Sizing
What Size Dumpster Do I Need? An Honest Local Guide
Two things decide this here that most guides never mention: whether there is a basement, and whether the big items will fit through the furnace door.
Start with the material, not the number
Almost nobody can estimate their own debris in cubic yards, and a guide that asks you to is not much help. We ask three things: what are you throwing out, roughly how much in terms you can picture, and what the big items are.
That third question matters more here than in most markets, for a reason covered below that has nothing to do with the container at all.
Volume and weight, and which binds first
Every container has two limits and you will hit one first. Volume is obvious — you cannot load above the top rail. Weight is the one people forget and the one that costs money.
Each size includes a tonnage allowance: roughly one to two tons on a 10 yard, four to five on a 30. Past that you pay a per-ton overage, which we quote before you book.
⭐ A third limit most guides miss
There is a constraint here that has nothing to do with the container's capacity.
Most mixed waste in this county is burned rather than buried, and the furnace has a feed system with physical limits. So a sofa, a dining table, rolled carpet, full-length timber, doors, sheets of plywood, a mattress and a basement workbench all have to be broken down before they go in.
This genuinely changes sizing decisions. Material you have cut down packs far more efficiently than material you have not, which often means a smaller container than you expected — a sofa cut into three takes maybe a third of the space it did whole.
The full explanation is here, and it is worth ten minutes before you order anything.
What each size really holds
10 yard — 12 ft × 8 ft × 3.5 ft
Three to four pickup loads, one to two tons. The small-job container and the heavy material container: concrete, block, brick, tile, mortar and soil. Low sides make loading heavy material far easier.
15 yard — 16 ft × 8 ft × 4 ft
Five to six pickup loads, two to three tons. The most under-used size. The right call for dense older-house debris that would hit a 20's weight limit half full, and short enough to fit a tighter driveway.
20 yard — 22 ft × 8 ft × 4.5 ft
Seven to eight pickup loads, three to four tons. Our most common container and the default for a basement strip-out, a kitchen or a roof.
30 yard — 22 ft × 8 ft × 6 ft
Ten to twelve pickup loads, four to five tons. Same footprint as the 20 with eighteen more inches of height, so it holds half again as much without needing more ground. Right for whole-house clearances, basements with contents, and commercial work.
Worked examples from local jobs
| Job | Size | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Bathroom remodel | 10 yard | Small volume; tile and cast iron are dense |
| Concrete, block or basement floor | 10 yard | About as heavy as material gets |
| One room, plaster and lath | 10–15 yard | Weight binds long before volume |
| Kitchen remodel | 15–20 yard | Cabinetry eats volume; tile drives weight |
| Finished basement strip-out | 20 yard | Panelling and ceiling grid — cut them down |
| Basement plus stored contents | 30 yard | Always more down there than remembered |
| Single-layer re-roof | 20 yard | Hits the weight allowance before it fills |
| Garage or shed clear-out | 20 yard | Bulky and light |
| Three-bed whole-house clearance | 30 yard | Contents fill volume before weight |
| New-build framing waste | 20–30 yard | Offcuts and packaging are light and voluminous |
| Commercial fit-out | 20 yard | Phased around trading hours |
| Deck or fence demolition | 20 yard | Treated timber — cut boards to length |
| Farm outbuilding clearance | 30 yard + swap | Pull the metal and chemicals first |
| Storm and tree debris | 20 yard | Green wood is heavy; cut it down |
| Lots of long or bulky items | size down | Cut down material packs far tighter |
Why basements change the answer
Essentially every house in this market has a basement, because frost goes deep enough that you are excavating that far anyway. Two consequences for sizing:
- Roughly double the stored contents of a house without one. People consistently underestimate this, and it is the single most common reason a container turns out too small.
- A whole category of material that slab houses do not produce — panelling, drop ceilings, carpet on concrete, built-ins, and old mechanical plant.
⚠️ And remember the mechanical items are appliances and metal: furnaces, water heaters and softeners are banned from landfill in Minnesota, excluded from the furnace, and worth money as scrap. They do not count toward your container at all.
⚠️ What cannot go in at all
- Appliances — banned by Minnesota statute, excluded from the furnace
- Televisions, monitors and computers — banned by statute
- Yard waste — banned from Minnesota landfills statewide
- Metal and recyclables — separate routes, and metal has value
- ⚠️ Batteries, lithium especially — a genuine fire risk
- Liquids, paint, solvents and fuel — never
- Sealed tanks and pressure vessels — a serious hazard in a furnace
- ⚠️ Asbestos — never, in any quantity
How to describe your job on the phone
- What the material is. "Kitchen cabinets, countertop, appliances and the tile behind them."
- ⭐ What the biggest items are, and whether anything is over five feet.
- Whether there is a basement involved, and whether contents are going too.
- Roughly when the house was built. Pre-war changes the weight; pre-1980 means testing.
- Whether there is plaster and lath rather than drywall.
- Where it will sit, including any grade, and whether there is snow on it.
- Whether there is concrete, block or soil — those get their own container.
- Which town — six counties, and the rules differ outside Olmsted.
Need a container in Rochester?
Call and describe the job. Three minutes on the phone gets you a size recommendation, a flat rate and a delivery window — and we will tell you if a smaller, cheaper container is the right answer.
Call (507) 516-5784