31-year-old California entrepreneur builds $4.3 million portable-toilet business

Tom says he has become used to the smell after cleaning many portable toilets Daniel Tom was 31 when he started Bay Area Sanitation in 2023 with one truck and 100 portable toilets. Two years later, his business had grown to nearly 2,000 toilets and a fleet of 12 vacuum pumper trucks serving events and work sites across the San Francisco Bay Area. The company brought in $3.1 million in 2024 and $4.3 million in 2025, according to documents reviewed by CNBC.Tom’s business rents portable toilets and also handles their maintenance. This includes weekly cleaning, restocking supplies and removing waste from the units. Each portable toilet can hold up to 60 gallons of waste, which is emptied using the company’s vacuum pumper trucks.The business became profitable within its first year. Tom says most of the company’s income now comes from long-term rentals, where customers pay recurring charges for the toilets and their weekly cleaning. Standard portable toilets start at $160 a month for long-term rentals, while short-term rentals for events generally cost between $239 and $399 per event.The work may not sound attractive to everyone, and Tom says he often gets disgusted reactions when he tel...