01
Dumpstering site pallets
A roll-off costs $450–$900, holds about 120 pallets and produces no diversion record.
FixBook scheduled removal. It costs less and produces documentation.
01Specifying for dense product
A cube of brick weighs about 2,600 lb on a footprint smaller than the pallet. Block, tile, stone and bagged material behave the same way: high weight, small contact area, and no forgiveness if the deck flexes.
- Four or five stringers rather than three, to shorten the unsupported span.
- 0.75 in decking minimum where the load sits.
- Full bottom deck if the pallet will sit on uneven ground — and on a site it will.
- Notched entry only if a forklift will handle it; site telehandlers often prefer unnotched.
- Grade B is usually right. Grade A durability is consumed by site conditions within one delivery.
02The pile on site
Empties accumulate at the point of use, and construction sites are the worst possible place for that: no forklift, no yard, no space, and a fire load that a site safety officer will eventually notice.
| Option | Cost | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Roll-off dumpster | $450–$900 per container | Landfilled, no revenue |
| Burn on site | Illegal in most jurisdictions | Fines, emissions |
| Leave for the next trade | $0 today | Someone else's problem, eventually yours |
| Scheduled pallet removal | Free to modest charge | Recovered, documented diversion |
We collect from sites without loading equipment where access allows, and we take the damaged and odd-size stock along with anything recoverable — see pallet removal.
03Diversion reporting for green building credits
Construction waste diversion is a scored item in most green building certification schemes. Wood is typically the second-largest diverted stream after concrete and metal, and pallets are a large share of it. Our collection documentation gives tonnage by stream and diversion outcome, in a format that goes straight into a waste management plan.
By the numbers
The figures worth remembering
Four numbers that decide most of what follows on this page.
- Weight of a cube of brick
- ~2,600 lbWeight of a cube of brick
- Cost of a roll-off of pallets
- $450–900Cost of a roll-off of pallets
- Stringers needed for dense product
- 4–5Stringers needed for dense product
- Minimum deck thickness under masonry
- 0.75 inMinimum deck thickness under masonry
Rules of thumb
Carry these in your head
- 01Dense product concentrates weight on a small contact area.
- 02One-way economics mean cost per trip equals purchase price.
- 03Site pallets are fibre value, and recovery still beats a roll-off.
- 04Wood is usually the second-largest diverted stream after concrete and metal.
Before you order
The decisions we will ask you to make
A quote turnaround is limited by how many follow-up questions we have to ask. Working through this list removes nearly all of them.
- 01
Stringer count
Four or five, not three. Dense product on uneven ground needs a shorter unsupported span.
- 02
Full bottom deck
Site ground is never flat. A full bottom deck spreads the load.
- 03
Grade B is usually right
Site conditions consume a Grade A premium within one delivery.
- 04
Handling equipment
Telehandlers often prefer unnotched. Confirm before specifying notches.
- 05
Removal from the start
Empties accumulate where there is no forklift, no yard and no space.
- 06
Diversion documentation
If the project is chasing a green building credit, the paperwork has to exist.
What goes wrong
Expensive mistakes, and the fix for each
Every one of these turns up in ordinary purchase orders. All of them cost multiples of whatever they appeared to save.
02
Using a standard three-stringer pallet under masonry
It carries the weight statically but deflects badly under handling and does poorly on uneven ground.
FixFour or five stringers with 0.75 in decking and a full bottom deck.
03
Leaving the pile for the next trade
It is free today and becomes your problem, plus a fire load and a safety finding.
FixNominate someone to own the pile and book collection.
Side by side
What to do with the pile
| Option | Cost | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Roll-off dumpster | $450–$900 per container | Landfilled, no revenue |
| Burn on site | Illegal in most jurisdictions | Fines, emissions |
| Leave for the next trade | $0 today | Someone else's problem, eventually yours |
| Scheduled pallet removal | Free to modest charge | Recovered, documented diversion |
Against our interest
When this is the wrong answer
We would rather lose the order than sell you the wrong thing. These are the situations where this page is not what you need.
- 01
Grade A on a job site
Site conditions consume the premium within one delivery. Grade B is the honest specification.
- 02
Three-stringer builds under masonry
A cube of brick weighs about 2,600 lb on a small contact area. A standard deck carries it statically and deflects badly under handling on uneven ground.
- 03
Roll-off dumpsters for pallet waste
$450–$900 per container, no revenue and no diversion record. Scheduled removal costs less and produces documentation.
What moves the price
Cost drivers, and roughly how much each one is worth
A quote is not a list price with a discount applied. It is these variables added up, which is why two quotes for nominally the same thing can differ so widely.
| Driver | What it is | Rough effect |
|---|---|---|
| Build reinforcement | Four or five stringers, 0.75 in decking, full bottom deck. | +20–40% over standard |
| One-way economics | Cost per trip equals purchase price, so the lowest adequate grade wins. | Favours Grade B heavily |
| Site access | No forklift, no yard, restricted hours and shifting locations. | Can force a smaller truck and labour |
| Diversion documentation | Tonnage and outcome recorded for certification submissions. | Usually absorbed in the collection |
Due diligence
Questions to ask any supplier
Us included. The answers tell you a great deal, and so does how quickly they arrive — a yard that has these documents ready is a yard that has thought about them.
- 01
“How many stringers, and is there a full bottom deck?”
- 02
“Will a telehandler or a forklift handle this — notched or unnotched?”
- 03
“Who owns the empty pile on this site?”
- 04
“Will we get tonnage and outcome documentation for the waste plan?”
- 05
“Can collection be scheduled around the build phases?”
The rulebook
Standards and authorities that actually apply
Plenty of pallet marketing invokes standards loosely. These are the real documents behind this subject, and what each one does and does not cover.
- LEED / Green Globes
Green building certification schemes that score construction waste diversion, where wood is typically the second-largest diverted stream.
- Construction waste management plan
Commonly a contractual requirement on larger projects, and the document your collection records feed.
- International Fire Code
Idle pallet storage provisions apply on site as well as in a warehouse.
- OSHA housekeeping requirements
Accumulating material and blocked egress are citable, quite apart from the fire load.
Vocabulary
The terms used on this page
Defined the way the trade uses them, not the way a dictionary would.
- Grade B
- Companion stringers permitted, up to five replaced boards, up to three plugs, squareness within 0.75 inch. The most commonly traded recycled grade.
- Stringer
- The board set on edge that separates the top and bottom decks of a stringer pallet. Usually 1.5 x 3.5 inches nominal.
- Deck coverage
- The percentage of the pallet face covered by boards. A seven-board 48x40 top deck is roughly 87% coverage.
- Core
- An as-collected used pallet — unsorted, unrepaired and ungraded. Raw material rather than a product, and priced accordingly.
From the journal
Longer reading on this subject
Written by the people who grade, repair and haul the wood — including the articles that argue against buying from us.
Industry6 min readPriya Raghunathan
What a pallet audit finding looks like in a food plant
There is no such thing as an FDA-certified pallet. What exists is your documented control, and an auditor is testing whether you have one.
Read
- food safety
- audit
- specification
Operations5 min readRay Castellanos
Racking a pallet the wrong way round loses 40% of its capacity
This is the most common serious warehouse hazard I see, it costs nothing to fix, and almost nobody has been told about it.
Read
- racking
- safety
- load capacity
Sustainability7 min readLena Brandt
What a 92% diversion rate actually measures
Any number you cannot interrogate is a marketing claim. Here is exactly how ours is built, including the part that does not flatter us.
Read
- diversion
- reporting
- ESG
Questions
Answers to what buyers actually ask
Straight answers, including the ones that cost us the sale.
What pallet holds a cube of brick?
A four or five stringer build with 0.75 inch decking and a full bottom deck. A standard three-stringer 48x40 will carry the weight statically but deflects badly under handling and does poorly on uneven ground.
Will you collect pallets from an active construction site?
Yes, where truck access allows. Site pallets are usually damaged and often odd sizes, so they rarely generate a payment — but recovery still costs you less than a roll-off and produces documented diversion.
Can you provide waste diversion documentation for certification?
Yes. Collections are documented with tonnage and outcome, in a format suitable for a construction waste management plan and for green building credit submissions.
What happens to pallets too damaged to reuse?
They are ground, screened and de-metalled into wood fibre for mulch, animal bedding or panel feedstock. We divert 92% of everything entering the yard from landfill, and construction loads — which arrive in the worst condition of any stream — are where the fibre route does most of that work.
Can you supply one-way pallets we do not need back?
That is the normal specification for building products. One-way loads are priced on Grade B or C rather than premium stock, because the deck only has to survive a single trip. Paying for appearance on a pallet that will be broken down on site is money spent on nothing.