Sizing guide
Most sizing mistakes come down to one thing: confusing how much a dumpster can hold with how much it can weigh. Here's how to pick the right size the first time.
Almost everyone sizes a dumpster the same way: they picture the pile of stuff in the driveway or the yard, guess how much of a box it would fill, and order that size. That approach works fine for a garage full of boxes and old furniture. It fails badly the moment your project involves anything dense — roofing shingles, concrete, tile, plaster, wet yard debris, or drywall. Every roll-off comes with a flat rate that already bakes in a set tonnage allowance, and once you cross that line the cost jumps, billed per additional ton. The box being visually "full" and the box being "at its weight limit" are two completely different things, and mixing them up is the single most common and most expensive mistake we see in the Portland metro.
Here's why it matters so much here specifically. A cubic yard of loose household junk — furniture, boxes, yard bags, cabinetry — might weigh a couple hundred pounds. A cubic yard of tear-off composition roofing, wet concrete chunks, or soil weighs somewhere between 1,500 and 3,000 pounds. During the Portland-area wet season, roughly October through April, that gap gets worse: a roofing tear-off or a load of storm-damaged yard debris soaks up rainwater and can weigh 20 to 30 percent more than the same material pulled off a roof in July. A 20-yard dumpster that would comfortably hold a whole-house decluttering project by volume can hit its weight limit at barely a third full if it's loaded with wet shingles or broken concrete. That's not a flaw in the container — it's physics, and it's exactly why our team always asks two questions before recommending a size: what are you throwing away, and roughly how heavy is it, not just how big is the pile.
The 10-yard box measures roughly 14 feet long, 7.5 feet wide, and 3.5 feet tall — low sides, a small footprint, and it holds about 3 to 4 pickup truck loads of debris with a 1 to 2 ton weight allowance. It's the size we deliver most often to older North Portland streets near Kenton, where driveways and street parking are tighter than in the newer subdivisions further out, and to smaller single-story remodel jobs anywhere in the metro.
Real projects that fit a 10-yard comfortably: a single bathroom gut (vanity, tub surround, tile, subfloor), a garage cleanout, a small deck tear-off, clearing out one or two rooms of furniture and boxes ahead of a move, or a modest landscaping cleanup. If your project is contained to one room or one small structure and doesn't involve a full tear-off of anything heavy, the 10-yard is usually the right call, and it's the least expensive size to have sitting in the driveway for a week.
Step up to roughly 16 feet long, 7.5 feet wide, and 4.5 feet tall, and you get a box that holds about 4 to 5 pickup loads with a 2 to 3 ton allowance. This is the size we point people toward when a project is a little too big for a 10-yard but doesn't justify a full 20. It's also a good middle ground when you're not entirely sure how much debris a job will generate and you'd rather not gamble on the smallest option and end up ordering a second haul.
Common jobs: a kitchen remodel (cabinets, countertops, flooring, some drywall), a medium-size yard cleanup after a windstorm blows branches down across a Willamette-facing lot, a small roof tear-off under about 20 squares of composition shingle, or combining a garage cleanout with a shed demolition on the same visit. The 15-yard still fits most standard driveway aprons around the metro without needing extra street clearance.
At about 22 feet long, 7.5 feet wide, and 4.5 feet tall, the 20-yard holds 6 to 8 pickup loads and carries a 3 to 4 ton weight allowance. It's the size we rent out more than any other, because it hits the sweet spot for the projects that make up most residential and light-commercial work in the Portland metro: whole-home decluttering ahead of a sale, estate cleanouts, multi-room renovation debris, fence removal, and mid-size roofing jobs in the 20 to 30 square range.
This is also the size where the volume-versus-weight gap starts to matter most, because it's large enough that people assume it can handle "everything," including material it wasn't built for. If your 20-yard load leans heavily toward concrete, brick, full-depth roof tear-offs, or wet soil, you'll likely hit the 3 to 4 ton allowance well before the box looks full. Tell our team what the load actually is when you book — for a mostly-inert or mostly-heavy project we may steer you toward a smaller box rated for that material instead, which usually saves money over paying overage on a bigger one.
The 30-yard keeps the same 22-foot length and 7.5-foot width as the 20, but grows to about 6 feet tall, holding roughly 9 pickup loads with a 4 to 5 ton allowance. This is the size we deliver most often to new-construction sites, room additions, whole-house renovations that touch multiple systems, and larger commercial buildouts. It's also become one of our steadier callers for accessory dwelling unit and backyard-cottage builds, a category that's grown fast across the Portland metro since the state and city loosened zoning to allow more infill, lot splits, and duplex conversions on existing residential lots.
A word of caution on this one: because a 30-yard is tall and long, people sometimes assume it can absorb an all-concrete or all-dirt load just because there's visible room left. It can't — the 4 to 5 ton cap gets reached fast with pure inert debris, regardless of how much open air is sitting above it. The 30-yard shines for bulky, lighter framing scrap, packaging, drywall, insulation, and general construction debris, not for a foundation excavation's worth of soil or a driveway's worth of broken concrete.
The largest box we offer holds its 22-by-7.5-foot footprint but stands about 8 feet tall, taking roughly 12 to 16 pickup loads with a 5 to 6 ton allowance. This is the size for full home demolitions, large commercial cleanouts, and big new-build jobsites generating a steady stream of framing scrap, packaging, and general trash over the course of the project. Because it's the tallest unit we haul, it's worth double-checking overhead clearance before ordering — older streets with mature street trees, low utility drops, or a garage roofline can all be a problem for a box this tall, so let us know if your delivery spot has any overhead obstructions when you call.
Regardless of size, every one of our roll-offs needs the same basic delivery conditions: roughly 60 feet of straight, mostly flat approach for the truck to back the container into place, a surface that can bear the weight (asphalt, concrete, or compacted gravel are all fine; soft lawn is not), and vertical clearance of about 14 feet for the truck's roof and cable system. The width of the container itself is a constant 7.5 feet across all five sizes — what changes with the bigger boxes is length available behind it for the truck's approach and the added height, not the footprint on the ground.
Driveway conditions vary a lot across the metro. Older North Portland blocks near our yard on N Albina Ave, and similar older neighborhoods throughout the city, often have narrower driveways and more on-street parking to work around, which is one more reason the 10 or 15-yard tends to fit those lots more easily. Newer subdivisions in places like Happy Valley or newer construction pockets around Hillsboro and Beaverton typically have wider driveways and more turnaround room, which is why we can more comfortably drop a 30 or 40-yard on those sites without a second thought. If you're placing the container entirely on your own property — driveway, curb apron, or job site — the City of Portland does not require a permit. If there's no way around setting it in the street or on a sidewalk, you may need a temporary right-of-way permit from the city, and our team can walk you through that. For every other town we serve — Beaverton, Hillsboro, Tigard, Lake Oswego, Milwaukie, Gresham, Oregon City, and Happy Valley — we can't confirm a specific local ordinance from here, so call your city or county office before ordering if the box will need to sit anywhere but your own driveway or lot.
| Size | Dimensions (L x W x H) | Pickup-Load Equivalent | Weight Allowance | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10-Yard | ~14 x 7.5 x 3.5 ft | 3-4 loads | 1-2 tons | Single-room remodel, small cleanout |
| 15-Yard | ~16 x 7.5 x 4.5 ft | 4-5 loads | 2-3 tons | Kitchen remodel, medium yard cleanup |
| 20-Yard | ~22 x 7.5 x 4.5 ft | 6-8 loads | 3-4 tons | Whole-home cleanout, roofing job |
| 30-Yard | ~22 x 7.5 x 6 ft | 9 loads | 4-5 tons | Additions, new construction, ADUs |
| 40-Yard | ~22 x 7.5 x 8 ft | 12-16 loads | 5-6 tons | Full demolition, large commercial jobs |
Sizing a dumpster from a phone description is something our dispatch team does every day, and it's genuinely more reliable than trying to eyeball it yourself, especially once weight enters the picture. Flat-rate pricing across the metro typically runs somewhere between $350 and $750, depending on the size you need, the type of debris, your delivery location, and how long you keep the container — a standard rental runs about 7 days and can be extended if you need more time. That flat rate always includes delivery, pickup, and disposal, with no hidden fees. Rather than guess and risk an overage charge on a too-small box, or pay for capacity you don't need on a too-large one, call (971) 754-2757 and describe the project. We'll ask a few quick questions about what's coming out and roughly how heavy it is, and get you a firm price and the right size the first time.
Talk to a real person
Call (971) 754-2757 and describe the job. Flat price, stated tonnage allowance, and a delivery window on the same call.
Mon–Sat 7:00am – 7:00pm
From this guide
A 10-yard dumpster is usually enough for a single bathroom gut job, including the vanity, tub or shower surround, tile, and subfloor. If you're also replacing heavy tile flooring throughout the house or combining the bathroom with another room's demo, step up to a 15-yard.
You can, but you'll likely hit the 3 to 4 ton weight allowance long before the box looks full, since concrete and soil are far denser than typical household debris. For projects that are mostly concrete, brick, or dirt, call us first — a smaller box rated for heavy material is often the better and cheaper choice.
Plan on roughly 60 feet of straight, flat approach for the delivery truck to back the container into place, plus about 14 feet of overhead clearance for trees, wires, or a garage roofline. The container itself is 7.5 feet wide across all five sizes we offer.
Overage is billed per additional ton beyond the allowance included with your size. It's rarely a big deal if you're only slightly over, but a load that's mostly dense material like wet roofing or concrete can go over by a lot on the wrong size box. Tell us what you're removing when you book so we can size it correctly up front.
No. Placing a dumpster entirely on private property — your driveway, curb apron, or job site — does not require a permit in the City of Portland. If the container has to sit in the street or on a sidewalk, you may need a temporary right-of-way permit, and our team can help walk you through that process.
Keep reading
Boards under the rails are standard on every Blue Rose delivery, but concrete, asphalt, gravel, and lawn all behave differently under a loaded dumpster, especially once Portland's wet season sets in.
ReadFrom drywall and flooring to cabinets and fixtures, here's what really fills a renovation dumpster in the Portland metro, plus how to size the container, keep the load legal, and time it with your contractor.
ReadPortland's ADU boom is filling established backyards with new cottages, conversions and lot-split duplexes. Here's how to size and place a dumpster for a build that never has the open access of a new-construction lot.
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