10 Yard Skip Cost UK 2026: £230 to £400
The 10-yard skip is the bridge between the workhorse 8-yard large skip and the heavy-duty 12-yard maxi. It exists because of a real gap in capacity, not just for marketing: an 8-yard holds around 80 bin bags of light waste, a 12-yard around 120, and the 10-yard sits cleanly in between at roughly 100. For medium-scale home renovation and large garden landscaping, the 10-yard is genuinely useful when an 8-yard would force a top-up hire and a 12-yard would leave a meaningful slice unfilled.
Pricing as of May 2026 sits at £230 to £400 nationally, with London running £320 to £540. Those numbers include delivery, a 7 to 14 day hire period, VAT at 20 per cent, and collection. They do not include a road permit (required under Highways Act 1980 section 139 if the skip sits on public highway), which adds £17 to £180 depending on your council, nor any surcharge for plasterboard, mattresses, fridges, or other special-handling items.
One important caveat with the 10-yard: capacity is volumetric, weight limits are typically 4 to 5 tonnes for light waste and 1.5 to 2 tonnes for heavy materials. A 10-yard filled entirely with concrete rubble or wet soil would weigh 15 to 20 tonnes, which is two to three times the skip's weight rating. For heavy-only projects, an inert-rated 8-yard or a grab lorry usually beats a 10-yard on price-per-tonne. This page is most useful for mixed-waste medium-scale projects, where the 10-yard's open-top volumetric design earns its keep.
10 Yard Skip Dimensions and Capacity
Footprint is significantly larger than an 8-yard. A 10-yard typically needs at least a 4.5m x 2m flat placement area plus 3m of overhead clearance for the delivery and collection lorry to lower and lift the chains. If your driveway is short or the lorry needs to swing across pedestrian footpath, factor placement access into the supplier briefing.
What a 10 Yard Skip Actually Holds
The 10-yard suits medium-scale projects that generate mixed light-to-medium waste over a multi-week period. The best fit is typically one to two rooms of full renovation or a complete back-garden landscape. The bin-bag equivalent (around 100) is a useful planning anchor, but bulky items (sofas, mattresses where accepted, broken sheet timber, kitchen units) take up disproportionately more volume than equivalent-weight bagged waste, so price against your actual mix.
Two-room renovation
Full strip-out of a kitchen plus an adjacent utility or bathroom: all units, worktops, tiles, plasterboard, light flooring lift. Fits a 10-yard comfortably with headroom for bagged off-cuts. Heavy floor tiles will hit weight limit before filling visual capacity.
Large garden landscape
Hedge removal, decking lift, paving slab break-up, fence panel replacement, multiple bags of green waste. The 10-yard fits this well, though heavy paving slabs may push weight limit if the deck-and-hedge fraction is small.
Loft conversion clearout
Insulation, dust-sheet ply, plasterboard offcuts, old water tank, bulky storage contents from before conversion. Mixed waste in a 10-yard works well because almost nothing here is dense.
Domestic garage demolition
Single-skin brick or block garage, roof felt, broken concrete base panels (if part-lifted). At the upper weight limit. Consider a separate inert grab lorry for the rubble fraction.
Small commercial fit-out strip
Office partition removal, ceiling tile takedown, carpet lift, IT cabinet removal. Light by weight, bulky by volume, fits a 10-yard cleanly.
Whole-house declutter
Three to four-bed family home full declutter (bagged textiles, broken furniture, garage and loft contents, garden shed). A 10-yard sits at the upper edge of useful for this and most operators recommend a 12-yard maxi if the property has been long-occupied.
Large vs 10-Yard vs Maxi Skip: Side by Side
| Size | Bin Bags | Volume | Price (National) | Available |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Large (8yd) | ~80 | 6 m³ | £200-350 | Widely stocked |
| 10-Yard ← You are here | ~100 | 7.6 m³ | £230-400 | Stocked by most |
| Maxi (12yd) | ~120 | 9 m³ | £250-450 | Widely stocked |
Stepping from 10-yard to 12-yard maxi is typically £20 to £50 for 20 per cent more capacity. If your project has any risk of exceeding volume, the maxi pays for itself in avoiding a top-up hire. Stepping from 8-yard to 10-yard is typically £30 to £50 for 25 per cent more capacity, which is usually worthwhile when you already know you have more than 80 bags of waste.
10 Yard Skip Prices by UK Region
Regional variance for a 10-yard mirrors smaller sizes but the absolute spread is larger because the base price is higher. London adds around £80 to £140 over the national average, mainly because of higher landfill gate fees in the South East and the operator overhead of working within the congestion charge zone. Scotland, the North East, and Northern Ireland sit at the lower end of the range, with rural operators sometimes adding 15 to 25 per cent on top of regional averages because of longer transfer-station drives.
| Region | 10-Yard Skip Price | Local context |
|---|---|---|
| London | £320 - £540 | Highest gate-fee market |
| South East | £270 - £450 | Higher in Surrey and Kent |
| South West | £250 - £420 | Bristol slightly higher |
| Midlands | £230 - £400 | Birmingham, Coventry, Leicester steady |
| North West | £215 - £375 | Manchester and Liverpool similar |
| North East | £200 - £350 | Newcastle and Sunderland |
| Yorkshire | £210 - £365 | Leeds and Sheffield |
| Scotland | £200 - £350 | Lower outside Edinburgh / Glasgow |
| Wales | £210 - £365 | Cardiff matches Midlands |
| Northern Ireland | £200 - £345 | Belfast metro area |
Prices reflect 7-14 day hire including delivery, VAT, and collection. Permit and surcharges added separately. Cross-referenced with HMRC Landfill Tax and council permit schedules as of May 2026.
Weight Limits and Why They Matter on a 10 Yard
The 10-yard skip's commercial design assumes a mixed-waste fill, not a heavy-only fill. Manufacturers rate the body at around 4 to 5 tonnes for general light waste and 1.5 to 2 tonnes for heavy waste. The weight limit is fixed by the skip lorry's safe lifting capacity, the chain-system rating, and the road weight permitted under the operator's Operator Licence with the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency.
What this means in practice: one cubic metre of concrete rubble weighs roughly 2.4 tonnes, brick rubble 1.9 tonnes, and topsoil 1.5 tonnes. A 10-yard filled entirely with concrete would weigh 18 to 20 tonnes, three to four times its rating. The skip lorry physically cannot lift it. The driver will either refuse collection, require you to remove material before lifting, or charge a significant overweight surcharge (typically £80 to £200 per excess tonne).
Practical heavy-waste capacity for a 10-yard is roughly: 0.8 cubic metres of concrete rubble, 1 cubic metre of brick rubble, or 1.2 cubic metres of mixed soil and hardcore. Beyond those volumes, the skip looks visibly empty but is at weight limit. The visual emptiness is the most common cause of overweight surcharges, because the homeowner sees the unused volume and keeps loading.
If your project generates predominantly heavy waste, the cost-effective alternative is a dedicated 6-yard or 8-yard inert-rated skip, which often costs the same as a 10-yard mixed but is engineered for the weight, or a grab lorry for genuinely large rubble volumes. See our builders waste guide for the full weight-limit comparison across sizes.
Road Placement Notes for a 10 Yard
A 10-yard skip is significantly larger than the typical road-placed 6-yard builders skip. Many councils require additional lighting cones (front and rear of skip overnight) and reflective markers when the skip exceeds 3.5m in length. Camden and Westminster also restrict heavy-skip placement on certain residential streets. Always confirm placement viability before booking the skip, not after delivery. See our permits guide for council-by-council requirements.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does a 10 yard skip cost in the UK?
A 10-yard skip costs £230 to £400 nationally as of May 2026, including delivery, a 7 to 14 day hire period, VAT, and collection. London prices typically run £320 to £540, around 35 to 40 per cent higher than the national average. The 10-yard sits between the 8-yard large skip (£200 to £350) and the 12-yard maxi (£250 to £450), most commonly used for medium-scale home renovations and large garden landscaping projects.
Is a 10 yard skip suitable for heavy waste?
Most 10-yard skips have an open-top design and a higher light-waste capacity than weight capacity. Typical weight limits are around 4 to 5 tonnes for light waste and 1.5 to 2 tonnes for heavy waste like soil, rubble, and hardcore. If you are loading concrete or hardcore, you can only fill the skip about a third full before hitting the weight limit. For heavy-waste-only projects, an 8-yard inert-rated skip or a grab lorry is usually more cost-effective.
What can fit in a 10 yard skip?
A 10-yard skip holds approximately 100 standard bin bags of light general waste or roughly 7.6 cubic metres of volume. Typical projects: a full house renovation (one to two rooms gutted), a complete garden landscape including hedge removal and decking lift, a large garage clearance, or a small commercial fit-out. It is the right size when an 8-yard would be tight and a 12-yard maxi would be wastefully empty.
How much space does a 10 yard skip need?
A 10-yard skip measures approximately 13ft long by 6ft wide by 5ft 6in high (4m x 1.8m x 1.7m). It needs a flat, firm placement area larger than a standard family-car parking space. On a driveway, it requires roughly a 4m x 2m clear area plus delivery lorry access. On a road, it requires a council permit and a flat tarmac surface.
Is a 10 yard skip a standard UK size?
A 10-yard skip is stocked by most national and regional operators but is less universal than the 8-yard large or 12-yard maxi. Some operators jump straight from 8-yard to 12-yard. If your nearest supplier does not list a 10-yard, the practical decision usually favours sizing up to the 12-yard maxi: the headroom for an extra £20 to £50 is the cheapest insurance against running out of capacity mid-job.