Resources
Toilet Paper and Towel Estimator for Commercial Restrooms
Tell this toilet paper and towel estimator how many people use your building and what your restroom dispensers look like, and it works out how much tissue, towel stock, soap and liner supply to keep in the closet each month, as a low and a high figure.
Size a month of restroom paper and soap
Start with your facility type, then add the staff on site on a typical day, the guests who pass through daily, and the number of days each month you’re open for business. After that, describe the restrooms: the tissue roll size, whether people dry their hands with folded towels, a towel roll or an air dryer, which kind of soap the dispensers take, and the count of waste bins. You get an expected number of restroom visits for the month, plus a lower and upper figure for each supply.
From headcount to restroom visits to paper
Behind the result sit two stages. Stage one is restroom visits. Building design defaults give a typical number of daily trips for people who spend the day in a building and a smaller number for visitors, and those rates vary by facility type: a shopper, for instance, stops in less often than an office employee. The tool applies those rates to your headcount and your open days.
Stage two turns those visits into paper and soap. Public restroom measurements supply typical tissue use, and hand-washing observation studies supply how often people wash and how much towel and soap a wash takes. Your roll size and dispenser type decide how many rolls, packs or refills that use adds up to, and liners follow the number of bins emptied each service day.
Low end, high end and where your building lands
Equal headcounts seldom mean equal paper use. Habits vary, a lunch rush or a busy afternoon brings extra visits, and some people pull two towels where one would do. The low end fits a steady, predictable building; the high end allows for busier days and heavier hands. Order near the high end for the first month or two, then settle where your real use lands.
What pushes paper and soap use higher
- Visitor-heavy buildings. Clinics, dealerships, gyms and places of worship see many restroom trips from people who aren’t on staff, and those trips swing more from day to day.
- Multifold towels. A hand can pull several folded sheets at once, while a roll dispenser releases a set length per pull.
- Dispensers without portion control. Uncovered tissue holders and pumps that release as much soap as someone presses go through supplies faster than controlled units.
- Roll size. Jumbo rolls change how often a roll is swapped, not how much tissue people use, so the count drops while the paper stays the same.
From a monthly range to a stocked closet
A monthly figure earns its value once it becomes a shelf level. Keep enough on hand to cover the upper end of the range plus the gap between deliveries, and a busy week won’t leave a dispenser empty. Restrooms that see heavy traffic may also need a daytime restock between nightly cleanings; our page on restroom upkeep by traffic level explains when that makes sense. Larger formats such as jumbo tissue and roll towels mean fewer changeovers, so the crew spends less of each visit swapping rolls. Revisit the estimate whenever headcount, opening days or dispensers change.
Items outside Loom’s estimate
The estimator covers the four items nearly every restroom goes through. Two restroom items aren’t counted, covers for toilet seats and liners for feminine hygiene bins, since there is no reliable published rate for how quickly people use them; your own past orders are the best guide there. Breakroom paper and pantry items follow a different pattern altogether; our page on breakroom and pantry restocking covers that side of the building.
Stocking your restrooms with Loom
Supplies can come from Loom or from your own stock. Through our janitorial supplies service, crews refill dispensers as they clean and keep the supply closet at set levels, so restrooms don’t run short between deliveries. On the cleaning side, the nightly restroom routine is set out in our restroom checklist for facility managers, and commercial restroom deep cleaning tackles grout, partitions and fixtures on a longer cycle.
Your estimate is a starting point. The button below your result adds it to your request through this page’s quote form; we confirm dispensers and traffic at the walkthrough and include supplies in your written quote if you want Loom to provide them. For the rest of your building, the facility task-list builder lists duties room by room, the office cleaning schedule planner groups those duties by how often they recur, and the janitorial cost calculator puts a budget range on regular service.
A few useful answers
Common questions
Who goes in the visitor box, and who counts as staff?
Count people who drop in rather than stay the day: patients, customers, members, worshippers and guests. Employees go in the people-in-the-building field, and so do students in a school, since they are there all day.
Does the roll size I pick change the paper count?
Choose whatever your dispensers hold now. The estimator converts the same tissue use into that roll size, so the choice changes how many rolls you order, not how much paper people use.
What happens to towels if we use hand dryers?
Choose hand dryers only and towels disappear from the result. Tissue, soap and liners are still estimated as usual.
Can Loom supply what the estimate shows?
Yes. Loom can supply paper, soap and liners and refill dispensers on each visit, or crews can stock from your own supplies. The written quote shows which way you chose.