Excavation spoil is a swap problem, not a size problem
A machine fills a 10 yard bin with soil far faster than anyone expects, and the bin cannot go any bigger because soil weighs about a tonne a cubic yard. So the job is not choosing a size, it is arranging enough swaps to keep the dig moving.
On an active excavation that can mean two or three swaps in a day. We plan those in advance rather than reacting to a phone call, because a machine sitting idle beside a full bin costs more than the bin does.
Landscape work mixes streams more than most jobs: soil, sod, old patio stone, fence panels, brush and sometimes concrete edging all come out together. Keeping the inert material separate is worth doing, which concrete and clean fill covers, and yard waste handles the homeowner version.
6 to 14 ydBin size
~1 t / ydSoil weight
Planned aheadSwaps
On A Dig
Four steps that keep an excavation bin ahead of the machine
Estimate the volume
Cubic yards out of the ground tells us how many swaps the day needs.
Placed for the arm
Within reach of the machine so nothing is double-handled.
Swaps booked ahead
Two or three in a day if that is what the dig needs, planned not reacted to.
Clean loads at fill
Soil and stone kept separate go at the inert rate, not general waste.
Mixed Spoil
What a landscaping bin takes that is not spoil
Brush, hedging, sod and turf are green waste and can be composted where the load is clean. Fence panels, decking, planters and edging timber are general waste. Patio stone, broken concrete and old wall block are inert fill.
Three streams, three rates, and on a large landscape job they are worth separating. On a small one it rarely pays, and the simpler answer is one mixed bin priced as general waste.
Stumps are the awkward one. Cut down they are fine; whole with the root ball attached they are heavy, awkward to tip and sometimes refused. Cut them before loading. Recycling and diversion explains where each stream goes, and what we take lists the rest.
