30 Yard Dumpster Rental in Philadelphia

Space on a Philadelphia block is the limit on most jobs. A 30 yard takes about the same length of curb as a 20, so it fits where a 20 fits, with walls tall enough to hold half again as much. The tradeoff is loading: material has to go higher, so the rear door matters more, and on a three-story house the crew is often dropping debris from a window chute straight into it.

Plan the chute and the dumpster together. The chute's bottom has to land inside the dumpster, not on the sidewalk next to it, and the dumpster's spot is set by the window the chute comes from. Tell us the window and we'll plan the drop so the dumpster lands where the chute does.

A dumpster on the street or the sidewalk needs the Streets Department's approval on top of the L&I dumpster license. See the Philadelphia Dumpster Permit & License Guide for the steps.

A bigger dumpster means more room, not a bigger weight allowance for heavy material. Plaster, tile, wet debris and masonry fill a 30 yard's weight limit long before they fill its volume, and an overloaded dumpster can't leave the curb until some of it comes back out. On a gut rehab, the heavy demo goes first in a smaller dumpster, and the 30 yard takes the bulky, lighter debris that follows.

Every quote states the tons included and the rate per ton over, and every haul comes back with the weight ticket from the scale and the driver's photos of the load. If concrete or brick is a big part of the job, see Concrete Dumpster Rental in Philadelphia.

A 30 yard on a busy site can fill every few days. Instead of calling each time, a long job can run on a set swap schedule: a full dumpster out and an empty one in on the same visit, on the same day each week or every few days, adjusted as the job moves from demo to framing to finishes. A swap on call works too, at the price on the quote.

Separating as you go saves money. Clean cardboard, clean drywall and clean wood are handled differently from mixed debris, and on a long new-construction job a second dumpster for one of them can lower what the facility charges.

A 30 yard comes on the same roll-off truck as the smaller sizes and needs the same things: a straight run to back in, clear overhead space to tip the bed and a firm surface to set the dumpster on. On a fenced construction site, it goes inside the fence and the truck comes through the gate, so tell us the gate width and where the dumpster can sit without blocking the concrete trucks or the crane.

On a driveway, boards under the rails protect the surface. On the street, the dumpster stays out of the travel lane and clear of hydrants, crosswalks and the corner.

A gut rehab or an addition needs more than a dumpster. Porta potties for the crew and a storage container for the cabinets and fixtures that arrive before they're needed go on the same quote and the same invoice, with one number for every change. See Contractors & Job Sites for how it fits together.

The three-story rowhome gut rehab is a Philadelphia specialty, and it happens most where houses are being bought, gutted and rebuilt: Fishtown and Kensington, Brewerytown and Strawberry Mansion, Point Breeze and Grays Ferry, the blocks around Temple. On those jobs, the 30 yard is the dumpster that keeps up with a full crew pulling plaster, lath, flooring and finishes off three floors at once.

Those are also the blocks where parking is tight and the dumpster sits on the street. A 30 yard takes about the same curb as a 20, so it fits where a 20 fits, and the extra height means fewer swaps on a street where every truck visit blocks traffic for a few minutes.

The roll-off truck drives up the street, backs to the spot, lifts its bed and slides the dumpster off the back. That needs a straight run behind the spot and clear space overhead, with no low wires or branches. If a car is parked where the dumpster goes, it has to move before the truck arrives.

On a narrow one-way street, tell us the block and the spot, and the time of day that's quietest. Early morning before the street fills is usually best. A dumpster on the street needs its Streets Department approval in hand before it's dropped, and the L&I medallion that comes with the license, so the delivery date follows the paperwork.

On a big job, the question is often whether to go all the way to a 40 yard. The 40 holds more, but it's longer and taller, it needs more room to place and more clearance for the truck, and on most Philadelphia streets it simply doesn't fit. The 30 is the largest dumpster that works on a typical rowhome block.

On a fenced lot or a commercial site with room to spare, the 40 makes sense for bulky, light debris like drywall, framing and packaging. On a street-side rehab, a 30 with swaps is usually the faster, cheaper path. Tell us the site and the job and we'll recommend the size that fits both.

On a gut rehab, the surprises come out of the walls and the basement: old paint cans, oil tanks, refrigerators, a water heater's propane tank, car batteries in the garage. Those stay out of the dumpster, along with tires, chemicals and anything with refrigerant. Older Philadelphia houses also hide pipe insulation and floor tile that may contain asbestos, which has to be tested and removed under its own rules before the demo touches it. Set questionable items aside and ask, because a rejected load costs more than a phone call.