A roll-off dumpster earns its keep when you've got more debris than your truck and a Saturday can handle. Some jobs are an obvious fit. Others people don't think of until they're standing in a pile of old carpet. Here's how I'd sort it out if you called and asked me which projects actually need one, based on the jobs we run around Charleston every week.
Home cleanouts and decluttering
This is the bread and butter. You're emptying a garage, clearing out a parent's house, or finally dealing with the spare room that became a storage unit. Furniture, boxes, old mattresses, broken shelving, all of it goes in. You load it on your own schedule instead of stuffing your car and making six trips to the county center.
For a single room or a light garage, the 7-yard is usually plenty and it sits small in a driveway. A whole-house cleanout with furniture and a lot of bulk tends to call for a 13 or a 17. If you're not sure, tell me what rooms you're clearing and I'll point you to the right one. You can see all our dumpster sizes laid out with what each one holds.
Remodels and renovations
Kitchen and bath remodels throw off a surprising amount of waste. Cabinets, countertops, old tile, drywall, trim, flooring. A bathroom gut might fit in a 13. A kitchen or a multi-room renovation usually wants a 17 or a 22, and on a longer job we can swap a full one for an empty one so the crew never stops to deal with debris.
One thing to know before you book. The bigger cans take household junk, furniture, wood, drywall, and remodeling debris, but they don't take heavy material. So if your remodel includes ripping out a tile floor set in mortar or busting up a concrete slab, that part goes in a different can.
Roofing tear-offs and heavy material
Shingles are heavy. So is concrete, dirt, rock, sod, and brick. That weight is why we put all of it in the 7-yard and only the 7-yard. It's built for dense loads, and clean heavy material like concrete heads to the recycle plant instead of the landfill.
If you're tearing off a roof, redoing a patio, or pulling up an old walkway, book the 7-yard and keep that material separate from your household trash. Mixing a slab of concrete into a 22 of furniture doesn't work and we can't haul it. When in doubt, check what goes in a dumpster before you start loading.
Yard projects and storm cleanup
Charleston throws plenty of brush at us. Tree trimming, clearing overgrowth, a big landscaping overhaul, or cleanup after a storm rolls through. Branches, limbs, brush, and general yard debris go in the 13, 17, or 22 just fine. Dirt and sod are the exceptions, since those are heavy and belong in the 7-yard.
If a storm leaves you with a yard full of downed limbs, a dumpster in the driveway for a few days beats dragging it all to the curb and hoping it gets picked up.
Moving and estate situations
Moving out always surfaces stuff nobody wants to pack. The same goes for handling an estate or prepping a property to sell or rent. A dumpster lets you sort and toss at your own pace over several days. Rentals run anywhere from 1 to 30 days, so you're not rushed.
If you've got equipment or building materials to move rather than throw away, the 14-foot flatbed handles that. It's a different job than tossing debris, but it's worth knowing we've got it.
When a dumpster isn't the right call
Not every job needs one. A single old recliner or a half-truck of cardboard probably isn't worth a rental, and you can run that yourself. And a few things we simply can't accept in any can: batteries, chemicals, and electronics. Those have their own disposal channels and need to stay out of the dumpster.
If you're on the fence, the deciding factor is usually volume and time. More than a couple truckloads, or a project that runs across a weekend or longer, and a roll-off saves you the trips.
Getting one out to you
We're based on James Island and cover Charleston plus the towns around it, roughly a 40-mile area. You can see the towns we serve to check your spot. Delivery, pickup, and disposal are all part of the rental, so once it's dropped you just load it and we handle the rest.
Tell me the project and I'll tell you the size. Call or text (843) 800-0689 and we'll get a can on its way.
Need a dumpster in Charleston? Call or text Tony at (843) 800-0689, or order online.
(843) 800-0689 Order online