Pierson Comfort Group, LLC • Toll Free: 1.800.461.0032 • 888.277.4414 28298 Bridgeville Road • Federalsburg, Maryland 21632 PSAI (Portable Sanitation Association International) in Action Member Highlight April/May 2006 The biggest change Doug Pierson, president of Pierson's Comfort Group, LLC; Easton, Maryland envisions is taking our industry from 'basic to upgraded'. This isn't a new idea. Since 1951, every working member of family-owned Thomas E. Pierson & Sons, the parent company, has envisioned something new for the business. The entrepreneurial vision of this company moved them from plumbing to heating and air conditioning, into portable sanitation. Coming from a business-minded family, Doug Pierson could "see" people stopping to use a portable restroom. This inspiration came during a traffic backup as he watched people get out of their cars and go into the woods. This was 1967 and the portable sanitation industry was still in its infancy. "Most of these units are more elegant than you see at an upscale hotel," he noted. "Some of these specialty trailers cost as much to manufacture as it takes to purchase a small home." Specialty trailers are constructed on a chassis rather like a mobile home is built, noted Pierson, who put up more than 800 houses in his other lives as a homebuilder and as a mechanical contractor. "Then we haul them to the site. They are self-contained, so all you have to do is hook them up to electric and water, turn on the air conditioning, put the steps down, and you're good to go," he said. Basically, it's the same with his Fleet Series Signature single units. "They're all flushing units, and that seems to be a big hit, especially with the ladies, because you don't look into the tank, like you do the units on a construction site," he said. "Everything is concealed, and it's much more user-friendly. You can wash your hands in these units. They have mirrors. Some have lights in the ceiling." Pierson uses a scale to guage the size of the specialty trailer to the number of people at the event. Also, he generally does not rent out specialty trailers without an attendant on duty during the event. "Because if there is a problem at a wedding, you don't have a second chance," he said. "So we're pretty adamant somebody should be there the whole time should something go a little bit wrong. Then, we can correct it immediately instead of having to make a phone call, and get an answering service, and that type of thing." Luxury of this kind comes at a price. When people plan special events and weddings, though, these are the little niceties they look for in seeing to the comfort of their guests. "People will pay extra money for something nice," he noted. "Our charges range anywhere from $1,500 to $3,000 for a weekend event, and more if we have an attendant there. People will spend that kind of money for these units for the upscale parties and weddings. That's figuring sevice for 300 to 500 people. That's really not a lot, though, when you consider the expense of a catering service, tent rental and such." Pierson Comfort Group receives many handwritten thank you notes. Even though the letter writers are paying for the sanitation service, they are appreciative enough to take the time to express their gratitude. "One story I like to share is about the very nice wedding we did," Pierson said. "The day after, the bride's father called. He was very upset. I'm thinking, 'I ruined this girl's wedding." "He said, 'I'm very unhappy with you.' I said, 'What can we do to correct this?' He said, 'I spent all this money for a beautiful white tent, my daughter had a gorgeous gown, the best caterers, and all the guests wanted to do was talk about that air conditioned outhouse.'" Potential customers are welcome to peruse Pierson's web site, which takes them on a virtual tour of the units, showing them the colors, design, and layout of the interiors. The specialty trailer unit rental is seasonal. Pierson Comfort begins gearing up in April for the season, which runs through the end of November. The company's slow time is December through March. Sometimes during the slow season, an order for a rental unit will come through. "This past winter a banking facility closed their bathroom during a renovation project, and wanted something nice for their customers," he said. "So, we put one of our executive trailers at the bank for a couple of months." Pierson said he would suggest other portable sanitation rental companies invest in this type of trailer - "As long as they're not in my area," he quipped. "Competition is a wonderful thing, as long as it's somebody else's competition." As worthy and necessary as the portable sanitation industry is, Pierson said it is very difficult to interest the younger generation in becoming involved in the business, including his 21-year-old son and 19-year-old daughter. "It's not the flashiest business. My children are a little embarassed when I tell others what we do. It is a great business, but even among my staff, I don't see the younger generation coming into it," he said. "This concerns me. Everybody's into computers - everyone wants to be a computer programmer, or a doctor, or lawyer. But you need people to do this service, too, because it's something that's needed. Then too, the portable sanitation rental and service business requires a tremendous amount of captial," said Pierson. "A pump truck costs from $70,000 to $100,000. We have 15 pump trucks in the Pierson Comfort Group. We have six flatbed trucks to haul at $35,000 to $40,000 per truck. We have five pickup trucks and it takes a tremendous amount of capital to do what we do," he noted. At an average cost of $85,000 per pump truck, 15 of them total $1,275,000. Six flatbeds at $35,000 each comes to $210,000 total. Five pickups with trailers averaging $40,000 a piece amounts to $200,000, for a total investment of $1,685,000 in rolling stock alone. The cost of the rental units is additional. Still-in-all, Pierson said his company - and maybe the industry as a whole - has always been embarassed to charge customers the amount they should be levying. "We're all at less than what we should be. The whole industry really needs to take a look at it, and not be afraid. But, it seems like there's always resistance to getting the prices up," he said. "In 1967, I started at $30. Here we are, 40 years lager, and some people in the industry are at that price now. The cost of gas is a big problem, mechanics to keep the trucks on the road are a big problem, and the cost of insurance... We're finding everything on the rise, and we're not keeping up with the pace. I don't feel we are, anyway." People just going into the portable sanitation business should try to get a fair price for their units and service, Pierson cautioned. "Don't try to be the cheapest guy in town," he said. "Give them good service, back your sevice up, and people will pay a fair price. So many people who don't have a clue get into this business, and that's why we're having so many acquisitions, mergers, and things of that nature." Pierson was interviewed by Sanitation Journal for this story in March duing the mid-year convention of the Portable Sanitation Association International at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Rosemont. His company has two offices in Maryland and Virginia. Pierson Comfort Group services the states of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. The company currently has 5,000 rental units, 35 year-around employees, and a staff of 45 during the busy season. Because his service area is rural, he has global positioning systems on all the trucks to monitor the employees' locations and to attempt doing the routes as economically as possible. "It's a lot of coordinating, to make sure we don't overlap," he noted. A few pointers: Pierson Comfort Group tries to never use the word toilet. "We use executive restroom or comfort stations instead," he said. "We don't use the word chemical. When we first started, they were chemical toilets. That's a terrible word to use in our industry, so we use the words deodorizers and fragrances, instead. "We don't like to talk about waste. We don't like to use the word dump, because that kind of sounds like you're doing something illegal. We just try to move the words up a notch. Like, we take unwanted material to an approved facility." ~ Jo Ann Hustis - Special to the Sanitation Journal May 2006 [end] Index Contact Us! 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