What a Commercial Dumpster Enclosure Costs

We build the metal on an enclosure: the gates, a roof or a fence on top of the wall, or the whole enclosure in steel or chain link. A mason lays block walls and a concrete contractor pours the pad. The gates for one enclosure run $3,500 to $15,000 when several are on the same job, a repair runs $900 to $3,000, and a whole chain-link enclosure runs $9,000 to $11,000.

What drives the cost

The opening width sets how much steel the gates take, so it moves the number more than anything else. After that: one leaf or two, how many enclosures are on the same job, the panel type, and the finish. On a repair the driver is different: how much of the existing gate is still sound, because new steel has to be welded to sound steel.

Your city sets the enclosure standards for size, screening and access, and the owner or the GC pulls the permit. We build to the approved plan. Sacramento publishes its enclosure design standards if you want the code language.

What we build and repair

• Gates: welded steel frames and leaves sized to the opening, one leaf on a narrow one and two on a wide one.
• Panels: corrugated metal or B-deck sheet on the leaves, primed or painted to match.
• Hardware: posts set in concrete or plated to the slab, Locinox or Mammoth hinges on the bigger gates, cane bolts to hold each leaf.
• A roof, or a fence above the wall: chain link or metal decking on a steel frame for a roof; flat-top or spear-top pickets set on the block for a fence.
• Repairs: new hinges, cane bolts, re-welds, panel swaps, a bent upright cut out and replaced.

The code side and the sizing are in our guide to dumpster enclosures; the service page is trash and dumpster enclosures.

What it costs

Primer only sits at the bottom of the gate range and painted at the top. One enclosure on its own costs more per unit than four on the same job, because the crew, the truck and the fabrication setup get spread over fewer gates. A roof, a fence on top of the wall, or bollards inside the enclosure are priced on top.

Repairs, the most common call

Most enclosure calls are repairs, because the gate is the part that takes the hits. A leaf starts dragging, a hinge tears loose, the truck backs into a panel, or the cane bolts are gone and the gate will not stay open or shut. New hinges, cane bolts and a re-weld of loose panels sit at the bottom of the band. Both leaves rebuilt with new uprights, four new corrugated panels and paint to match sit at the top, and that is where the new-gate comparison starts to matter. The repairs are broken down one by one in dumpster enclosure repair.

Chain-link enclosures

Some sites build the whole enclosure in chain link instead of block: galvanized fabric on steel posts with a swing gate on Mammoth hinges. At 8 feet high on a footprint of about 13 by 20 feet, the whole build runs $9,000 to $11,000. Privacy slats weave into the fabric to screen the bins.

What to send for a quote

The opening width, one gate or two, how many enclosures, and a photo of the enclosure or the gate. We price most of them from the photos, the same way we handle gate repair.