High-Rise Porta Potty Rental in Brooklyn, NY
Say which floors are working and how material goes up, so units get planned where upper-floor crews can reach them without a trip down.
On a tall frame, the trip to the toilet is the problem
Brooklyn Porta Johns connects site supers, GCs and superintendents on tower and mid-rise projects with rental companies for high-rise porta potty rental in Brooklyn, NY. Think of the concrete and steel frames going up on the waterfront, from the Greenpoint towers along the East River to Long Island City across Newtown Creek, and the long interior fit-out that follows them.
On a low building, a bank of units at the gate is enough. On a tall one, the walk down and back up takes a real bite out of the shift, and once it takes too long the toilet stops counting as available at all. That is the whole reason this service exists: getting units onto the floors, or close enough to them, and keeping them pumped once they are up there.
The crew-size count still comes from OSHA's construction table, which lives on the New York portable toilet regulations page. This page covers the part the table doesn't: distance.
"Toilets that take too long to get to are not 'available.'"
What OSHA told a contractor with a crew on the 10th floor
The question sent to OSHA was plain. Workers were on the 10th floor. The toilets were on the ground floor. There were no elevators or worker lifts, only stairs. Did the toilets have to move up?
OSHA's answer turned on one word in its sanitation standard. Employers must "provide" toilets, and the agency reads that as making them available. A toilet that takes too long to reach isn't available. OSHA said it couldn't judge that site without knowing the travel time, then gave the benchmark it uses: toilets are generally considered nearby if it takes less than 10 minutes to get to them.
Two things follow for a Brooklyn job. The test is minutes, not floors, so there is no magic floor number where units must go up. And the clock runs from where the person is working to the toilet, including the wait for a hoist car, the walk across a deck and any stairs on the way.
How people get up and down decides where the units go
Time the trip yourself before you call. Walk it from the highest active floor at shift change, when the hoist is busiest, and write down the minutes. Then match your building to one of these rows.
| How the crew moves | What eats the minutes | Where units usually end up |
|---|---|---|
| Stairs only | Every floor down and back up. A long walk from the stair core to the far side of the deck adds to it. | On or near the active floors, moved up as the frame climbs. |
| Personnel hoist | Waiting for the car, especially while it is carrying material. Ask the hoist operator what the wait looks like at 10 a.m. | At grade plus a landing floor or two, if the wait stays short. |
| Temporary use of a building elevator | Access rules set by the owner or the elevator contractor, and hours it is shut down. | Depends on who controls the car. Plan for the days it is out of service. |
| Crane only, no hoist yet | Stairs, because a crane moves loads, not people. | Treat it as a stairs-only building until a hoist is running. |
Getting a unit onto a floor
None of this is set by the rental company alone. Your lift plan, your crane or hoist operator and the rental company have to agree on it.
By hoist
A standard porta potty is tall and narrow. Before you plan on the hoist, measure the car's door opening and interior height and give those numbers to the rental company. Ask for the unit's dimensions and its weight empty, because the hoist has a rated load and the unit rides with nothing in the tank.
By crane
A crane pick needs a way to rig the unit safely. Ask the rental company whether its units have a lifting frame or hook points meant for this, or whether they have to go up in a cage or on a platform your rigger supplies. Don't let anyone rig a unit by its roof vent or door frame; neither is built to carry the unit's weight.
On the deck
Once it lands, the unit needs level footing, a spot away from the slab edge and openings, and something to stop it tipping in wind. Upper floors in an open frame get more wind than the street does. Ask what the rental company expects you to provide for tie-down, and put that in the lift plan.
Ask how a 14th-floor unit gets pumped
A vacuum truck parks on the street. Its hose reaches a unit at the curb, not one twelve floors up. Rental companies deal with upper-floor units in different ways, and the method changes the price and the schedule, so get the answer in writing before you sign.
Put these questions to the rental company on the first call:
- How do you service units on upper floors, and what do you need from the site to do it?
- Do you need hoist time on service days, and at what hour?
- Is upper-floor service priced differently from a unit at grade?
- Who moves a unit when the crew moves up, and how much notice do you need?
- What happens if the hoist is down on a service day?
- How are service visits counted when units sit on several different floors?
The toilet plan changes as the building rises
A tall building rarely needs the same setup for more than a few months. Tell the rental company the schedule up front so it can quote the moves as well as the rent. A build this long suits a monthly porta potty rental term, and the moves and extra units fit inside it.
Excavation and foundations
Everyone works at or below grade. Units sit at the gate or on the lot, where the truck can reach them.
Frame going up
Crews move higher every few weeks. Start timing the trip down once the deck passes the first handful of floors.
Enclosure and interior trades
The headcount usually peaks and spreads across many floors at once. Expect to add units and spread them out.
Permanent bathrooms open to the trades
Units come down as working toilets become available to the crew, not before.
Upper-floor toilet questions from site supers
Does every floor need its own porta potty?
No rule says one per floor. The test is travel time from where people are working. On a building with a fast personnel hoist, units every few floors may keep the trip short; on stairs only, they usually need to sit closer to the active floors.
Can the building's own bathrooms count once they are installed?
Only when they work and the crew is allowed to use them for the rest of the job. A finished toilet the owner has locked for turnover does not count. Keep the rental units until the permanent ones are open to the trades.
Who pays if a unit tips during a crane pick?
That depends on the rental agreement and the lift contract, so settle it before the first pick. Ask the rental company what its damage waiver covers and whether it excludes units lifted by someone else's equipment.
Do upper-floor units need a handwashing station too?
If the crew on that floor is painting, coating or handling other harmful materials, OSHA expects washing facilities near the work. The handwashing station requirements guide covers when that applies.
Top active floor, hoist or stairs
Give the rental company those two facts and the headcount on the busiest floor. The rest of the upper-floor plan builds from there.