“We’re here to help.” That’s the utterly unassuming slogan in the header of our Spotlight business’s home page. Adding to its humble, kindly message is the cute logo of a competent and congenial cartoon man hoisting a vintage porta-potty onto his back. The whole initial impression is objectively adorable. Simple, endearing logo, catchy slogan. Makes you want to believe. Further, talking with Dan Smart, Owner, Pete’s Toilet Rentals, LLC, in Brentwood, NH, is an entirely genuine and heartening experience.
When we were seeking an example of business excellence in the industry to feature in this Spotlight article, we were pretty excited by the charming images we had seen of the company’s child-sized porta-potties. Along with Dan’s welcoming demeanor, we were quickly compelled by this company’s unique style.
Choosing New Hampshire
It’s worth a moment to note that if you’ve not yet taken the drive through the White Mountains, you really ought to add it to your bucket list. The splendor and serenity and unexpectedly cozy sensation of meandering through the national forest blanketing the range (especially with the fall colors) inspires a sense that you’ve found the best of North American environmental purity. And, it’s somehow in the reaches of the industrial northeast.
South of the mountains is Brentwood, the home of Dan Smart’s business, only 19 miles from the Atlantic Ocean and the beach. The whole state is so picturesque, it can be emotionally moving. There seems to be something special to appreciate about business owners who choose to live and work in this sort of storybook environment.
Here, we are fortunate to have Dan talk with us about his business and his way of managing it, and his role in the community:
Becoming the Owner of Pete’s Toilet Rentals, LLC
The previous owner of Pete’s started the business in 1986. I came into the industry straight out of high school and started working for him. That was in 1991. I started out pumping septic tanks. Working for a septic service was a good, steady job. I didn’t think about the possibility of owning the company one day.
I didn’t do a lot with the portable toilets at that point. I pushed Pete to do more business in that area. It took off, got bigger, and we started hiring more drivers. Through the years, we had talked about the idea of me buying the company from him, and in 2016, I bought it.
Pete’s Toilet Rentals Today
Our service area is most of southern New Hampshire, and southern coastal Maine and inland towns near the New Hampshire border, and in Massachusetts, northern coastal and inland towns near NH. We provide our customers with reliable service and eco-friendly toilet rental solutions.
Our priorities are quality, customer satisfaction, and meeting our own environmental responsibility. We stay current on industry equipment and service innovations to deliver the best available products to our customers.
We service construction projects, weddings, local public events like festivals, sports events, and countless other short-term and long-term needs. Our business is mostly construction sites. We don’t focus as much on events. There are so many companies out there providing that service, and they do it for such cheap money. The drivers are often out at those sites very late (like at 2:00 in the morning). So, we do some special events, mostly VIP events, but we are selective about it.
Child-Sized Porta Potties – Exciting Innovation at Pete’s
The child-sized porta-potties have become very popular for all kinds of events. We started with just 2 child-sized porta-potties. They were actually produced as custom units for a “midget wrestling” event. But, before they even got used for that, the daycare facilities went crazy for them. So, now we have 8 units.
We get them in blue for the boys and pink for the girls. Just this year, they’ve been used for weekend events, summer camp, daycare, kids’ parties, and other activities, and the YMCA uses them by the pool.
[The images of the child-sized porta-potties is the first thing that caught our attention about Pete’s. It makes sense that they’ve become a big hit in the area. They’re so clever — and necessary! Children naturally need child-sized portable facilities.
We believe that Dan Smart’s wide use of this exceptional rental product line has well proven the concept and introduces an important new service in NH that is sure to sweep the industry once other providers become aware of it.]
Pete’s Toilet Rentals, LLC Business Model
We offer standard porta-potty units, kid-friendly porta-potties, handicap-accessible toilets, flushable portable toilets, and portable toilets with sinks. We have about 800 to 900 porta potties right now.
We have 9 trucks. About 6 of those are for servicing toilets. I keep older trucks for spares. We have 5 drivers, plus me. We have 2 people in the office. I bounce around as more of a fill-in guy between the office and driving. I manage quality, and our lead driver, Scott, does quality checks too. He’s also the shop manager and does training. He’s kind of like my manager. I did all the training, and now he does that. He’s very thorough.
Our service is for customers with construction sites, special events, like weddings, school sports activities, and many other needs. We provide professional support for customers throughout the process of renting and using our rental toilets. And, we like to stay up to date on equipment innovations to provide the best possible experience for our customers with our brand.
We use Best Enterprises for all our truck builds. They are outstanding to work with, and everything in our porta-potty inventory is from PolyJohn, except the kids’ units. Those are from tuff-jon. The only other brands we may have a few of come with other businesses we’ve bought. PolyJohn has been so reliable for us. Pete got the first one from PolyJohn, probably back in 1986. Some units we still have are probably over 30 years old, and we use them every day. The PolyJohn quality is amazing, and their sales reps are great to work with.
Dan Smart’s Team – Unique Dynamics
Our business is really a team of family and friends. My son, Jackson, works for me as a driver, and his wife was a driver, but they have a child now. We have another talented female driver named Jess. My cousin works here, and his friend works here. My friend, a Marine with 2 purple hearts, works here, and my best friend is our Shop Manager.
Since I took over the business from Pete, our longest-term employee has been Chris. He’s been with us for 8 years, and our lead driver, Scott, has been with us for 5 or 6 years. My son is 23 years old, and he’s been working with me since he was 18, so about 5 years.
[Between Dan and his son, Jackson, the leadership team has over 4 decades of combined experience in the industry.]
Smart’s Marketing and Branding
We’re always on the lookout for new opportunities and plan to continue expanding the company. We’ve got our website and Facebook page, and we’ve made it on the news and had a couple of articles written about us. And, we’ve built a reputation on providing immaculate rental toilets and great service. That has helped us grow through a lot of positive word of mouth.
We don’t want our brand to be known as the cheapest. So, we price our services at fair rates, and that helps us be recognized for that. A major challenge has been people realizing what a good industry it is to get into, that there’s a lot of money to be made. Big companies are trying to get control of the market by undercutting prices.
Sometimes we lose customers because it doesn’t make sense to work without making any money for it. But sometimes they come back when they see how poor the service is when they pay too little for it.
A Habit of Community Support
Dan and his team have sponsored a number of charitable events for the community over the years. For example, both Channel 9 News and the Union Leader, a local newspaper, covered the story of Dan’s outreach activity during COVID-19 to help senior citizens get scarce resources during the period when consumer prices started skyrocketing.
He explained, during COVID, I didn’t want to raise our prices, so we kept them all the same. Fortunately, although a lot of events were canceled, we still stayed busy with school, sports events, construction, and other sanitation needs. But there was a lot of price gouging all around us, including by a lot of big box companies that were doing it.
Because of that, a lot of people, especially many elderly people, couldn’t afford essential things, like toilet paper. Because people were buying cartloads of it, the toilet paper aisles were empty. So, I took a truckload of it to a local shopping plaza parking lot with a sign offering it free to seniors and just gave away toilet paper. Other people were inspired by that, and some came over and donated hand sanitizer, Lysol, and other increasingly hard-to-get items for me to give away.
[Around 40 seniors picked up free toilet paper from Dan that day. Since it was such a success, he planned the same giveaway for another day at a different location.]
Advice for New Business Owners from Dan Smart, Owner, Pete’s Toilet Rentals, New Hampshire
Diversity is very important as far as the customer base. Whether you’re providing service for security, government jobs, weekend events, construction sites, school sports, town parks, or other needs, it’s good for your business. Your ad with your name is right there. As the economy shifts, you’ve got the benefit of serving a lot of different purposes, not just one or two.
Also, there’s no point in working for free. A good price is better for your business than a low-ball price. Just charge reasonably and give good service. That way, you’re working less for more. And, it means you’ll be able to afford nicer equipment, which impresses people, and that’s good for your company’s future. So, my best advice is just to stick with giving good service, committing to cleanliness, and being reliable.
On Pete’s Toilet Rentals, LLC and Leadership
When we discovered the child-sized porta potties, the great website, and the charitable business leader, we zeroed in on Pete’s Toilet Rentals LLC for the Spotlight feature article and wanted to meet the business owner. When we talked with Dan Smart, we learned that he clearly exemplifies the kind of entrepreneur who makes unique decisions that can shake up an industry in the best way. From his direct personal approach to helping his community to the company team of family and friends, to the brilliant concept of child-sized toilets, he’s an undeniably different kind of business leader.
With Dan Smart’s growth plans for Pete’s Toilet Rentals, it’s refreshing to think about the kind of company service culture he is developing and how that can potentially elevate the industry in its regional sphere and beyond. We certainly look forward to following the progress of this great New England business through the years to come.
For information about Pete’s Toilet Rentals, Brentwood, New Hampshire, you can call (603) 389-7394 or visit https://www.petestoiletrentals.com.