JunkBossPro Blog — Billing & Payments

Billing Dumpster Drop Days: Included Days, Then a Daily Rate

Plenty of junk removal companies also drop a dumpster now and then. A homeowner cleaning out a house over a few weekends, a small remodel, a family clearing an estate at their own pace. A dumpster is a great fit for those jobs. It is also one more thing to bill, and the part that gets missed is the extra days.

Where Dumpsters Fit

The last article, Billing Apartment Complex Trash-Outs Unit by Unit, was about many small jobs on one statement. A dumpster drop is the opposite: one job that sits for days. That makes timing the main billing question.

How Dumpster Drop Days Work

In JunkBossPro, a job can carry optional dumpster drop details if you also leave a dumpster:

• Days included. How many days the dumpster can sit for the price you quoted.
• Daily rate. What you charge for every day after the included days.

When the dumpster is picked up later than the included days, the extra days are billed at the daily rate. The customer sees the included days, the extra days and the rate, so the charge explains itself.

This is optional. If you only run trucks and never drop a dumpster, you never have to look at it.

Setting the Included Days

How many days to include is a pricing decision. A few things owners think about:

• The kind of job. A weekend garage cleanout might need a few days. A remodel might need a week or more.
• How many dumpsters you own. If you only have a couple, every extra day one sits in a driveway is a day you cannot rent it to someone else.
• What customers expect locally. Ask around before you set your numbers.

Whatever you choose, put it on the estimate in plain words: “Price includes 7 days. Each additional day is billed at $15.” That example rate is just an illustration. Set your own.

Weight Still Counts

A dumpster has the same weight problem as a truck. Customers fill them with whatever they have, and a dumpster full of roofing or concrete is heavy. When the dumpster is hauled to the dump or transfer station, enter the tons from the ticket on the job, along with the tons included and your per-ton rate. The dump fee overage is added to the invoice as its own line.

The full overage routine is covered in Dump Fee Overage on the Invoice: Billing Tons Over the Included Weight Automatically. What any dump accepts in a dumpster load, and how it charges, is the dump's call. Check your local transfer station's rules.

When to Bill

Dumpster jobs have two natural billing moments: the drop and the pickup. Owners handle it a few ways:

• Bill at pickup. Wait until the dumpster is back and the ticket is in, then bill the price, any extra days and any overage on one invoice.
• Bill the base price at drop. Charge the quoted price when the dumpster goes down, then bill extra days and overage after pickup.
• Up-front amount on long rentals. For a long remodel, bill part up front as its own invoice or line item and the rest at the end.

With a card on file, the charge can go through when the crew taps Complete in the crew app. Customers without a card can pay online from the customer app.

Keeping Track of Where the Dumpsters Are

The worst dumpster bill is the one for a dumpster nobody remembered was out. Keep the drop and the pickup as jobs on the schedule, so the dispatch board shows both. The pickup sitting on the Waiting List is a daily reminder that a dumpster is still in someone's driveway, and the job's days included tell you when the extra days start.

A quick text to the customer through two-way texting a day before the included days run out is a courtesy most customers appreciate: “Your dumpster's included days end Friday. Let us know if you want it picked up or kept a few more days.”

Dumpsters for Monthly Accounts

Property managers sometimes want a dumpster at a building for a big clean-up day. On a Monthly account, the dumpster job lands on the monthly statement with its address, included days, any extra days and any overage, just like a trash-out. One statement still covers it all.

Photos at Drop and Pickup

Take a photo when the dumpster goes down and another when it is picked up, using the crew app's before-and-after photos on the job. The drop photo shows where it was placed and the condition of the driveway. The pickup photo shows what was in it and how full it was. If a customer later asks about extra days, overage or a scuff on the concrete, the photos are already on the job.

A Simple Add-On to the Business

Billing dumpster drops is mostly about two numbers: days included and the daily rate. Set them, put them on the estimate, and let the job do the math. To see dumpster drop billing alongside the rest of JunkBossPro's invoicing, visit the JunkBossPro junk removal invoicing software page.