Gut jobs and whole houses
30 Yard Dumpster Rental in Detroit, MI
Twenty-two feet of box with six feet of side. This is the gut-job container — whole-house cleanouts, investor rehabs, multi-room remodels, infill builds on Land Bank lots and commercial turnovers. Volume is the point, and the site has to have real room for it.
A 30 yard is 22 feet long, 8 feet wide and 6 feet tall, nine to twelve pickup loads. Same footprint as a 20 with eighteen more inches of side wall, and those inches are the whole job when you are emptying a house rather than a room. It is the size that shows up on rehab addresses across the city, and the size that needs an honest look at your access first.
- Capacity30 cubic yards
- Footprint22 ft x 8 ft x 6 ft
- Weight allowance4 – 5 tons
- Holds about~9 – 12 pickup truck loads
Why people choose the 30 yard
The rehab is the defining Detroit job and this is the container it runs on. A full gut of a 1,200 square foot bungalow — plaster off every wall and ceiling, lath, cabinets, carpet, panelling, ceiling tile and whatever the last owner left behind — is rarely one box, but the 30 is where the sequence starts. Pull salvage first: old-growth lumber, doors, hardware, radiators, mantels and common brick all have buyers here. Our rehab and flip debris guide and estate cleanout cover how we stage a multi-container job.
New construction and infill work fit the same box. Side lots and parcels moving through the Land Bank are turning into single builds and small developments, and framing offcuts, sheathing, housewrap, packaging and pallets are exactly the light bulky waste a 30 was built for. Commercial tenant turnovers run the same way — a retail unit or a small office stripped back to the shell in a week. See construction dumpster rental and commercial dumpster rental for scheduling swaps around a build calendar.
Storm work is the other big-volume caller. A line of limbs down across an east-side block is enormous by volume and light on the scale, but Michigan's Part 115 keeps grass, leaves, brush and branches out of landfill, so green waste goes as a separate clean load to a composting or organics facility — see yard waste removal. Requirements do change, so confirm with the state before you load. One more thing on vacant-house work: an open container on an empty block gets picked over, so we time delivery to the crew rather than the calendar.
Good fit for
- Whole-house cleanout on a vacant property
- Investor rehab gut of a bungalow or four-square
- Multi-room remodel running several weeks
- New construction and infill on a Land Bank lot
- Commercial tenant turnover and office strip-out
- Large storm-limb volume as a separate clean load
- Attic, basement and garage gutted together
- Siding, soffit, fascia and window tear-out
Not the right size for
- Brick, block, concrete, plaster or soil in bulk
- Roof tear-offs — overweight while half empty
- Narrow original driveways and tight alley sets
- One-room jobs that never fill the box
Will it fit?
This box wants room. Figure about 60 feet of straight approach, roughly 10 and a half feet of width and well over 20 feet of overhead, because six feet of side means the arm carries the box higher. Century-old limbs, service drops and the porch roof rule out plenty of residential placements, so walk the run before delivery day. Rear alley access can work on a wide maintained alley and not at all on a vacated or fly-dumped one, and narrow original driveways with freeze-thaw cracked aprons often cannot take 22 feet plus the truck. Winter ice on a sloped drive and plow windrows stop deliveries outright, and spring thaw ruts under weight. Protection boards are standard and we photograph the slab on arrival.
Before delivery, move cars and bins, mark irrigation heads and septic lids, and tell us about new concrete, soft ground, a steep grade or low power lines. Our delivery and driveway protection guide covers all of it.
Compare all four sizes
| Size | Footprint | Weight allowance | Holds about | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 Yard Dumpster | 12 ft x 8 ft x 3.5 ft | 2 – 3 tons | ~3 pickup truck loads | Concrete, brick, block, plaster and lath, tile and soil — weight fills it first. |
| 15 Yard Dumpster | 16 ft x 8 ft x 4 ft | 2 – 3 tons | ~4 – 5 pickup truck loads | Single-room remodels, roof tear-offs to about 20 squares, garage cleanouts. |
| 20 Yard Dumpster | 22 ft x 8 ft x 4.5 ft | 3 – 4 tons | ~6 – 8 pickup truck loads | Full basement clear-outs, kitchen guts, multi-room renovations, porch demo. |
| 30 Yard Dumpster | 22 ft x 8 ft x 6 ft | 4 – 5 tons | ~9 – 12 pickup truck loads | Whole-home cleanouts, investor rehab guts, new construction, commercial work. |
| 40 Yard Dumpster | 22 ft x 8 ft x 8 ft | 5 – 6 tons | ~14 – 16 pickup truck loads | Bulky light debris: framing, siding, cabinetry, commercial and retail fit-outs. |
Still not sure? Describe what you are throwing away and we will size it on the phone in two minutes. Getting it wrong costs us more than it costs you, so we have every reason to get it right. Call (586) 600-7076.
Book a 30 yard
Flat rate including delivery, pickup, rental period and disposal. Same-day where we can.
(586) 600-7076Other sizes
Popular services
All sizes
Compare our four roll-off containers
10 Yard Dumpster
Concrete, brick, block, plaster and lath, tile and soil — weight fills it first.
View this size → 15yd³15 Yard Dumpster
Single-room remodels, roof tear-offs to about 20 squares, garage cleanouts.
View this size → 20yd³20 Yard Dumpster
Full basement clear-outs, kitchen guts, multi-room renovations, porch demo.
View this size → 30yd³30 Yard Dumpster
Whole-home cleanouts, investor rehab guts, new construction, commercial work.
View this size → 40yd³40 Yard Dumpster
Bulky light debris: framing, siding, cabinetry, commercial and retail fit-outs.
View this size →30 Yard Dumpster FAQs
Is one 30 yard dumpster enough for a full house gut in Detroit?
Rarely, and anyone who tells you otherwise has not gutted a plaster house. A 1,200 square foot bungalow taken back to the studs produces plaster, lath, cabinets, carpet, panelling, ceiling tile and contents, and plaster alone weighs two to three times what drywall does. Most full guts run two or three containers on swaps. We plan the rotation with your crew so the box is empty when the demo phase changes, and we split the dense material into a small box instead of burying it in a 30.
Will a 30 yard fit on a Detroit residential lot?
Sometimes, and it is worth checking honestly before you book. The footprint is the same 22 feet as a 20, so length is usually not the problem — overhead is. Six feet of side means the arm lifts higher, and porch roofs, service drops and old street-tree limbs stop more 30s than driveways do. Wide corner lots, vacant side lots and cleared parcels take one easily. Send photos of the drive and the approach and we will tell you whether a 20 yard dumpster is the smarter set.
Can I put storm limbs and brush in a 30 yard?
Yes, but only as a clean load with nothing else in it. Michigan's Part 115 bans grass, leaves, brush and branches from landfill disposal, so green waste goes to a composting or organics facility instead. If limbs are mixed with construction debris the whole load gets reclassified at the scale and the job loses you time. Book the brush as its own container and keep the demo debris separate — our yard waste removal page explains it. Confirm current rules with the state, since they are revised.
What is the real difference between a 20 and a 30?
Eighteen inches of side wall and nothing else. Both are 22 feet long and 8 feet wide, so they need the same ground and the same approach. The 30 gives you roughly half again the volume for light bulky material, which matters on a gut or a cleanout. The trade is clearance and loading height: the arm carries higher, and six feet of rail is a long way to lift plaster by hand. If a machine is loading, take the 30. If people are, the lower rail often wins.
How do I keep a container secure on a vacant rehab?
Treat it as part of the site, not as furniture. A container sitting open on an empty block will get picked through and scrapped, and anything of value walks the first night. Set it where it is visible from the street or inside a fenced yard, load it late in the day rather than leaving it half full over a weekend, and call for the swap as soon as it is loaded instead of letting it sit. We schedule next-day swaps for exactly this reason on vacant-house work.
Services
What people put in a 30 yard
Residential Dumpster Rental
Driveway and alley placement for basement, attic and garage cleanouts and remodels.
Learn more →Commercial Dumpster Rental
Scheduled and on-call containers for retail, restaurants, offices and property managers.
Learn more →Construction Dumpster Rental
Jobsite roll-offs and next-day swap-outs for builders, rehabbers and GCs.
Learn more →Roofing Dumpster Rental
Weight-rated cans sized by squares and layers, including multi-layer tear-offs.
Learn more →Roll-Off Dumpster Rental
10, 15, 20, 30 and 40 yard roll-offs delivered across Detroit and Wayne County.
Learn more →Same-Day Dumpster Rental
Call before the cut-off and we can usually get a container to you this afternoon.
Learn more →Talk to a real person
Need a 30 yard in Detroit?
Tell us what you are clearing out and we will tell you the right size and the flat price to put it in your driveway. No forms, no waiting on an email — just call and we will sort it out in a couple of minutes.
Serving Detroit, Wayne County and metro Detroit · Mon–Fri 6:30am–6pm, Sat 7am–3pm