JunkBossPro Blog — Property Managers & Commercial

Dumpster Drops for Contractors: Days Included, Then a Daily Rate

Some contractors want a truck to come and load the pile. Others want a dumpster in the driveway for the whole demo so their crew can toss as they go. If your junk company has a dumpster or two, offering both makes you useful on more jobs. The tricky part is billing for the days the dumpster sits there.

When a Truck Is Not Enough

Truck-load hauling for contractors is covered in Contractor and Remodel Debris: Running Junk Removal for Builders and Remodelers. A dumpster drop fits a different kind of job: a full gut, a roof tear-off on a small house, or a multi-week remodel where debris comes out every day. Coming back with the truck every afternoon would cost the contractor more than a dumpster sitting on site.

This is optional. Plenty of junk companies never drop a dumpster. If you do, JunkBossPro has a place for it on the job.

How Dumpster Drop Days Work

On a job, turn on the dumpster drop and set:

• Days included. How many days the dumpster can sit on site for the base price.
• The daily rate. What you charge for each day after that.

When the dumpster comes back, the days beyond what was included are charged at the daily rate on the invoice. A contractor who keeps it two days past what was included sees exactly that on the bill, with the rate next to it.

For example, you might include seven days in the drop price and charge a daily rate after that. The numbers are yours. Whatever they are, put them in the estimate so the contractor knows them before the dumpster lands.

Weight Still Counts

Dumpsters fill with heavy material. When you haul it to the dump or transfer station, the ticket's tons go into the dump fee overage section on the job, along with the tons included and your per-ton rate. Any overage is added to the invoice as its own line, the same way it is on a truck-load job: “Dump fee overage (0.28 tons @ $70.00) = $19.60.”

So a dumpster job can carry three kinds of lines: the drop and haul price from your service list, any extra days at the daily rate, and any weight overage. Each is clear on its own, which makes the whole invoice easy for the contractor to check.

Scheduling the Drop and the Pickup

A dumpster drop is really two visits: drop it off, and pick it up. Put both on the schedule. The drop goes on the dispatch board for the day the contractor needs it. The pickup goes on when the contractor says they are done, or on the last included day if you want to keep the dumpster moving.

The pickup request lands on the Waiting List map like any other job, so the office can see it next to the rest of tomorrow's work. If a truck is already going to a trash-out across the street, that is a good day to swap the dumpster.

Notes on the Address

Where the dumpster goes is an access note on the job site address:

• “Dumpster on the left side of the driveway, on boards to protect the concrete.”
• “Do not block the neighbor's mailbox.”
• “Overhead power line on the right. Drop on the left only.”

Where a dumpster is allowed to sit is a local matter between the contractor and the property, so ask the contractor where they want it and write it down. The crew sees the note on the job card when they drop it and again when they pick it up. Take photos of the driveway before the drop and after the pickup, so nobody argues about a crack later.

Watching the Days

Dumpsters that sit forever are money tied up. Keep an eye on drops that have gone past their included days. A short text to the contractor through two-way texting, “The Elm St dumpster is past its included days, want us to swap or pull it?”, usually gets an answer the same day. Most contractors would rather know than be surprised by the daily charges.

A custom field or a job note with the drop date makes it easy to see at a glance which dumpsters have been out longest.

Billing It With Everything Else

Dumpster jobs bill the same way as the contractor's other work. If the contractor pays per job, the invoice goes out when the pickup is completed. If they are set to Monthly, the dumpster job shows on their monthly statement as its own line under the job site address. That setup is next, in Billing Contractors Monthly for Debris Hauls Across Every Job Site.

For everything else JunkBossPro does for contractors and other commercial clients, visit the commercial junk removal software page.