Every roll-off truck has a physical limit on the container size it can haul, a single-axle hooklift might top out at a 20-yard box, while a tandem-axle rig handles up to a 40-yard. PortaPro captures this on the vehicle with the Max Container Yards field. When you build a delivery, swap, or pickup job in the Schedule Job wizard, the driver/vehicle picker uses that value to warn you if you've picked a truck that's too small for the container on the job.
This is an advisory check, not a hard block. A truck's `max_container_yards` is the operator's stated limit; if it's wrong, you don't want a rigid gate keeping the job from being scheduled. The warning surfaces the mismatch so you can fix the vehicle record, override, or pick another truck.
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RC-1: Setting Max Container Yards on a Vehicle
Step 1: Open the vehicle. Fleet Management → click the vehicle → Edit.
Step 2: Fill the field
Step 3: Save. The value shows up on the vehicle card as a small "up to N yd" badge and is consumed by the job wizard from that point on.
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RC-2: Two Separate Rules, Both Required for Roll-Off Trucks
Rule 1, `offered_skills` must contain `roll_off`. The equipment-class skill decides whether a truck appears in the picker AT ALL for a roll-off job. A truck without the `roll_off` skill is filtered out of the picker entirely, no matter what its `max_container_yards` says.
Rule 2, `max_container_yards >= container's yardage`. Once a truck IS in the picker, `max_container_yards` decides whether the wizard shows a soft warning next to it when the container on the job is bigger than the truck's stated limit.
Both matter. A shop pickup truck without a hooklift shouldn't have the `roll_off` skill; a single-axle roll-off truck with a legitimate 20-yard limit shouldn't have `max_container_yards` blank or set to 40.
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RC-3: What the Warning Looks Like in the Wizard
In the Schedule Job wizard's Driver & Vehicle step:
This is deliberate. Field capacity varies (an unusual arm, a temporary swap of trucks between yards, a driver who's confident about a marginal case) and hard-blocking would create friction with no upside, the warning is enough for the operator to notice and act.
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RC-4: Why Not Just Use "Capacity" or "Capacity Units"?
The `vehicles` table already has three overloaded capacity fields: `capacity` (free-form), `capacity_units` (units label), and `capacity_gallons` (pumper trucks, vac-truck tank size).
None of them mean "the biggest container this truck can pick up." The Nov 2026 migration added `max_container_yards` specifically so roll-off has its own field and doesn't collide with any of those. If you're used to the older `capacity_gallons` field for vac trucks, keep using it for pumping, `max_container_yards` is a separate field for a separate concept.
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RC-5: Troubleshooting
"The picker shows no trucks at all for my roll-off delivery."
No vehicle has the `roll_off` equipment skill. Fleet Management → vehicle → Skills / Equipment Classes → add `roll_off`. The truck then appears in the picker. `max_container_yards` doesn't affect visibility, only skills do.
"I picked a truck for a 40-yard delivery and got a warning."
The vehicle's `max_container_yards` is smaller than 40 (or blank, but blank suppresses the warning, so it's set to a smaller value). Either fix the vehicle record if the limit is wrong, or pick a bigger truck.
"The badge shows 'up to 40 yd' but the operator says the truck can't do a 40."
Update the vehicle: Fleet Management → the vehicle → Edit → Max Container Yards → set to the real limit. The badge and warning refresh.
"I want to hard-block picking too-small trucks, can I turn the warning into a gate?"
No. The check is advisory by design. If you have a specific scheduling process that requires a stricter rule, use dispatcher discretion, the warning is the signal.
"The field's blank on every truck and I don't see any warnings."
Blank means "no stated limit," so no badge and no warnings (fail-open). Set the field on each real roll-off truck to turn on the check.
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