Pit Stop is a well-established Atlanta institution in portable restroom rental services. The company has served every need from public events to construction site services throughout the metro area for over 30 years. About 20 years ago, Brett Roques, Owner, Pit Stop Sanitation company, was a kid who came to work in the office for a week or so when Pit Stop was a budding service business. Today, under Roques leadership, the enterprise has more than doubled the size of its team, unit inventory, and service vehicle fleet.
Back when Roques came in to do that temporary admin support work, he was a student studying for an exam called Charter Financial Analysis. During that week, he helped at Pit Stop with typical entry-level bookkeeping, like reconciling bank statements and other general office tasks. As it turned out, that was his introduction to the bustling, highly competitive industry in which he would ultimately build his highly successful entrepreneurial career.
Bret, still young today, the owner of a thriving company (at just 38 years old) recalls the history: I ended up working for the previous owners for about 5 years. I don’t think I truly understood what could lie ahead. I’m still super close with the previous owners. I remember the first months and years. They were paying a lot of bills, big bills, every month. That was eye-opening for me at that age. I learned about the industry and about small business management. By the time it became an option for me, I felt comfortable enough to purchase the business and run it myself, and the previous owners felt comfortable that I could do it. So, the business kinda found me.
Pit Stop Sanitation Today
Our service area covers about a 50-mile radius. We have about 15 service technicians. That number has doubled from around 8 since 1995. I’ve been at it for about 7 1/2 years. We have about 4 people working in the office, mostly fielding incoming calls, dispatching, getting people to the right places, providing quotes, etc. For bigger events or complications, the calls typically go to Amanda, my wife. She runs the office.
We have about 3,500 porta potty units. We’ve been cycling through them. We’ve bought a lot and sold a lot. The previous owners had about 2,000 units. We’ve replaced a lot of those. Right now, we run 20 service trucks, plus two regular flat beds, and 3 slide-in tanks. We have new trailer units with multiple stalls, and we also have a bunch of older trailer units. We’re updating those.
Pit Stop Sanitation Quality Portable Toilet and Sink Units
We get a lot of our porta potty inventory and sinks from Armal. We like their products and have been buying more of them. The quality of their stand-alone toilet units and sinks is excellent. They compare very well with other sanitation rental products we’ve used. And, through acquisitions of products I had seen the previous owners make over the years, I knew that they were clearly happy with the way the Armal units hold up over time.
Asked about the number of unique, exotically decorated units displayed on the Pit Stop website, Brett explains, they’re hand-painted by local high school students. We have ten of those. We do rent them. Some of the arts festival organizers really like them. For example, a couple of businesses participating sometimes hold a drawing, and the winner gets their own phone booth porta potty.
We got the idea for the assorted bright solid-colored units, also portrayed on the website, from the previous owners. I wanted to bring that idea back, so we have about 30 of each color that look good with our logo sticker. We use them to try to match environments or themes, where it’s fitting, for our customers.
The big trailer displayed on the products page of our website is a 10-stall restroom trailer with a big screen TV on the side. So, people can rent that, and a lot of things are covered by it in the backyard for big events, like football games, etc. You can park it in the cul-de-sac and have a big party.
Marketing for Pit Stop Sanitation, Atlanta GA
Our new rental sales are mostly from word-of-mouth, and we have the website, which is an important tool for us. As people are shopping around to see what is available, depending on what their needs are, they look online. We do get quite a bit of activity on the website. For example, Sunday afternoons are popular for people filling out the quote request form online. We may get 7 to 8 of those forms filled out on a Sunday.
People may be planning something, like a wedding, six months in advance. Or, they may be thinking about their scheduling for next week and realize they didn’t arrange for a restroom for a group at a work site. We can respond to provide next-day delivery.
Brett Roques Growth Goals and Plans for Pit Stop
I’m willing to adjust to economic factors, to things going on in the world, and to things going on with my family, young kids, and with me, etc. I’m comfortable being at the level of growth the business is in right now. I’m not going to sign up for some explosive growth stage right now.
We’ve grown the business a lot. We’re happy with the company size that we have. We’re happy with the team we have. I don’t think we’re in it to force an aggressive growth rate. We do a lot of special events. In the Atlanta market, there is a lot of work in the movie industry for us, and in construction, etc. There’s a lot of opportunity to build on by just staying the course we’re on and always getting better at the process of serving our customers.
Advice for Industry Newcomers from Brett Roques, Owner, Pit Stop Sanitation, Atlanta GA
The main lesson I think I’d share with people looking to start in this business is that it’s a lot harder than they may think it is. For just one example, your employees really are the backbone of the business. But, they have their own lives with families, including kids and parents, and challenges. They’re all doing everything they have to juggle the work and personal sides of their commitments. So, the company has to make sure it’s set up to support them through their life events.
When you put together a business plan, it’s easy to move numbers around and shake things up on paper and think very critically about it. But, it’s hard to think through the countless possibilities of things they may have going on in their lives. So, the question becomes about how you should prepare to stand behind people during personal issues while preventing impacts on your business.
In other examples, things go wrong with trucks, equipment, etc., and you have to think in advance about how you and your team will respond resiliently to overcome those obstacles and maintain consistent service quality. It’s about how you’re going to respond to opportunities as well as adverse situations. For example, if you just charge a customer a lot, you may get that check one time, but if you prioritize being helpful and fair, then you have an opportunity to earn a lifetime customer.
You’ll need to think through circumstances as they present themselves, make sure you have a good team behind you of people who are willing to prioritize helping customers and their teammates over their own convenience throughout their work day. It’s easy for people to say, “I’ll take care of you, during an interview, but when it’s time to really do that, you want people with you who will follow through.”
For information about Pit Stop Sanitation, Atlanta GA, call (770) 439-2888, or visit pitstopsanitation.com.