Tipper truck hire: sizes, tons and charges
In short
Whether you call it hire or rental, rigid tippers of 6 or 10 cubes suit most site work, 18 cube trucks take bigger loads where they can get in, and 34 ton side tippers suit bulk loads moved in volume. A cube measures space and a ton measures weight, so a full bin can still be too heavy. This guide covers sizes, tons, charges and the rules that apply in South Africa.
Which tipper truck size suits the job?
What each truck usually suits. Access decides as much as the load: a bigger truck only helps if it can reach the place it tips, turn and leave. The rigid rows are general site practice; the end tipper and side tipper rows draw on a 2015 trade article.[1]
| Truck | What it usually suits | Worth putting in your request |
|---|---|---|
| 6 or 10 cube rigid tipper | Most site work: soil, sand, stone or rubble over short trips. | The material, roughly how many cubes or loads, and how many trucks. Soil takes up more room once dug, so a cube in the ground fills more than a cube of bin. |
| 18 cube rigid tipper | Bigger loads per trip, where the site and the route can take a larger truck. | Any tight access, soft ground, overhead lines or height limit on the way in or where it tips. |
| End tipper semi-trailer | Construction work: easier to manoeuvre and reverse on a building site than an interlink, and needs a careful tipping routine so it does not fall over. | Where it must reverse and tip, and whether the ground is level there. |
| 34 ton side tipper (interlink) | Heavy bulk loads such as ore, chrome, coal or crushed stone. It carries a bigger payload and is more stable when tipping. A 2015 trade article says it is only economical when fully loaded and operating every working day. | Tons a day, the route, how long the work runs and where the trucks are weighed. |
How many tons is a full 6 or 10 cube tipper?
A cube is a cubic metre of space, so the weight depends on the material. These are what a full bin would weigh at indicative loose densities from a United Kingdom reference, which says to use the supplier's figure where accuracy matters, and water adds more. They are not what a truck may legally carry, so ask for its payload. A full 18 cube bin of building sand would weigh about 28 tons. We found no dependable figure for rubble, which varies with what is in it.[4]
| Material | Weight of a full 6 cube bin | Weight of a full 10 cube bin |
|---|---|---|
| Topsoil | About 7.8 tons | About 13 tons |
| Subsoil fill | About 8.9 tons | About 14.8 tons |
| Building sand | About 9.3 tons | About 15.4 tons |
| Crushed stone, 19 mm | About 9.6 tons | About 16 tons |
| Crusher run | About 11 tons | About 18.4 tons |
What does 34 ton mean on a side tipper?
It is the load, not the truck. One South African trailer maker's published interlink figures are a payload of 36,550 kg on a 25 cube combination, 35,340 kg on 40 cubes and 34,780 kg on 45 cubes, all at a gross combination mass of 56,000 kg.[3]
The bigger bin carries less, because the trailer itself weighs more. And dense material reaches the payload long before the bin is full: 45 cubes of building sand at the indicative density above would weigh about 69 tons.[3][4]
How is tipper truck hire charged?
Tipper hire is usually charged in one of the ways below. We found no comparable published hire rates with a date on them, so this guide gives none: the price depends on the job, and asking for it on the same basis is what makes responses comparable.
- By the day: common when trucks work on your site, often with a minimum. Ask what counts as a full day, and who pays for waiting.
- By the load: common for rubble or material going one way. Distance, traffic and any dumping fee all change it.
- By the hour: common for short or uncertain work. Ask about a minimum number of hours and travel to the site.
- By the ton, or per ton per kilometre on longer routes: common for side tippers on bulk haulage, and it relies on a weighbridge where the trucks load or offload.
- With a driver or without: hire with a driver, and often fuel, is called wet hire, and the truck on its own is dry hire. Not everyone uses the terms the same way, so ask whether the rate includes the driver and the diesel. On dry hire, settle who provides the fuel and the cover for damage.
Ask for the trucks you need
Choose the truck that fits the job and describe the work, free. Headcore puts your request in front of companies that hire out those trucks and serve your area. Headcore does not hire out trucks itself.
Companies decide whether to respond from what you write. Say what must move, how much, from where to where and for how long.
Rigid tippers for your site
6, 10 or 18 cube trucks for soil, sand, stone or rubble, by the day, the load or the hour.
Hire tipper trucksSide tippers for bulk loads
34 ton trucks for crushed stone, coal or ore moved in volume from where it loads to where it is needed.
Hire side tippers
Why each detail helps
- The load: Soil, rubble, sand or rock, and roughly how many cubes or loads.
- Truck size: 6 or 10 cube, or bigger, if you know, and how many trucks.
- From where to where: Where the trucks load, where they offload, and the distance between the two.
- How long: Days or weeks, and the date you need it on site.
- The site: The town, access for a truck or lowbed, and the ground conditions.
Need tippers urgently.
We want to hire two 10 cube tipper trucks with drivers at a day rate for a week, to move about 800 cubes of soil from our site in Boksburg to a stockpile 3 km away. A TLB on site loads them.
Road and rubble rules in South Africa
On a public road, a truck and trailer combination may not exceed its permissible maximum combination mass. That limit is the lowest of several figures, including the sum of its axle limits, and this regulation caps it at 56,000 kg, or 48,000 kg where the drawing vehicle is a haulage tractor with a single driving axle.[5]
- Goods on a vehicle on a public road must be safely contained in its body or securely fastened to it, and properly protected from being dislodged or spilled.[6]
- The driver of a goods vehicle over 3,500 kg gross vehicle mass must hold a professional driving permit (PrDP), with limited exceptions. That matters most on dry hire, when you provide the driver.[7]
- A consignor must require the vehicle operator's written submission on the payload and how the load is distributed, and neither a consignor nor a consignee may contract to move goods on a vehicle if the load would overload it. The regulations define those two terms and they may not cover every business: see the questions below.[8]
- Where a tipper works as a construction vehicle, the company carrying out the construction work must make sure its operator is trained, authorised in writing and medically fit. The vehicle needs an automatic reversing alarm and a daily inspection recorded in a register kept in it. On a public road it must also comply with the National Road Traffic Act.[9]
- In Johannesburg, the owner or occupier of the premises where building waste arises, or the developer, must have it collected and transported by a company the City has accredited. It must go to a licensed disposal facility unless an exception in the by-law applies, such as approved land reclamation, recycling or licensed treatment. Elsewhere, ask the municipality.[10]
- Under the same by-law, whoever deposits the waste, whether the waste generator, the builder or the waste removal company, must get a weigh bill from the disposal site and keep it for 12 months. If they cannot produce a weighbridge certificate, the waste is presumed to have been disposed of unlawfully until the contrary is proven.[10]
Questions to ask before the trucks arrive
What buyers usually ask the company they choose, before the first load.
- What is this truck's legal payload for this material? Can we have that in writing?
- Who loads the trucks, and who is responsible if a truck leaves overloaded?
- Where does the load go, who pays any dumping fee, and who keeps the weigh bills?
- Does your driver hold a PrDP, and do you meet our site's induction and vehicle check requirements?
- What happens to the price if the trucks wait, or if a truck breaks down?
- What cover is in place for the truck, the load and damage on site?
- If this is building waste in Johannesburg, is your company accredited by the City to transport it?[10]
- Do the consignor and consignee rules apply to us? A trade article quoting the regulations ties those terms to more than 500,000 kg of goods a month by road, but the consignor wording also names whoever engages the operator or loads the vehicle. If you are unsure, take advice.[2]
- Are you certified under the Road Transport Management System? It is voluntary, so a company without it is not breaking a rule, but its aims include preventing overloading and daily vehicle checks.[11]
How Headcore helps with this hire
Keep your usual transport company in the mix. Headcore helps you find additional companies that can supply this.
- 01
Describe the load and the trips
Start in your own words: what, how many loads and where to. You review the request before anything is posted.
- 02
Reach companies that hire out tippers
Companies that hire out tipper trucks and serve your area see the request. Each decides for itself whether to respond.
- 03
Choose who to speak with
Compare how they would approach it, reveal your company only to the ones you choose, and deal with them directly.
Questions buyers ask
What does it cost to post a request?
Posting a request is free. A supplier pays one token when it decides your request is worth answering. What you agree about the work is between you and the supplier.
Who sees my request?
Companies that do this specific work, within reach of your site. They see the job. Whether they also see your company name is your choice: you can stay anonymous until you pick who to talk to.
Can I hire tipper trucks with drivers?
Yes. Say how many trucks and drivers you need, and whether a machine on site loads them. Suppliers respond to the job as you describe it.
Who arranges where the load is tipped?
Say where it must go: a stockpile on site, a licensed dump site or another site. Building waste has its own rules, so check them first. If you need the supplier to find a dump site, say so in your request.
Is side tipper hire priced per ton or per load?
Both are common. Per ton usually relies on a weighbridge at loading or offloading. Say how you want it priced, or ask suppliers to say how they would price it.
What does tipper truck hire or rental cost?
It depends on the truck, the material, the distance and how long you need it, and we found no comparable published rates with a date on them. Describe the job in your request and ask suppliers to price it on the same basis, such as by the day or by the load.
How many tons is a 10 cube tipper?
Ten cubes of loose material weigh roughly 13 tons for topsoil to 18 tons for crusher run, using the indicative figures above. That is the weight of the material, not the truck's legal payload, so ask the supplier what the truck may carry.
Start with what you know.
Choose rigid or side tippers and describe the job, free. You review the request before anything is posted.
Choose your truckSources
- FOCUS on Transport and Logistics, Side-tipping trailers get the tip?, 1 September 2015.
- FOCUS on Transport and Logistics, Consignor, consignee legislation revisited, 21 February 2023.
- Truck & Trailer, A Look at Side Tippers from AFRIT Trailers, 21 July 2022.
- Designing Buildings, Converting between weight and volume for bulk construction materials, accessed November 2026.
- National Road Traffic Regulations, 2000 (text at Acts Online), Regulation 237: Permissible maximum combination mass, proviso substituted by Notice R. 846 of 2014.
- National Road Traffic Regulations, 2000 (text at Acts Online), Regulation 246: Manner in which goods to be carried, accessed November 2026.
- National Road Traffic Regulations, 2000 (text at Acts Online), Regulation 115: Certain drivers to have professional driving permit, accessed November 2026.
- National Road Traffic Regulations, 2000 (text at Acts Online), Regulation 330A: Offering and acceptance of goods on overloaded vehicle prohibited, in force from 31 January 2015.
- Construction Regulations, 2014 (text at Acts Online), Regulation 23: Construction vehicles and mobile plant, 7 February 2014.
- City of Johannesburg, Waste Management By-law, 2021, section 21, 13 October 2021.
- Western Cape Government, Road freight infrastructure and safety, accessed November 2026.
Last checked: November 3, 2026