Sizing · 6 min read
Choosing the right size saves money and hassle before the job even starts. Rent too small and you pay for a second haul; rent too big and you pay for space you never fill. Here is how we size it on the phone.
When in doubt, go with a 20 yard dumpster. It handles multi-room renovations, roofing tear-offs, landscaping and yard cleanups, and estate and foreclosure cleanouts, and it is the size we point most whole-house cleanouts toward. Go 10 yard for a bathroom remodel, a garage or attic cleanout, a modest pile of yard debris or a minor roofing job. Go 15 yard for a medium renovation, deck removal, flooring and carpet, or a single-room remodel. Go 30 yard for new home builds, demolitions, full-house cleanouts and commercial remodeling, and 40 yard for commercial construction and demolition, multi-unit projects and large-scale cleanouts.
A kitchen remodel can land in a 10, 15 or 20 depending on how much comes out — cabinets and counters only, or the flooring and a wall as well. A roof replacement of about 2,000 square feet usually fits a 15. Not sure? Call (417) 720-8150, tell us the job, and we size it for you.
All five are open-top roll-offs about 8 feet wide. The 10 and 15 are shorter boxes; the 20, 30 and 40 share a 22-foot footprint and simply get taller. Pickup-truck loads are a rough guide to volume. The weight column is the allowance included in the flat rate, and it depends on the material.
| Size | Approx. L × W × H | Holds about | Weight included | Typical job |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 yard | 12' × 8' × 4' | 3 pickup loads | Up to 2–3 tons | Bathroom remodel, garage cleanout, small roof |
| 15 yard | 14' × 8' × 5' | 4–5 pickup loads | 2–3 tons | Deck removal, flooring, medium remodel |
| 20 yard | 22' × 8' × 4.5' | 6 pickup loads | 3–4 tons | Multi-room remodel, roofing, landscaping |
| 30 yard | 22' × 8' × 6' | 9 pickup loads | 4–5 tons | New build, demolition, full-house cleanout |
| 40 yard | 22' × 8' × 8' | 12 pickup loads | 5–6 tons | Commercial construction, large demolition |
"Measure twice, rent once" is how we put it. Renting too small means overflow or a second haul; going too big means paying for unused space.
Volume and weight are two separate limits. Heavy materials like concrete, shingles, tile, brick or dirt fill a dumpster's weight limit long before it looks full, so a smaller container is often the better and cheaper choice for dense loads. Bulkier, lighter items like furniture and packaging call for more cubic yards. Concrete, brick and asphalt go in limited loads, and it is best to keep them separate from light debris so neither load runs into its limit. Stay under the allowance and the flat rate covers it; go over and there may be an overage — we help you plan for it up front.
Weight is also what the disposal side charges for. The City of Springfield's Noble Hill Sanitary Landfill posts one rate — $43.85 a ton, $20 minimum — for household trash, construction and demolition waste and clean fill alike. A ton of broken patio costs the same to tip as a ton of anything else. Missouri law calls uncontaminated soil, rock, sand, gravel, concrete, asphaltic concrete, cinderblocks and brick "clean fill", and MoDNR says clean fill from a demolition "may be used as fill on-site, with the permission of the property owner."
There is a height limit too. Keep all debris level with or below the top rim: an overfilled dumpster cannot be safely transported. If you need more room, call and we swap it for an empty one.
Allow about 22 feet of length for a 20, 30 or 40 yard box, about 14 feet for a 15 and about 12 feet for a 10, all roughly 8 feet wide, plus room for the truck to line up. The 10 fits neatly in most driveways. Our drivers put boards or protective pads under the wheels to prevent scratches, and we recommend not moving the dumpster once it is set down — call us if it needs to move.
Keep it on private property where you can. We found no City of Springfield rule written for a roll-off on a private driveway. The street is another matter: City Code Sec. 98-1 bars any obstruction in the public way that hinders traffic or drainage, so check with the City's Traffic Operations (417-864-1980) before a street drop. Some towns around us are stricter — Battlefield wants a free City permit for any dumpster visible from the property line, and Ash Grove's code does not allow obstructions on the street. The town-by-town permit guide covers all 15 places we serve.
Springfield does not run its own trash pickup. More than 10 private, licensed haulers provide curbside service, and residents pick their own. The City's container rules (Sec. 94-72) leave out "bulky rubbish, yard waste, and demolition and construction waste" — those are not cart material.
The neighbors are similar. In Nixa, the City's contractor Republic Services takes one large item a week at the curb, and its list of what it will not take includes "Construction projects / fence / carpet / decks", "Rocks / bricks / concrete", appliances, tires and brush. In Sparta, GFL's service is "GFL Cart only; bags, boxes, and customer owned containers will not be picked up." A deck tear-out or a garage of junk is weeks of that — a roll-off is for the pile that is bigger, heavier or sooner than the cart allows.
If the job mixes a slab, a roof and a kitchen, say so — we size for the weight, not the look of the pile.
Talk to a real person
Call (417) 720-8150 with the address and what is going in. A flat price and a delivery window before you hang up.
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From this guide
Usually a 10 or 15 yard; a 20 if the flooring and more are coming out too. Tell us what is being removed and we will match the size.
A roof replacement of about 2,000 square feet usually fits a 15 yard. Shingles are heavy, so the weight allowance often decides it, not the volume. Tell us the roof and the number of layers when you call.
A 10 yard suits a garage or attic cleanout or a modest pile of yard debris; a 20 suits larger landscaping and yard cleanups. Keep yard waste out of a trash load — Missouri bans it from landfills.
Usually. It is about 22 feet long and 8 feet wide, so plan on that length plus room for the truck. We put boards or pads under the wheels to protect the driveway.
Keep reading
The rest of the series, same approach — official sources, no filler.
Permits
No Springfield permit found for a driveway roll-off; the street is a call to Traffic Operations. Across the 15 places we serve the rules run from a free Battlefield dumpster permit to hauler licences with bonds and insurance. Every town, from its own code.
Read the guideCost
Springfield dumpster rentals typically run $295–$695, with no hidden fuel or pickup fees. What is inside that number, what moves it, the public landfill rate behind it, and the town fees that sit outside it.
Read the guideGuide
Everything in one place: why rent, how a roll-off rental works in Springfield, sizes and weights, how trash pickup works in the city, placement and permits, demolition paperwork, the towns around us, and what goes in the box.
Read the guide
