Skip Hire Near You — Compare Local Suppliers

Skip sizes explained

• Mini (2–3 yd³) — 4ft long, 3ft wide, 3ft high. Sits on a driveway. Good for small bathroom or DIY jobs.
• Midi (4–5 yd³) — 6ft long, 4ft wide, 4ft high. Suits a kitchen rip-out or large garden tidy.
• Builders' (6–8 yd³) — 10ft long, 5ft wide, 4ft high. The default for single-room renovations and small extensions.
• Maxi (10–14 yd³) — 12ft long, 6ft wide, 5–6ft high. For bulky but lighter waste like household clearance and shopfit waste.
• Roll-on Roll-off / RoRo (20–40 yd³) — 20ft+ long. Commercial and construction use; needs lorry access and a flat hard standing.

Permits, placement and how long you can keep it

If the skip can sit entirely on your private property — driveway, front garden, car park — you don't need a permit. If any part sits on a public road, pavement or grass verge, you need a skip permit from your local council. Permits cost £30–£80 in most areas, last 1–2 weeks, and require lights, reflective markers and cones around the skip — all of which the supplier should provide.

Standard skip hire is typically 1–2 weeks at no extra cost. Most suppliers will extend by the day or week for a small fee, but extended hire on a permitted road skip needs a fresh council permit, so it's not always available.

What you cannot put in a skip

• Hazardous waste — asbestos, chemicals, oils, paints, solvents, gas bottles.
• Tyres (separately collected and recycled under the End of Life Vehicles regulations).
• Liquid waste of any kind.
• Clinical or medical waste.
• Electricals and white goods (covered by the WEEE regulations — collect separately).
• Batteries — car, lithium and lead-acid.
• Plasterboard / gypsum (must be separated; mixing it with general waste contaminates the load).
• Mattresses and upholstered POPs items (extra handling fee, often £15–£40 per item).

Skip vs man with a van — which is cheaper?

For one-off small jobs (under a transit van load) man-with-a-van is almost always cheaper because the cost includes labour and there's no permit to arrange. For larger or multi-day projects where waste accumulates gradually, a skip works out cheaper per cubic yard — typically £25–£40/yd³ for a builders' skip versus £40–£60/yd³ in a van load. The break-even point is normally somewhere around 4–5 cubic yards: below that, book a van; above it, hire a skip.