What Size Dumpster Do I Need?
Pick the job, not the container. Below is the size most people use for each project, and roughly how much the debris weighs, which is what actually decides the bill.
| Project | Usual size | Typical weight | Median price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Roof Tear-Off | 20 yard | 2.5 to 5 tons for a typical 20 to 30 square roof | $419 |
| Kitchen Remodel | 20 yard | 1.5 to 3 tons | $419 |
| Bathroom Remodel | 10 yard | 1 to 2 tons | $345 |
| Whole-House Cleanout | 30 yard | 2 to 4 tons | $520 |
| Garage Cleanout | 15 yard | 1 to 2 tons | $365 |
| Concrete and Dirt Removal | 10 yard | 5 to 10 tons in a 10-yard | $345 |
| Deck Removal | 20 yard | 1.5 to 3 tons | $419 |
| Basement Cleanout | 20 yard | 1.5 to 3 tons | $419 |
| Estate Cleanout | 30 yard | 2 to 4 tons | $520 |
| New Construction Debris | 30 yard | 2 to 4 tons | $520 |
How to size it yourself in two minutes
A cubic yard is a cube three feet on each side. That is roughly nine or ten filled contractor bags, or about a third of a pickup bed loaded level, and getting that picture right is most of the job, because nobody thinks in cubic yards and every container is sold in them.
To measure a pile: length times width times height in feet, divided by 27. Add about a third for anything that will not stack flat, like furniture, brush or cabinetry. For a roof, work in squares instead: one square is 100 square feet of roof surface, and a single layer of architectural shingle is roughly 400 to 430 lb of it.
| Size | Bags | Or about |
|---|---|---|
| 10 yard | ~90 | 3 pickup loads |
| 15 yard | ~135 | 4.5 pickup loads |
| 20 yard | ~180 | 6 pickup loads |
| 30 yard | ~270 | 9 pickup loads |
| 40 yard | ~360 | 12 pickup loads |
Bags are a working approximation at nine per cubic yard, not a promise. A bag of plaster and a bag of packaging fill the same space and weigh nothing alike.
What your debris actually weighs
Every job on this page is a weight question before it is a size question. These are the standard construction figures, and they are what a hauler is doing in their head when they ask what is going in.
| Material | Rough weight | What that means |
|---|---|---|
| Architectural shingles | 400–430 lb per square | A 25-square single layer is about 5 tons on its own |
| Three-tab shingles | 230–250 lb per square | Roughly half the weight of architectural for the same roof |
| Concrete or brick | ~4,000 lb per cubic yard | A 10-yard is at a truck's legal lift limit around half full |
| Soil and sod | ~2,200 lb per cubic yard | Same story as concrete, and wet soil is heavier again |
| Drywall | ~500 lb per cubic yard | A full gut of a room adds up faster than it looks |
| Household clearance | ~250 lb per cubic yard | Bulky and light; you run out of room, not tons |
| Framing timber | ~350 lb per cubic yard | A 30-yard of offcuts is comfortably inside a normal allowance |
Two of those rows explain the whole page. Household clearance and concrete are a sixteen-fold difference in weight for the same cubic yard, which is why a whole-house cleanout takes a 30 and a patio tear-out takes a 10.
Whether you can get that size near you
The size the job wants is only useful if a yard near you runs it. Counted from each operator's own website:
| Size | Companies | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 20 yard | 2,315 | 78% of companies |
| 15 yard | 1,924 | 65% of companies |
| 30 yard | 1,706 | 58% of companies |
| 10 yard | 1,542 | 52% of companies |
| 40 yard | 1,079 | 37% of companies |
The 30 and the 40 are the two worth calling about early rather than assuming. Where neither is available, two swaps of a smaller container is the normal answer and usually the cheaper one on a heavy load anyway.
Read the weight column, not the size column
The size is the easy half and the one people fixate on. The weight is what decides the invoice, because every rental includes a fixed allowance of about 2 tons and everything past it is billed by the ton at a median of $76.
That is why the table above puts a tonnage against every job. A whole-house cleanout takes a 30 yard because the debris is bulky; a concrete tear-out takes a 10 yard filled partway because the debris is dense and a full one would exceed what a roll-off truck can legally lift. Two jobs, opposite ends of the size range, and the reason is weight in both cases.
The two questions that decide it
Is your debris light and bulky, or dense? Furniture, timber, cabinetry, packaging and general clearance run out of room long before they run out of tons, so size on volume. Concrete, brick, soil, tile and shingles do the reverse, so size down and expect the container to look half empty when it is full by weight.
Is the job finished, or ongoing? A single-day tear-off wants the container already there. A renovation you are doing over several weekends wants a longer rental period, and a build wants a swap schedule agreed up front rather than a phone call each time it fills.
When you are between two sizes
Take the larger one, on a light load. The price gap between neighboring sizes is consistently smaller than a second delivery, so sizing up costs less than being wrong. On a heavy load the advice inverts: take the smaller container, because you will hit the weight allowance either way and the larger one only costs more to rent for space you cannot legally fill.
What the table cannot tell you
Three things, and they are the ones worth a phone call.
Access. A 30 yard is 22 feet long and needs about that again for the truck to work, plus roughly 22 feet of overhead clearance to tip. Plenty of driveways take the container and not the truck.
Local prices. The medians here are national. Tipping fees are set county by county and move the number more than anything else on the invoice, so check your own state before budgeting.
What is in the load. A job that is 90% the standard debris and 10% something refused or surcharged gets priced as the exception. Say what is going in when you book. What gets refused.
Compare dumpster sizes · See prices by state
Common questions about dumpster sizing
- What size dumpster do I need?
- For most household jobs a 20-yard. It is the size 1,075 companies publish a price for and the one more yards carry than any other. A single room or a bathroom gut takes a 10; a whole-house clearout or a new build takes a 30. Heavy debris is the exception: concrete, soil and brick go in a 10 filled partway whatever the volume suggests.
- How big is a cubic yard?
- A cube three feet on each side. It holds roughly nine to ten filled contractor bags, or about a third of a standard pickup bed loaded level. A 20-yard container is twenty of those, which is why it swallows a kitchen and still looks half empty on a roof job.
- What happens if I pick a size that is too small?
- You pay for a second delivery, or you overfill it. An overfilled container cannot legally be tarped, so the driver refuses the load and charges a dry run for the trip. On a light load, taking the next size up costs far less than either.
- Is it better to size up or size down?
- Size up on light, bulky debris (furniture, timber, packaging, general clearance), because you will run out of room before you run out of tons. Size down on dense debris (concrete, brick, soil, tile, shingles), because you hit the weight allowance long before the container is full, and the bigger box only costs more for space you cannot legally fill.
- How do I estimate how much debris I have?
- Measure the pile in feet, multiply length by width by height, and divide by 27. That is your cubic yards. Add a third for anything that will not stack flat, like furniture or brush. For a roof, one square is 100 square feet of roof surface, and a single layer of architectural shingle runs about 400 to 430 lb per square.
- Does a bigger container include more weight?
- Usually, but not in proportion, and that is where people get caught. Allowances rise more slowly than volume, and the typical allowance is about 2 tons with overage at a median of $76 a ton. Ask for the allowance on the exact size you are booking rather than the company's general figure.