Dumpster Enclosures: Code, Size, Gate, and Cost

Different trades build different parts of an enclosure. A mason lays the block walls. A concrete contractor pours the pad. We build the metal: the gates, a roof or a fence on top of the wall, or the whole enclosure in steel or chain link. Your city sets the height and the screening, and inside those rules the gates run $3,500 to $15,000 an enclosure.

What your city requires

Your building department sets the enclosure requirements for a commercial property, and it usually asks for:

• Walls tall enough to hide the bins, often around six feet.
• A solid gate. The bins should not show through it.
• A concrete or paved pad under the whole thing.
• Gates that do not swing out into the public right-of-way.

The City of Sacramento’s trash enclosure standards show how detailed it gets. Other cities differ, so confirm with yours before anything gets built. The permit is yours or your GC’s to pull; we build to the approved plan.

Sizing it

The enclosure holds the bins, plus room to roll them in and out, room for the lids to open, and clearance for the gate to swing without hitting a bin. If recycling or organics bins are coming, widening a block enclosure later means taking a wall down and re-laying it.

The gate

The gate is the part of the enclosure that wears, because it opens every time the bins move. A light gate sags until the drop pin no longer lines up with its hole.

A gate built for it uses a welded steel tube frame with steel or chain-link infill, heavy-duty hinges (Mammoth and Locinox), and a cane bolt or drop rod to hold each leaf open and closed. Self-closing hinges go on where the city wants the gate to shut on its own. Bollards inside the enclosure, filled with concrete or hollow, sit between the truck and the gate posts. Powder coat is there if the gate has to match the building.

Roofs, fences on top, and all-steel

A roof keeps rain off the bins, which some cities require, and covers the open top of the enclosure. It sits on a steel frame, in chain link or in metal decking. A fence can also go on top of the wall, with spear-top or flat-top pickets set on the block.

The whole enclosure can also be built in steel or chain link instead of block. Steel can be cut and re-welded later if the bin setup changes.

What it costs

The price depends on how many bins (which sets the gate width), how many enclosures are on the job, the finish, and what goes on top.

The gates for one enclosure run $3,500 to $15,000 when several enclosures are on the same job, primer only at the bottom of that and painted at the top. One enclosure on its own costs more per unit, because the crew, the truck and the fabrication setup get spread over fewer gates. A repair to an existing enclosure runs $900 to $3,000. A roof, a fence on the wall, or bollards are priced on top. For the whole structure including the block, industry figures put most enclosures around $2,000 to $8,000 per dumpster, with the pad priced separately.

What to send for a quote

A quote on a dumpster enclosure needs the number and size of the bins, the dimensions or a site plan, if a pad is already poured, and any finish it has to match.