It’s no secret that weddings are very expensive.  The Average wedding in Sonoma County costs $33,000 according to costofwedding.com  In this article I’ll explain how you why wedding supplies can seem very expensive and how you can trim some of  expenses and even improve the quality of the services you get.

First and foremost, wedding related services and supplies can seem pricey but if you really look into it the costs are actually quite reasonable.   Obviously wedding related supplies & services are very high quality and thus cost more to purchase or to render which is passed on to the client.  Another factor is that wedding supplies and services like tents, toilets, venues, DJ’s, photographers etc. mostly work a day or 2 a week, i.e. Friday & Saturday.  Thus their margins have to be higher so they can put food on the table.

In Sonoma, Napa & Marin counties high season for weddings is between May & September because these months are highly unlikely to get any rain. During these months vendors & venues are less likely to give discounts because their services are in high demand.  Last year Fancy Flush struggled to keep up with the demand for our luxury restroom trailers, sometimes we’d have a trailer turned around in an hour and other wedding rental agencies struggled with the demand as well.  Your best bet maybe to schedule a wedding outside of this period as some companies like mine have low season prices. 

If your committed to having a wedding between May & September consider having it on an “off” day, when wedding related services aren’t in such high demand.  Logically Saturday is an extremely busy day for weddings with Friday & Sunday in second and third place respectively.  You might be able to convince your friends and family to hold back a few vacation and/or sick days to take off for your big day.  During “off” days you can typically haggle a few bucks off your equipment & venue rentals too. 

Consider having a backyard wedding.  Even if you don’t have a large backyard you might know someone who does,  it be your boss, friend or family member you could save thousands on the cost of a venue.  Even if you don’t know someone you might get a great bargain if you solicit the help of a neighbor with a bit of land.  You might find they’re willing to rent out their land for a few days for a couple hundred dollars.   Just remember that you’ll need to budget for restrooms, tables, chairs & tents among other things.  Two popular choices for tents and wedding related supplies are “Party, Tents & Events” in Santa Rosa, and “Wine Country Party & Events” in Sonoma.

Attend an Expo.  There are Two lovely Wedding Expo’s in Sonoma County several times a year such as the Sonoma & Napa Wedding Show & The Wedding Expo.  At these expos vendors are much more likely to give you a discount or upgrade.  There’s also a chance you can win wedding services and equipment.   Most importantly there’s a wealth of information & ideas that you can implement at your wedding.

Lastly,  weddings can get very stressful, but being polite and nice can go a long way for some extra perks.  Though anyone who rents from me regardless of their demeanor will get the highest quality restroom out there, those who are nice and chatty might get my help setting up other wedding supplies or decorations while I’m there, some have even gotten a free upgrade (when available) due to their demeanor over the phone.   Just remember to pay it forward by rewarding good service with a review on Yelp, Google, or one of the wedding websites out there like theknot.com for example.

I’m Roman from Fancy Flush a luxury restroom rental only agency in Santa Rosa, CA with a few tips on how to properly maintain your fancy bathroom trailers.  

Internal Cleaning:

When we get a trailer back in its generally a good idea to start cleaning it immediately so that smells don’t get a chance to “soak in”.  We start by vacuuming all the dirt, loose paper and the rest with a small shop vac, then change out all paper products and take out the trash that is quite typical.  A few tricks we’ve learned is to use those 1 gallon spot sprayers you find from the hardware store, they work much better than a spray gun.  We load up some degreaser which does wonders for those stubborn spots under the toilet seat and on the door.  We also use pool chlorine and a water solution to another spray bottle which sanitizes the restroom and kill bad odors.  If we feel that the bathroom still smells a bit funky we’ll use J&J’s scent spray and do a quick pass on the floor with yet another spot sprayer.  The scent spray from J&J is a bit oily so it makes the floor shine and look like new. 

TIP: It’s a good idea to include a welcome mat (door mat) inside or at the beginning of the stairs to the bathroom trailer so that the guests don’t track in dirt, or keep the mat inside and in front of the doorway.

External Cleaning:

This can be quite a task as these flushing trailers are massive, but I highly recommend waxing the restroom trailer at least once per month so that the UV light and pollution doesn’t damage your gel coat and make your trailer dull and/or alter its color.   We sometimes will leave the wax on without buffing it out as an extra layer of protection in case the trailer is located in a “hostile environment”.  This will help prevent paint and markers from permanently marking your trailer.   Remember this is a very expensive piece of equipment and it needs to be treated with respect so that your trailer will not look aged and old in the years to come. 

Winter Maintenance:

Now that the busy season is over for most of the country, it’s time to put away your fleet for the winter.  There are two choices, use antifreeze in your lines or remove the water somehow.  If you’d like to remove the water there’s an easy way to do that, use an air chuck with about 40psi and blow the water out of your lines, just remember to keep the taps and toilets open when you do this so the water has somewhere to go.  If you use anti-freeze don’t get the car stuff, get the RV type for potable water, it’s pink in color.

When storing your luxury portable restroom trailer invest in an RV cover.  Whether your storing your trailers inside or outside it’s a good idea to buy an RV cover (they run about $200 for a decent one).  If your keeping your trailer outside you want to invest in a “water proof” version not a “water resistant” one as they’ll seep water under the cover that will cause mildew on your exterior surface.   $200 cover can extend the life of your exterior coating years and is a great investment, It’ll protect you against bird droppings, dust/dirt, UV damage, and a whole host of other environmental damages.

Roman S, Co-Owner
Fancy Flush
Santa Rosa, CA 95407
www.fancyflush.net

Renting Portable Restrooms For Your Backyard Wedding

Having a backyard wedding can be quite advantageous.   Your most likely using the property of a family member or friend and it’s also typically very budget friendly.  If you’re having a larger wedding 50+ guests your probably using a larger more rural setting somewhere in the country where you’re more likely to be on a septic system or simply have too few bathrooms for the amount of guests attending.  This is where renting a portable bathroom can be quite an advantageous convenience.

When choosing the right portable toilet or restroom trailer it’s important to remember how many people are attending and for how long.  All portable restrooms have a limit to the amount of waste they can handle and that will vary based on the amount of guests, the duration of their stay/your event, and if food or drink is served.  Ask your portable restroom rental agency which and how many restrooms are appropriate for your event.  Another deciding factor is if you, your guests or your neighbors would have a problem with a porta potty. 

Porta pottys tend to have a bad rap, they’re seen as gross, smelly disgusting things by a lot of people.  Some people will simply refuse to use one at all, others are simply uncomfortable with the claustrophobic 4x4ft enclosed plastic square.  They are cheap to rent however, they typically run for around $100 and for that they deliver the restroom, stock it with supplies, clean it and pick it up.  You probably couldn’t hire a house maid to come out and clean your bathroom for any less.  More over if your claustrophobic I suggest renting a handicapped accessible version, they’re huge and not much more expensive.  They’re typically large enough to be used as a changing room too.  If the thought of renting a porta-potty disgusts you then your next option is a flushing restroom. 

Flushing restrooms typically start with a “VIP Toilet” some of them are very similar in size to a portable toilet others are built into a VIP restroom trailer.  These units work more like an RV than a chemical toilet.  For one most don’t use chemicals at all, they flush the waste into a holding tank below.  They use battery and/or solar power and have a fresh water on tap and a mirror like a normal bathroom.  VIP toilets cost around 2-4x more than a porta potty and because of the flushing mechanism most of them have less capacity than a portable toilet at around 70 people vs 120 for a chemical toilet for .  VIP bathrooms vary in size depending on who you rent from, some can be larger than a porta potty, others are smaller.  You’ll find that the ones that look like airplane/bus bathrooms are quite claustrophobic inside.  For bathrooms with a bit more room inside that look like the bathrooms in your home you’ll need to go a step further and get a “restroom trailer”.

Portable restroom trailers are the crème de la crème of portable sanitation.   They’re large, comfortable and typically decorated like either a public bathroom, a bathroom in your home, or even to the standards of a 5 star hotel bathroom.  They typically have loads of room, most have air conditioning and have a large capacity too.  Your typical 2 stall portable restroom trailer can support 200-300 people for an 8 hour day, that’s a lot of people! Most are large enough inside to be used as changing rooms, and some have baby changing tables or enough counter space to act as one.  Most restroom trailers start with 2 stalls, a men’s stall and a women’s stall.  Some have 3 stalls, this is to help alleviate long wait times to the toilet and come with a 2 stalls for each sex and 1 stall that’s unisex.  Anything beyond that goes into the territory of large scale festivals which have several stalls per side and act more like a portable public bathroom.   Keep in mind that restroom trailers are quite large so make sure you have enough space in your backyard to fit one.  These portable executive bathrooms are expensive to buy and maintain so they command a much larger price tag to rent then a typical porta potty but for most, the special occasion warrants the extra expense.

Roman Schmidt, Co-Owner
Fancy Flush
Santa Rosa, CA
www.fancyflush.net

I’m Roman I have over 15 years of experience in the portable sanitation industry and also co-own Fancy Flush a restroom rental agency in Santa Rosa, CA.  In this article we’ll be discussing the differences between a plastic portable toilet and a portable restroom trailer. 

A portable toilet or “porta potty” as they’re commonly known is a cheap plastic box with a plastic tank with an open top and a toilet seat.  It provides a basic level of privacy and sanitation for the user.  These units are quite cheap and easy to produce, they’re very reliable as they’re very simple and designed for public use.  They are also known as a “Chemical Toilet”, they use a chemical enzyme tinted blue that treats the odors produced by human waste.  It’s not a perfect system as anyone who’s attended a large public even can attest to but it’s certainly much better than nothing.

A portable restroom trailer is a newer more expensive idea which has been getting more and more popular in the USA since the early 2000’s.  They’re akin to an RV and use much of the same components.  They’re purpose built trailers that do not contain any living space other than bathrooms.  They have many components and luxuries that a porta-potty lacks, faucets with running water, flushing toilets, interior lighting, and most have climate control.  They’re very similar looking to a bathroom in your home, they use no chemicals to treat the waste, they simply flush it into a holding tank which prevents the user from looking or smelling any waste.

Choosing the right rental toilet for your application is a matter of what standards you and your guests have and your budget.  A portable toilet is great for people who are grateful that they have a bathroom at all and for those on a shoestring budget.  They’re also very environmentally friendly believe it or not, as they use almost no water at all.    These are ideal for public events, small remote events and locations where space is an issue.

If when you or your guests think of porta-potties as dirty smelly blue boxes you might want to consider a more upscale flushing VIP toilet.  A VIP restroom is a great for small events where you or your guests standards are a bit higher.  These restrooms are a bit pricier than your typical porta potty and some of the airplane style versions have less capacity than a typical porta potty.   These restrooms typically don’t include climate control so they may not be ideal for conditions hotter than 90 degrees.  These work best at wine tastings, small weddings, supplements to existing bathrooms etc.

If you need a bit more capacity, room, or climate control then your best bet is a portable restroom trailer.  These are designed to look and feel like your bathroom at home, and are sometimes decorated with photos, candles, flowers and other decorative items to make it feel more cozy.  Best of all these are climate controlled so you don’t have to worry about it getting too hot or cold in there.  They’re more expensive to buy and thus are priced higher than your VIP toilet or porta-potty options however they’re perfect for weddings, birthday parties and other upscale events.  These are the bathrooms movie stars use in Hollywood and on locations throughout the world.

Roman Schmidt, Co-Owner
Fancy Flush
Santa Rosa, CA 95407
www.fancyflush.net

All About Portable Restroom Trailers

Until a few years ago I never thought too much about restroom trailers, they’re expensive, they usually only rent out for the weekend and we never really got calls for them.   In recent years that has started to change as more people’s expectations and standards increase these restrooms are in high demand.    In this article I’ll discus tips on purchasing restroom trailers, why they’re getting more popular and the different versions from the basic level to the executive levels.

In the course of doing business I like to get chatty with my customers in an attempt to pick their brain.  What I found is that there’s a stigma attached to renting a porta-potty.  In most people’s minds a porta-potty is dirty, disgusting and embarrassing.  When people enter a porta-potty and see the waste inside the holding tank it really freaks them out too.  Of course most manufacturers of porta-potties also make flushing units, this is fine for some of our customers, however that embarrassment & stigma attached to any kind of plastic boxed bathroom at their wedding or event is too much for some.  This ever growing perception on portable toilets is the reason that bathroom trailers are getting much more popular.

So you’ve decided on buying a restroom trailer and have many options, let’s talk about which options are must haves and why. 

• Waste tank: Don’t cheap out and get “the mains” version that directly connects to sewer, you’ll severely limit your customer base
• Water Tank:  This also limits your customer base, yes you can lug around a water tank for an extra fee but it’s a lot of hassle, it’s ugly and you won’t be able to compete with those with integrated water tanks
• Porcelain Sink: Don’t get the metal sinks, they’re horrible to clean, they leave soap stains all over and require extra clean time, Porcelain is easy to clean and looks nicer too.
  
•  AC/Heat:  This addon is not very expensive and opens up a larger client base, you can also charge extra because of this feature and upcharge for generator rental to power it if so desired. 
  

Options that are not worth the money.

• Stairs with built in landing:  They’re the stairs that have a “porch” in front of the door before you get to the steps, these make the stairs extra-long and are not curb friendly, we’ve had several customers ask if we DIDN’T have this feature.  The cons outweigh the benefits in my opinion.
  
• Basic Trim:  These are your “construction grade” trailers, they have rubber coin floors/diamond tread plate etc.  These are great for oil fields and long term public places but not for the general clientele that want to rent these trailers.  I’d only get them if you have a customer already on the line for one.
  

Different levels of trailers.

Some rental agencies have different styles and trim levels for their restroom trailers.  Generally a VIP restroom trailer is the most basic and cheap type of trailer.  Most use NuConcepts for their VIP toilets in my area.  They’ll generally have 2-4 mounted on a trailer and rent them out as a basic restroom trailer.  Next you’ll have a mid-range trailer, this will be like the bathroom at your home, it’ll have climate control, be a bit larger inside, and may have a couple decorative features like pictures and flowers.  The high end trailers often called executive restrooms are the most ornate and fancy of them all.  They’ll have premium counters, faucets, some have TV’s, or music, they’ll have hot running water and just about every bell and whistle you can think of. 

Roman Schmidt, Co-Owner
Fancy Flush
Santa Rosa, CA 95407
www.fancyflush.net