Not sure if your job is a "quarter truck" or a "half truck"? Here’s a practical way to tell.
Last updated 22 July 2026
Rather than counting individual items, it’s more useful to think about how much of a truck your pile would fill. A few boxes or a single chair is a small fraction. A couch plus a fridge, or the contents of one room, is roughly a quarter. A full garage or medium room is around half. A full house or office clearance typically fills the whole truck.
A standard queen mattress and base is a useful mental yardstick — roughly 2m long, 1.5m wide. A pile that would need three or four mattress-equivalents of floor space to lay flat is in the "half truck" range; one that would fill an entire garage floor is likely a full load.
Height matters as much as floor area — a pile stacked to shoulder height takes up meaningfully more truck volume than the same items spread flat.
Upload photos anyway — this is exactly what our quoting process is built for. We’ll assess the volume from your photos and confirm the estimate, so you don’t need to get the fraction exactly right yourself.
What if I underestimate and it turns out bigger?
Since we quote from your actual photos rather than your stated estimate, this isn’t usually an issue — just make sure your photos show the full extent of the job.
Does packed-tight rubbish take up less truck space than loose rubbish?
Not really — loose or awkwardly shaped items (furniture, appliances) often take up more effective truck volume than their footprint suggests, due to how they stack.