10 yard dumpster
A 10 yard roll-off holds 10 cubic yards, roughly 4 pickup truck loads. Expect 11–14 ft long, 7.5–8 ft wide and 3–4 ft tall, with 1 to 2 tons included. Those dimensions are ranges because a roll-off is sold by internal volume and every manufacturer builds a different box.
- Dimensions
- 11–14 ft × 7.5–8 ft × 3–4 ft
- Weight limit
- 1–2 tons
- Pickup truck loads
- ~4
- 33 gal bags
- 40–60
- Footprint
- 83–112 ft²
- Typical cost
- $250–$600
Why a 10 yard dumpster has no single exact size
Roll-offs are sold by internal volume, not by external dimensions. Two haulers can both deliver a legitimate 10 yard container with different lengths and wall heights, because their manufacturers built to volume. That is why the numbers above are ranges, and why measuring your driveway against one published figure is how deliveries fail.
The 10 yard is the heavy-debris container. Its low walls are the point: you can walk a wheelbarrow of broken concrete up to the rim, and the truck hits its legal axle weight before the box is full anyway.
What a 10 yard container is for
- A single-room cleanout
- Bathroom or small kitchen demo
- Roof tear-off up to about 15 squares
- Concrete, dirt or other heavy debris where weight caps the load long before volume does
What it is the wrong choice for
- Whole-house cleanouts
- Anything with bulky furniture — volume runs out fast at 3 to 4 feet of wall height
How much weight this container is allowed to carry
Typically 1 to 2 tons included, and that is a term your hauler sets rather than a property of the box. Over it you pay per ton, commonly $40 to $150. The hard ceiling is the truck’s legal axle weight, which is why a container can be too heavy to move while still looking half full.
Whether to size up or down
Above it is the 15 yard. If you are between two sizes, take the larger one — a second delivery costs a full base rental plus another trip charge, always more than the gap between sizes. The exception is dense material: for concrete, dirt or tile, order smaller containers more often, because you cannot legally fill a large box with heavy debris.
- 15 yard dumpster — The 15 is the least-stocked common size. Plenty of haulers skip it entirely, so if you ask for one you may be quoted a 20 at the same price. Ask before you assume it is available.
Projects this size suits
- Roof tear-off — Shingles are dense, so weight runs out long before volume. Size to the tonnage, not the pile.
- Bathroom remodel — A small footprint that produces surprisingly heavy debris. Tile, mortar bed, cast iron and a plaster wall are all dense.
- Deck removal — Dimensional lumber is light for its bulk, and how well you break it down decides the size more than the deck does.
- Garage cleanout — The size is easy. The reason this project has its own guide is that a garage contains a higher concentration of container-prohibited material than any other room in a house.
- Moving cleanout — Whatever did not make the truck, plus packing material. Bulky, light, and almost entirely volume.
- Concrete and patio removal — Always a 10, and never anything larger. Concrete is about two tons per cubic yard, so a bigger container just sells you space you are not legally allowed to fill.
- Yard and landscaping cleanup — The size is straightforward; the trap is mixing green waste with soil and sod, which have completely different outlets and rates.