Guides · Skip sizes

What size skip do you actually need?

The size question is the one we answer most, so here’s the whole method: count your waste in bin bags, check the two rules drivers care about, and match the size to the job. Five minutes now saves ordering twice.

The short answer

For most household clear-outs, a 4-yard midi skip (about 40 bin bags, from £170 inc. VAT) is the right call. A bathroom rip-out fits a 2-yard mini. A renovation producing soil or rubble needs the 8-yard builder’s skip — the largest size that takes heavy waste. Big, light strip-outs suit the 16-yard maxi. When you’re torn between two sizes, go up: the next size costs far less than a second skip.

Skips are measured in cubic yards — a unit nobody uses for anything else, which is why most people’s first guess is wrong. This guide translates yards into things you can actually picture, then covers the two rules that catch people out: what heavy waste does to your size choice, and how full is legally full. Prices and dimensions for the full range, including enclosed skips and roll-on-roll-off containers, live on the skip sizes page.

The arithmetic

Skip sizes in bin bags.

One cubic yard swallows roughly ten full bin bags. So count your waste in bags — or picture the pile and estimate — then add a third, because everyone underestimates. Bulky items like sofas and wardrobes eat space faster than bags do.

2 yard

Mini Skip · ≈ 20 bin bags

Bathroom rip-outs, small clearouts and garden tidies. Fits on a standard driveway.

From£130

4 yard

Midi Skip · ≈ 40 bin bags

Kitchen refits and bigger house clearances. The most common domestic choice.

From£170

8 yard

Builder's Skip · ≈ 80 bin bags

Renovations, extensions and trade work. Takes heavy waste like soil and rubble.

From£270

16 yard

Maxi Skip · ≈ 160 bin bags

Large strip-outs and bulky light waste. Volume, not weight — no soil or rubble.

From£510

Compare all sizes →See prices by postcode

All prices include VAT, delivery, collection and seven days’ hire.

Before you book

Measure the space, not just the waste.

A skip that fits the job but not the driveway helps nobody. Four things to check before you settle on a size:

01
Firm, level ground
A loaded skip is several tonnes sitting on two steel rails. It wants concrete, tarmac or compacted hardstanding — not soft lawn, and not a slope it can creep down.
02
A straight run for the lorry
Our skip lorries are about the size of a bin lorry — if the bin wagon reaches your street, so can we. Tight shared drives, low arches and parked cars are the usual blockers.
03
Clear air above
The skip is lifted on chains, straight up and over the back of the lorry. Overhanging branches, cables, gutters and washing lines all get in the way — look up before you book.
04
Room to set it down
The lorry needs to sit directly in line with the spot while it lowers the skip. If the space is awkward, send us a photo or ring the office — drivers would rather know in advance.

No off-road space at all? The skip can sit on the road with a £40 council permit, which we arrange on your behalf. And if there’s nowhere for a skip full stop, grab hire reaches over walls and fences and takes the waste away in one visit.

The fine print that matters

The two rules drivers care about.

Both exist for the same reason: a skip travels on a public road, and the lorry can only lift and carry so much, legally and physically.

Rule one — weight

Heavy waste stops at 8 yards

Soil, rubble, hardcore, tiles and other heavy waste can go in the 2, 4 and 8-yard skips, filled level. The 16-yard maxi is light waste only — never soil or rubble in a 16-yarder. A maxi full of hardcore would weigh far beyond what the lorry can legally lift, so no reputable firm will collect one. The full material rules are in what can go in a skip.

Rule two — volume

Level with the rim, no higher

A skip must leave with a level load — nothing mounded above the sides, nothing hanging over. Overloaded skips shed waste on the road, so the driver will ask you to level off anything above the rim before it can be collected. Load flat and heavy items first, break furniture down, and fill the voids with smaller waste — a well-packed skip holds noticeably more than a chaotically thrown one.

The shortcut

Choosing by job.

Nine years of deliveries condensed into one list. Find your job, take the size — and if yours isn't here, ring the office and describe the pile.

Bathroom rip-out

2 yard

Suite, tiles and a surprising amount of offcuts — sits snugly on any drive.

Garden tidy-up

2–4 yard

Green waste compresses less than you'd think. If in doubt, err upward.

Kitchen refit

4 yard

Units, worktops and the old appliances — minus the fridge, which can't go in.

Full house declutter

8 yard

Cheaper than two 4-yarders (£270 vs £340 at from-prices) — and you will fill it.

Extension or renovation

8 yard

The largest size that takes heavy waste: soil, rubble, hardcore, tiles.

Shop or office strip-out

16 yard

Volume, not weight — racking, partitions, packaging and furniture.

Garden dig-out or footings

Grab hire

A grab lorry shifts bulk muck in one visit, no barrowing required.

Continuous site waste

RoRo container

20–60 yard roll-on-roll-off containers on an exchange service.

Still unsure? Call 0113 539 9836and describe what you’re throwing away — we size skips over the phone all day and we’ll tell you honestly if the smaller one will do.

Questions

Size questions, answered.

The ones we hear on the phone every week. More general questions live in the big FAQ guide.

The 4-yard midi (from £170 inc. VAT) is the most common domestic choice in Leeds and Wakefield — big enough for a kitchen refit or a serious clear-out, small enough for a normal driveway. For trade work the 8-yard builder's skip (from £270) is the default, because it's the largest size that can legally carry heavy waste like soil and rubble. If you're genuinely torn between two sizes, take the bigger one: the price gap between sizes is always smaller than the cost of a second skip.

Use the rule of thumb of roughly ten full bin bags per cubic yard. That gives you about 20 bags in a 2-yard mini skip, 40 in a 4-yard midi, 80 in an 8-yard builder's skip and 160 in a 16-yard maxi. It's a guide rather than a guarantee — bulky items like furniture eat space far faster than bagged waste — but if you count your rubbish in bin bags and add a third for optimism, you'll land on the right size almost every time.

No. The 16-yard maxi is strictly for light waste — furniture, wood, plastics, packaging and general strip-out material. Soil, rubble, hardcore and other heavy waste are limited to our 2, 4 and 8-yard skips, because a 16-yarder full of hardcore would weigh far more than a skip lorry can legally lift. If you have a large volume of muck to shift, an 8-yard skip filled level is the biggest single load, and grab hire is usually the cheaper option beyond that.

The load has to be level with the rim of the skip — the 'level load' rule. Anything mounded above the sides can shed on the road, so a skip loaded past the rim can't legally be transported and the driver will ask you to level it off before it leaves. If it can't be levelled, we'd have to arrange a second visit, which costs you time and money. The fix is simple: pick the next size up in the first place. It's always cheaper than a wasted lorry journey.

One big one, nearly every time. Skip prices don't scale with volume: at our from-prices, two 4-yard skips cost £340 while a single 8-yard — the same capacity — costs £270. You also only wait for one delivery and one collection. The exception is when access rules the big skip out, or when a job produces heavy waste in bulk — since heavy waste stops at 8 yards, a second skip (or a grab lorry) is sometimes the only legal way to move it.

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