How to prepare a drive for dumpster delivery

One of the most convenient spots to have a dumpster placed is your driveway, but that doesn’t always mean that the delivery truck can simply plop it down on the ground. If you want to make sure that the dumpster delivery can be carried out with no issues, then you will want to be sure that you have a clear driveway and nothing blocking the area.

Choosing a Placement Location

First of all, make sure that you have somewhere for the dumpster to go. A good drop-off area should have lots of room, not much cluttering it, and ideally be within a property that you own. A rental company won’t perform a dumpster delivery if the delivery places the dumpster on public property, at least not unless you have the right kind of warrant. This can include space like a parking lot or an area of the sidewalk.

Try to check the size of the dumpster rental against the space of the delivery area, too. A dumpster that can’t fit between two walls or fences might need to be placed elsewhere on the property. If you will need the truck to cross over a neighbor’s land, get permission from them, too, just encase.

Removing Clutter

Once you have a space picked out, you need to actually turn it into a drop-off area. Dumpsters need to be placed on solid, empty ground, and the delivery truck will need about 60 feet of space in a roughly straight line to drop it off. Smaller dumpsters can require less room, but since they have to roll off truck backs, it can still be difficult to manage dumpster placement in small spaces.

To begin with, move all vehicles out of the way. This includes cars, other trucks, bikes, and anything else that can be easily wheeled or driven out of the way. You can return them after the delivery, as long as you remove them from the delivery area again on pickup day. Then, try to get any other large items out of that space, from benches to outdoor recycling bins.

Trucks also need around 23 feet or more of vertical space and clearance to handle a dumpster delivery, so try to remove any hanging objects that can get in the way. Unfortunately, this could force you to cut down certain tree branches so that the truck can reach the correct spot.

Finally, clean up anything small that could get in the way of delivery. Liquid spills could cause slips, large patches of trash could make it hard to move the dumpster properly, and individual items like old bricks could have a dumpster placed on top of them without anybody noticing.

Marking the Delivery Area

Once you have the driveway clear, you need to mark out where the dumpster needs to be placed. Many dumpster designs can’t easily be moved once the dumpster rental company has completed the delivery, especially after they are full of debris, so getting the dumpster placement right is extremely important.

You can use a range of methods for this. Some people prefer to mark out the locations of dumpsters with paint as the drop-off area, while others will use pallets or cones to create physical borders for the dumpster rental provider. In some cases, if you have a large area of open ground but want the dumpster placed in a very specific spot, you can even lay out tough pallets or pieces of plywood to prevent damage to the driveway after delivery.

However you prepare the area, it needs to be visible for the dumpster delivery to go smoothly. Having proper lights helps if the dumpster rental company is making the delivery later in the day, especially when the rental provider drop-off is happening in winter when days are shorter.

Double-Checking

Always make sure that the drop-off point is clear before the dumpster rental delivery. If you cleared it a few days ago, there could always be trash or other hazards that have turned up, and you might have to quickly prepare the site again, depending on how bad it has gotten. Watch out for fallen tree leaves or other items that might cover up some of your delivery markings, and make sure that you haven’t forgotten anything.

If your neighbors still have vehicles out on the delivery day that would be in the way, ask them to move them temporarily. They can easily put them back once the dumpster rental has arrived and the truck leaves.

Know the Rules

Every dumpster rental has rules, so even before you prepare a delivery, you need to know what you can and can’t do with it. Once delivery trucks take a dumpster to a drop-off zone, you are usually stuck with it until they come to collect it, so you want to be sure that the dumpster rental companies can give you what you need. Certain pieces of information, like the restrictions on which materials and junk can be placed into the dumpster, are easy to glean from a phone call without much hassle.

Also, check weight limits. The load that you put in a dumpster can easily add up if it includes dense materials like concrete, and exceeding the limits of a dumpster can break it or increase the cost of your dumpster rental charges.

Use your Dumpster

Once you have a dumpster, use it! Always follow the right rules for that type of dumpster, or the dumpster company that provided it, and try to minimize driveway damage whenever you can. When it comes time to return the dumpster back to the rental business, you just have to do the whole process in reverse for the pickup: clear everything out of the way so that the truck can arrive and collect the dumpster.

Remember that dumpsters are never a set size and shape, especially among different makes, so you will always have to treat each dumpster as a new item. Just because a dumpster looks like a container you’ve used before doesn’t mean that it has the same measurements, and getting confirmation of the size ahead of time makes a big difference.