Double Up: The Real Costs (and Payoffs) of Adding Roll-Offs to Your Portables — or Portables to Your Roll-Offs

🚧 Everyone Talks About Diversifying — But Nobody Talks About the Bill

Let’s be real:
Adding roll-offs to a toilet business, or toilets to a roll-off business, costs real money.

Too many new operators hear “bundle and grow!” — then sink fast because they didn’t do the math. Here’s the straight truth from inside the yard:

🔑 What It Takes to Add Roll-Offs

✅ Bare minimum:

• 1 roll-off truck: $120k–$220k new — $60k–$120k used

• 5–10 cans to start: $6k–$10k each

• Permit costs, insurance bump, and heavier maintenance than toilets.

💰 Hidden hit:
Big trucks break axles, eat tires, blow hydraulics — and roll-off drivers cost more than portable techs. Plus, you may need a Class B or A CDL driver, and those don’t come cheap.

🔑 What It Takes to Add Portables

✅ Bare minimum:

• 50–100 units to get a route worth running: $500–$900 each

• 1 pump truck: $80k–$150k new — $40k–$80k used

• Service gear, deodorizer, paper, disinfectant, disposal fees.

💰 Hidden hit:
Pump trucks need a vacuum pump that’ll clog if you skimp on maintenance. Tanks crack, valves leak — and every extra unit means more time on route.

🚛 Don’t Forget the Trucks

You can’t haul roll-offs with your portable truck — and you can’t pump toilets with your roll-off rig.
Adding a second line means another truck, another driver, and a backup plan when something breaks.

Example:
👉 Joe’s Toilets wants to add roll-offs:
He needs a roll-off truck, a few cans, and a Class B driver — probably $150k–$250k all-in to start.

👉 Sam’s Roll-Off wants to add portables:
He needs at least 50 toilets and a pump truck — likely $80k–$120k to get rolling.

📈 So Why Bother?

Because it works. Once you pay off that gear, it prints money.
The customers are already there. The yard is already there. The office is already there.
Adding the other line just multiplies your revenue on the same site — and that’s how smart operators grow without doubling overhead.

🧰 Built on Waste Reality Check

🚫 Don’t go broke chasing every shiny add-on.
✅ Do run the numbers: fuel, insurance, driver pay, dump fees.
✅ Do ask your best customers: “Would you rent both from me?”
✅ Do rent or buy used gear to test the waters before you buy a fleet.

It’s not cheap — but staying small costs you more in the long run.

Stay gritty. Run smart. Think bigger.