Sizing
What Size Dumpster Do I Need?
Not sure which roll-off fits your Baton Rouge project? We break down all five sizes by job type. Call (225) 529-1183 and we will size it right.
"What size dumpster do I actually need?" is the question we field more than any other, whether the call comes from a driveway near LSU, a shotgun house in Mid City, or a job site out toward Zachary. Guessing wrong costs you either way: too small and you are paying for a second delivery, too big and you are hauling mostly empty space down King Arthur Blvd. Here is how we walk Baton Rouge homeowners and contractors through it, every single day.
Start with the project, not the yardage
A yardage number does not mean much until you attach it to a real job. A single bathroom gut, a garage clean-out, a whole-house remodel and a new-build teardown all produce very different volumes and very different weights, and weight matters just as much as volume on a roll-off. Dense material like shingles, brick or concrete fills a container's weight allowance long before it fills the box, while bulky-but-light material like furniture or drywall scraps does the opposite. That is doubly true in a river city like ours, where older homes off Perkins Road or Government Street can hide a surprising amount of plaster and lath behind a simple-looking wall.
The five sizes, in plain terms
We run 10 yard, 15 yard, 20 yard, 30 yard and 40 yard containers out of our own yard, and each one has a sweet spot:
| Size | Good fit for | Think of it as |
|---|---|---|
| 10 Yard | Single-room cleanouts, small yard-debris jobs, a bathroom or closet gut | 3-4 pickup-truck loads |
| 15 Yard | Garage or shed clean-outs, small remodels, fence-line clearing | 5-6 pickup-truck loads |
| 20 Yard | Whole-home cleanouts, roof tear-offs on an average house, kitchen remodels | 6-8 pickup-truck loads |
| 30 Yard | Larger remodels, estate clearances, sizable additions | 9-12 pickup-truck loads |
| 40 Yard | New construction, commercial jobs, major demolition | 12-16 pickup-truck loads |
Those are the same industry-standard dimensions every reputable roll-off company uses, so if you have a quote from somewhere else in the "X yard" range, this table lines up.
Weight allowance is the part people forget
Every size comes with a weight allowance built into the flat rate, and it is the number that trips people up on projects like a roofing tear-off or a full driveway demo. A 20 yard box will physically hold a lot of shingles, but you can hit the weight limit well before the container looks full. If your project is dense material — shingles, tile, brick, concrete, wet soil — we will usually steer you toward a lower-yardage, higher-weight-tolerant size rather than the biggest box available, because that keeps your flat rate actually flat. See our cost guide for more on how that pricing works.
Why saturated Louisiana debris throws people off
Our humid subtropical climate means yard debris, drywall and soil around here often carry more moisture than the same materials would in a drier region. A trailer-load of "light" brush that has sat through a few days of rain can weigh noticeably more than the same pile hauled off dry. If your project involves storm cleanup or ground that has been saturated, mention it when you call — it can change which size makes the most financial sense.
Baton Rouge realities that change the answer
A few things around here shift the recommendation from the textbook answer:
- Older, narrower neighborhoods. Shotgun houses in Spanish Town, Beauregard Town and Mid City often sit on narrow lots with tight driveways, so placement matters as much as size — see our shotgun house renovation guide for specifics.
- New construction. Framing scrap and packaging waste is bulky but light, so a 30 or 40 yard often makes more sense than the weight allowance alone would suggest — more in our new construction cleanup guide.
- Estate cleanouts. Furniture-heavy loads from a full house usually land in the 20-30 yard range — walk through it in our estate cleanout checklist.
- Game-day and rental turnover. Properties near LSU that turn over quickly around home football Saturdays sometimes need a fast, right-sized container on a short window — see our game-day cleanup sizing guide.
When in doubt, call before you order
Online size calculators guess. We do not have to, because sizing dumpsters correctly all day, every day, across Baton Rouge and East Baton Rouge Parish is the actual job. Describe the project — room count, square footage, what is coming out, whether it is an older home or a new build — and we will tell you the size, the flat rate, and whether you should plan on one container or a scheduled swap. Browse our full service list or our size guide for more detail, or just call (225) 529-1183 and skip the research.
A quick sanity check before you call
If you want a rough starting point before you dial, walk the space and picture it stacked at truck-bed height: a single overstuffed garage is usually a 15, a full single-story home cleanout is usually a 20, and a two-story home with furniture throughout tends to land in the 20-30 range. That is a starting point, not a final answer — the phone call is still where we nail it down, because things like appliance count, flooring removal, and whether a roof is coming off at the same time all shift the number. It is almost always cheaper and easier to size slightly up than to order a second delivery, so if you are genuinely between two sizes, we will usually recommend the larger one.
Need a container in Baton Rouge or anywhere in East Baton Rouge Parish? Call (225) 529-1183 and describe the job. We will name the size, the flat rate and a delivery slot — often the same day. No forms, no waiting on an email.