DumpsterBossPro Blog — Running a Dumpster Business

Which Dumpster Sizes to Stock: 10, 15, 20, 30 and 40 Yard Cans

Ask ten roll-off owners which sizes to stock and you will get ten answers, because the right fleet depends entirely on who rents from you. A company that mostly serves homeowners doing cleanouts lives in a different world from one that serves roofers and general contractors. The good news is that your own jobs will tell you the answer if you track them.

This guide follows Buying More Cans: How a Dumpster Business Decides When to Grow the Fleet. Here is a practical way to think through each size and build a mix that fits your market.

The Smaller Cans: 10 and 15 Yard

Smaller cans tend to suit jobs with limited space and heavier debris. A garage cleanout, a small bathroom remodel, a load of concrete or dirt from a small project — the kind of job where the customer does not need much volume and where a big can would get too heavy before it got full anyway. They also fit in tighter driveways, which matters in older neighborhoods.

For heavy debris like concrete, brick or dirt, a smaller can is often the right answer because weight limits fill before volume does. Your disposal site rules and your truck limits decide how much weight is reasonable, so check those locally and set your included weight to match.

The Middle Size: 20 Yard

In many markets the 20 yard is the size customers ask for when they do not know what they need. It handles a decent remodel, a large cleanout or a modest roofing job. If you only have budget for a handful of cans to start, many owners find that a good share of them should be this size.

That said, do not assume. Check your requests. If you keep getting asked for a bigger can, your market might lean toward construction work and larger sizes.

The Larger Cans: 30 and 40 Yard

Larger cans suit construction and demolition work, big cleanouts and commercial jobs. They hold a lot of volume, which is great for bulky, lighter debris and less great for heavy material. A 40 yard full of something heavy can be a problem for your truck and your disposal costs, which is why included weight and overage per ton matter so much on the big sizes.

Large cans also need space. Before you stock many, think about how many of your customers actually have room for one. Contractors on open job sites do; most residential driveways do not.

Let Debris Type Guide the Choice

Size and debris type go together. The same 20 yard is a very different load full of shingles than full of furniture. Recording the debris type on every job tells the driver what to expect and where the load needs to go, and it tells you over time which kinds of jobs your market is sending you.

In DumpsterBossPro, every job carries the can size, the unit number and the debris type, plus the haul-to address for where the load goes. Looking back at a season of jobs shows you which sizes go out for which kinds of work, which is exactly the information you need to plan purchases.

Price Each Size With Weight in Mind

Each size should have its own price, its own days included and its own included weight, with a daily rate after the included days and an overage per ton over the included weight. That structure lets you rent a large can to a customer with light debris at a fair price while protecting yourself when someone fills it with something heavy.

When the load comes back, the driver or office enters the scale-ticket weight on the job and the overage is billed per ton on the invoice. No more arguing at the end of the month over what the ticket said.

Build Your Mix From Your Own Jobs

Start small, then let your jobs steer the fleet. After a season, look at how often each size was out and how often you had to turn away a request for a size you did not have. Add more of the size that was always gone. Think twice about adding sizes that sat.

It also helps to ask the customers themselves. When a contractor books, ask what he would have ordered if you had every size in the yard. When a homeowner picks a can, note whether they took it because it was right or because it was the only one free. A few months of those answers, next to the jobs in your system, give you a fleet plan built on your market instead of on what another operator stocks.

The next guide moves from cans to people and covers hiring roll-off drivers. For an overview of how DumpsterBossPro tracks sizes, rentals and overage billing, see the dumpster rental business software page.