Dumpster Rental Guides

Plain answers to what people ask before renting a container: cost, weight, prohibited items, permits and placement.

The Eight Questions to Ask Before You Rent a Dumpster Eight questions that make two dumpster quotes comparable, with what we measured a normal answer to be, including the 2-ton allowance.
How Much Does a Dumpster Rental Cost? A 20-yard dumpster costs a median of $419 in the US. What drives the price, and why two quotes in the same town differ.
How to Avoid Overage Charges on a Dumpster Overage is the most common surprise on a dumpster invoice. What the weight allowance means, how to estimate your load, and what it costs when you go over.
What You Can't Put in a Dumpster The items haulers refuse or surcharge (paint, tires, batteries, appliances, mattresses) and what to do with them instead.
How to Protect Your Driveway From a Dumpster A loaded roll-off can weigh ten tons on four small wheels. Plywood, placement and the questions to ask before delivery.
Dumpster Rental vs Junk Removal: Which Is Cheaper? A dumpster costs a median of $419 and you load it. Junk removal costs more and they load it. When each one wins.
How Dumpster Companies Actually Price a Job Tipping fees, drive time and truck utilization: the three inputs behind every quote, and why the same container costs double in one state versus another.
Renting a Dumpster for the First Time What to ask, what to expect on delivery day, and the five numbers that make a quote comparable.
Do You Need a Permit for a Dumpster? On your own driveway, almost never. On the street, it depends on the town. How to find out in one phone call.

Types of dumpster rental

Same containers, different jobs. What each type suits and what it costs.

How to dispose of a specific thing

What each material weighs, whether a container will take it, and what it costs to throw out.

The short version, before you read any of it

A 20-yard is the size most people end up with and it runs a median of $419 nationally, with the middle half of companies between $350 and $490. That figure is measured from 1,075 rates companies publish on their own websites, not estimated, and the Price Index breaks it down by state and size.

The number that catches people out is not the rental, it is the weight. Every quote includes a tonnage allowance, and going over it bills per ton on top of everything else. Concrete, brick, soil, tile and roofing tear-off all hit that ceiling long before they fill the container, which is why the heavy-debris jobs get a smaller container than the volume suggests. The overage guide works through where that line sits and what crossing it costs.

The other one is the kerb. A container on your own driveway is nobody's business but yours; the same container in the street is a permit in most towns, applied for by you or by the hauler, and the lead time on it delays the job more often than the truck does. Ask whoever you call whether they pull it, because some do and some assume you have. The permit guide covers who needs one and how long it takes.

See the Price Index · Glossary of terms

Guides are the evergreen how-to. For seasonal notes and site updates, see the blog.