. They excel over many attractive residential building bathrooms for style and comfort.
One of the many luxurious features of restrooms from The Lavish Loo is that they are entirely winterized, including heated tanks to prevent freezing and keep the interiors warm for guests.
Further, The Lavish Loo goes the extra distance, leading the local competitive market far beyond the immaculate cleanliness customers have come to expect in luxury rental restrooms, and even beyond the very high caliber of customer service that has also become the industry standard among the top-quality vendors. The Lavish Loo leads in luxuriousness as well.
So, that’s the competitive quality position from which Brad Simpson started and continues to grow his Colorado portable restroom rental business.
Truly Lavish Service Model
What has made his company stand out from the crowd even more is that the service model is also unusual for a rental restroom provider. We cater to whatever a client needs or wants for their event. If they need a generator, water tank, special flowers, decorative items, music, Bluetooth, etc. They may want attendant service during their event. Or, if they need something that they can’t find anyone to provide, we will do anything we can to help get it for them.
That kind of inclusive service has worked extraordinarily well for the company. Brad gets many calls and emails every day asking for bids. In some cases, people contact him as early as two years in advance of their events. He gets calls for everything from individuals planning small casual events to major corporations like McDonald’s.
Employee Development at The Lavish Loo
In 2019, Brad emphasized that the people who work for him really work with him. He wants people to have the best possible employee experience. So, the company pays very well and strives to create a workplace culture that talented people will want to work in.
Brad and Kim Simpson have two sons, 21 and 18 years old. Both boys have helped in the business during the summer. The 18-year-old is in Durango finishing high school. Asked if there are plans to bring either of the two younger Simpsons on board for summer jobs or even apprenticeship opportunities, Brad said his youngest son has expressed strong interest in taking over management of the business eventually.
He sees that potential development as an opportunity for his son in a business career and for the company to service Durango, Telluride, and other submarkets and more expeditiously make a robust entry into New Mexico. Brad says simply, “That’s next.”
He has found more practical appeal in targeting the primary population centers in New Mexico with his expansion model at this stage than in mapping it onto sprawling metro Phoenix.
Tips for Success in the Industry from Brad Simpson, The Lavish Loo, Denver CO
Over these past five years since our original interview with Brad Simpson, he has stuck to the plan he outlined for us in 2019 and has stuck to his expressed business principles as well. He’s run his own race. In 2019, Brad said he wanted “to do everything correctly and not move too fast.” Because he understood that delivering quality products and services consistently is much about maintaining prompt response time, putting customers first, and, above all, keeping your word. "If you tell somebody you’re going to do something, do it.” His advice then and now, “It’s about dedication. You have to be 100% into the business.”