Often the best career options come from unexpected places. Although many people try to avoid portable toilets as much as possible, these facilities are absolutely essential for keeping public areas clean and safe. Porta potty cleaners perform a necessary role in providing sanitation services. It may be a dirty job, but the career path is filled with opportunities for people who work hard and don't mind the mess.
How Much Do Porta Potty Cleaners Make?
Porta potty cleaner pay varies widely based on location, experience, and whether you work for an employer or run your own business:
- Entry-level roles are typically paid hourly and fall in line with general janitorial and sanitation pay scales for your area.
- Experienced cleaners and route drivers with a CDL often earn meaningfully more than entry-level pay.
- Self-employed operators running their own porta potty service businesses can scale their earnings well beyond either of the above. Your income tracks the size of your customer base, not an hourly rate.
The biggest driver of pay in this field is whether you're working for someone else or building your own business. The career path skews toward the latter for higher earners.
Porta Potty Career Outlook
Porta potty cleaning falls under the janitorial and sanitation category that the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks under building and grounds cleaning occupations. Demand for the work is steady, and qualified, interested workers can be hard to find, which creates real opportunity for anyone willing to take it on.
Since self-employment offers more control over income and hours, the best earning opportunities tend to go to small business owners who provide porta potty cleaning services rather than hourly employees.
Finding a Portable Toilet Cleaning Job
Generally speaking, employers struggle to find interested candidates. You may not have much difficulty at all finding a portable toilet cleaning job.
To locate a new job, ask around. Make a list of local and regional porta potty service businesses and let them know you're looking for work. If possible, spend some time learning about the job and what employers in your area look for.
These skills are usually important to hiring managers:
- Interest and work ethic: This is a dirty job. In some areas, turnover is high and it can be challenging to fill open positions. Your own interest is a significant factor. You'll typically service many units in a day, so you'll often have to settle in and go for the long haul.
- Sanitation knowledge and standards: You must be able to maintain high sanitation standards when you clean. Sewage has specific laws and guidelines for management. Follow them carefully and know how your area deals with and disposes waste.
- Commercial driving: If you'll drive a pump truck, you'll also need commercial driving skills and probably a commercial drivers' license.
If you do choose to start your own business, you'll need other skills, too.
Starting a Porta Potty Business
Feel like jumping in the deep end? Starting a new portable toilet business might make sense for you. There's a real opportunity to stand out and set yourself apart with great service and a clean reputation. You can get started with the right equipment and background. Consider developing your new business by:
- Checking out licensing: Some states and localities demand that portable restroom cleaners get specific licenses from the local public health or environmental health board before providing cleaning service or driving public restroom facilities to their new locations. Since workers in this field spend time around hazardous contents and may have to respond to spills or even overturned porta potties, cleaning technicians must remain prepared to safely manage human waste. Licensing requirements ensure that you understand how to safely do this work.
- Learning more about local sewage facilities: Of course, after pumping sewage from a portable restroom, you do need to dispose of that waste properly. You can do this at a local sewage treatment facility. As you plan your business, think about where these places are located and how they accept refuse from businesses like yours.
- Buying or renting equipment: Some equipment you should probably own, like a truck or the porta potties you'll typically rent to your customers. Other equipment you may not use everyday, but you'll probably need at some point. Think beyond the blue, bucket-like outhouse we all know and love. Did you know there are luxury porta potty trailers with granite countertops and even fireplaces? You may have corporate or event customers willing to pay more to have these brought on site and serviced. Concerts and campsites may want a unit with showers, too. If you want to stand out, you could specialize in niche portable restroom needs and emphasize the cleanliness and luxury that gets customers to pay up.
- Training: To get the training you need, follow the guidance provided by the manufacturer of the units you service. Generally, you'll need standard training in operating a pump truck and cleaning vacuum. You may learn this on the job or go through specific training provided by the licensing authority granting your license.
Depending on other decisions you make with your new business, you may need other skills as well. Many portable restroom cleaning companies hire additional workers, for instance, so you'll probably need hiring and management skills.
Make the Modern Outhouse Pay
For the right person, porta potties represent a solid career choice. Providing the necessities we all require can make you a great living if you know how to offer great service and account for your customers' needs. If you decide to start your own porta potty operation, the right software is what separates a side hustle from a real business, and a tool built for septic and sanitation businesses keeps routing, billing, and customer history under control as you grow.
Smart Service for Sanitation Services
If you run a sanitation business, or plan to one day, and want a software stack that handles scheduling, dispatch, customer history, mobile invoicing, and recurring service contracts, Smart Service integrates with QuickBooks Desktop and QuickBooks Online and iFleet keeps techs in the field synced with the office. Try a free demo to see how it fits!
