Standard Porta Potty Rental in Philadelphia

OSHA's construction sanitation rule (29 CFR 1926.51, Table D-1) sets the minimum. One toilet covers a crew of 20 or fewer. Above 20 workers, the site needs one toilet seat and one urinal for every 40 workers, and above 200, one of each for every 50. Because a standard unit has both a seat and a urinal, each unit counts toward both.

That's the floor, not the comfortable number. A crew of 18 can legally share one unit, but by Thursday afternoon that unit has had a long week. On a job where the headcount climbs as trades overlap, plan for the busiest weeks, not the first one, and add a unit when the drywall and mechanical crews show up together. Our guide to how many porta potties you need walks through job sites and events in more detail, and the OSHA sanitation guide covers the rest of the rule.

For events, the count comes from three things: how many people, how long they're there, and whether there's alcohol. A backyard party of 50 for an afternoon is a different load from 300 people at a block party that runs into the evening with a beer truck. Drinks roughly speed up how often people need the restroom, and a long event means more trips per person.

Send the headcount, the hours and what's being served, and we'll put the count on the quote. Public events need at least one accessible unit in every group of restrooms under the ADA Standards, so an ADA porta potty goes alongside the standard units, and any event with food should have a hand wash station close by.

Most permits in the city are pulled on rowhome blocks, where there's no driveway and no side yard. A standard unit is small enough to make that work. It can stand on the sidewalk tight to the building line, in the rear yard or alley lot, or inside the shell once the first floor is framed and there's a door the truck can reach. On a new infill lot it usually goes at the front corner, where the crew walks past it and the service truck can pull up.

A unit on the sidewalk or the street is in the city's right-of-way. Philadelphia's portable toilet permit covers public events and units in public spaces, and residential units at events have to be serviced at least every 48 hours. On a job site, the placement usually rides along with the contractor's other right-of-way approvals for the work. The Philadelphia portable toilet permit guide explains which permit applies when, and our porta potty placement guide covers where a unit can and can't go on a city block.

Every standard unit we rent for a job site is serviced weekly: the tank pumped and recharged, the inside washed, the paper and sanitizer restocked. If a crew grows, a heat wave sets in or a walk-through is coming up, the schedule moves to twice a week or gets an extra visit on call. Event units are serviced around the event. The full details are on our porta potty service page.

The standard unit comes with a hand sanitizer dispenser, which is enough on a lot of job sites. When the crew is working with concrete, mortar, paint, coatings or anything that shouldn't stay on skin, or when there's food involved at an event, soap and water matter. That means a free-standing hand wash station next to the units, or a unit with a sink built in. Either one goes on the same quote and gets serviced on the same visits.

A standard unit works through the winter, but the tank can freeze on the hardest nights. From late fall into spring, each service visit charges the tank with a freeze-resistant mix so it stays liquid and can be pumped. Units set out of the wind, with the door away from the weather and the roof in the sun, stay more usable on a January morning. Our winter job site guide covers cold-weather planning for the rest of the site.

A standard unit isn't the answer for every site. Pick another unit when the job calls for it: