Stump Removal, what to bid?

Arborist Forum

Help Support Arborist Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

skidsteer.ca

ArboristSite Operative
Joined
Feb 10, 2009
Messages
124
Reaction score
7
Location
NW Ontario
IMG_1522.jpg


5 miles away, 1 stump.
Clean up and refill with dirt likely.

72" at base, 48" the other way and 32" high. Willow stump.
Using grinder attachment on hi flow skidsteer, I generally work by the hour without cleanup. Thinking this is 2 hours of grinding if i can saw it down lower first. BUt have never tried on this large yet and I generally come for more then stumps, but not in this case.
What do you think?
Ken
 
IMG_1522.jpg


5 miles away, 1 stump.
Clean up and refill with dirt likely.

72" at base, 48" the other way and 32" high. Willow stump.
Using grinder attachment on hi flow skidsteer, I generally work by the hour without cleanup. Thinking this is 2 hours of grinding if i can saw it down lower first. BUt have never tried on this large yet and I generally come for more then stumps, but not in this case.
What do you think?
Ken

No way that should take you 2 hours. It's willow.
 
You need to pass up those size stumps or get a bigger stumper. It would take me about a half hour to grind that stump after cutting it to ground level. If nearby I get $200. If this to become a regular client you should school them to cut to ground level. Some likelyhood some kid may have tossed a foreign object, stone, concrete, etc. in that crotch. Costly on saw and/or teeth.

I am going to scoop up with the mini and leave the hole a little below level. Cost is another $100. for cleanup. More for topsoil, seed and straw. Wrong time of year to grow grass and I don't like to do that part anyway.
 
Hey CA what's up? I remember you from the skidsteer forum I used to frequent. In the market for a grinder soon myself, thinking of going with the highflow skidsteer setup. One problem though, I need the highflow skidsteer. Good to see you around.
 
I demoed the hyd grinder on my Dingo and it was garbahge. Thought bout the diesel powered BMA aftermarket attachment but at about $10k....opted out.
 
Ken, I forgot to give you a bid, $100 final offer. I think that would cover it even adding dirt. Stumps seem to go cheaper than they should.

BTW, I spend all my forum time here now. I believe if you look at my last Skidsteer forum post it goes something like this " are there any arborists here?"
 
Last edited:
Well I don't do enough of them to justify a dedicated machine, even if it takes me 2 hours. I can generally do 12 to 18 12" to 20" stumps per hour. These were mostly poplar, balm and spruce. i know willow is not too tough but have never touched one. I can put about 38 hp to the wheel
I try to figure on 100 to 120 hour with a 3 hour min, including 1 way travel. But as I said we usually come and do some dirt work, ditching, trenching, remove rocks, trees, etc and so I added the grinder to remove stumps to big to dig with the hoe or for when grinding is the prefered method of removal.
There is only one other grinder here to my knowledge, 45 miles away with a 25 hp gas vermeer. I believe he needs it down to about 8" high to get on top of it.
Guess I'll bid it and see, its only 1 stump, near home.
Ken
 
I demoed the hyd grinder on my Dingo and it was garbahge. Thought bout the diesel powered BMA aftermarket attachment but at about $10k....opted out.

So how much flow and pressure does a Dingo have?
I'm talking about a 25 gpm New Holland running at 2600 psi. And the attachment was 4500 with height and side sweep cylinders. (Bobcat uses a 3rd cylinder that I have to drive forward or back to duplicate its movement) Run from the cab and the chip fly away from the machine. Be nice whn I get a loader with AC someday.

There are definitely bigger grinders, but I think I could hold my own with some of the mid size 30 to 40 hp machines. And not that it helps in this case but I can travel at 7 mph, climb some means slopes and start 10 ft high if need be.

Btw how would you cut that flush, you would need a 4 ft bar. I was thinking I could cut the 3 stubs off some. (12 inches)
If I get it I'll let you know I guess.

Hey Nails good to see you around. Did you get into the bucket business? Looking for some this fall, ole man winter kicked our azz last year. Never could find a site under Trinity. Shoot me a email sometime. The little forum that could is still going, though pretty quiet there in the summer months. 2000 plus members now. Still using that shear you built

Ken
 
Last edited:
So how much flow and pressure does a Dingo have?

Not sure as to the answer to that but I know it has 5 pumps. It is too light for this application but when a 25 to 30 hp diesel engine is added the dynamics are changed.

Was just reacting to your statement of 2 hours of cutting and like you said you can tear up a lot of small stumps in a day. Prob best to stay in that niche.

I have a 35 hp machine and a 65 hp machine. The big one would do that stump in about a half hour and I would get $200, about $3. per inch widest dia or pass on it. I do not need stump work for income and have the cutters to complete tree removals so I get the removal. There are a thousand guys around here just cutting stumps.
 
I usually hand off single stumps to my sub but if I were doing that myself it would be at least $150 just to grind. Clean up and fill would be another hundred. Your looking at $250 bottom dollar around here if I do it. I'm sure there are stumpers out there that would do it cheaper but I wouldn't be one of those guys.
 
Most of our stumps (the 50 or I done) are in that range of 12 to 20"
I know if I run on the primary 15 gpm pump only the grinder is not too impressive, but when I kick in the 2nd pump it takes all the 42 hp the little diesel has to offer and I'm fairly impressed. But have never watch a 65 hp grinder work.
I think I'll bid it at 300. Believe the only other option is to bring in a big excavator and a dump truck and that won't come cheap either. Don't think the other fellow can do it for any less. For one stump some $ has to be there for the hassle of setup.
Ken
 
For grinding only with no clean up should be about 200.00. Should only take about 15 minutes with the right size grinder. Lots of room on this job so its an easy one. Clean up would be extra. Willow actully can be difficult to grind especially if your teeth are not overly sharp. Instead of cutting the teeth smash their way through the stump as opposed to a hard word where you can hear the teeth cut their way through.
 
So how much flow and pressure does a Dingo have?
I'm talking about a 25 gpm New Holland running at 2600 psi. And the attachment was 4500 with height and side sweep cylinders. (Bobcat uses a 3rd cylinder that I have to drive forward or back to duplicate its movement) Run from the cab and the chip fly away from the machine. Be nice whn I get a loader with AC someday.

There are definitely bigger grinders, but I think I could hold my own with some of the mid size 30 to 40 hp machines. And not that it helps in this case but I can travel at 7 mph, climb some means slopes and start 10 ft high if need be.

Btw how would you cut that flush, you would need a 4 ft bar. I was thinking I could cut the 3 stubs off some. (12 inches)
If I get it I'll let you know I guess.

Hey Nails good to see you around. Did you get into the bucket business? Looking for some this fall, ole man winter kicked our azz last year. Never could find a site under Trinity. Shoot me a email sometime. The little forum that could is still going, though pretty quiet there in the summer months. 2000 plus members now. Still using that shear you built

Ken

It's Trophy now. We made and sold 25 buckets or so, then the distributor went out of business, so that's how it goes. I should swing back over to the skid forum and bs sometime. That shear is still going, I don't use it much though cause I like chainsaws too much. I am thinking of a S205 Bobcat with highflow and 2-speed sometime in the near future, what da ya think?

300 sounds like a good price for that stump, that's what you should get.
 
$3.50/in with remove and backfill. I include the soil crown in the figure, to bring the whole thing close to grade. Adding in an extra foot for that puts it at $294, add a bit to cap the stump and resharpen the saw; I would be at $325
 
It's Trophy now. We made and sold 25 buckets or so, then the distributor went out of business, so that's how it goes. I should swing back over to the skid forum and bs sometime. That shear is still going, I don't use it much though cause I like chainsaws too much. I am thinking of a S205 Bobcat with highflow and 2-speed sometime in the near future, what da ya think?

300 sounds like a good price for that stump, that's what you should get.

You would like that machine I'm sure, I just picked up a 340 hr S185 with cab and power QA. They' re pretty nice.
Would have liked hi flow.
2 speed & ac would be nice at times.
For what I paid I can't kick and may put the hi flow on this winter. Though the 2100.00 in parts plus 20 hours of my labour has me waiting to see how the summer goes on that expenditure. I'd have to of spent another 5 grand or so to buy one with it already on. So that will be on the winter project list.
Yes stop by and see us at ssf sometime.

Sounds like I'm not too far out on my numbers. It one stump, can't take to big of a "lesson" on that. (watch me find a crowbar in it now, lol)

Ken
 
I've found i'm usually better off leaving the stump a little higher and grinding extra than trying to cut real low and shooting the chain. My grinder will hold up to a lot more steel and rocks than my chainsaws will. That stump would go for around $200 no cleanup around here. I usually charge about the same for cleanup that I did for the stump. Which means I rarely do cleanup. I tell people it would be cheaper for them to hire the neighbor kid to do that. Pretty much the only time I do cleanup is on jobs with multiple big stumps where we bring in the loader.
 
With my 665a, I could grind it in about 45 minutes. $90 if it was cut off closer to ground level (about 6-8" above grade). That's $1.50/inch x 60" average diameter. Add $30 (.50/inch x 60") for each 8" taller.

In this case, as the stump sits, I would charge $90 base + approx $60 for the extra height = total price of $150 to grind only.

Cleanup depends on location. In this case, it looks like I could clean it up with my mini skid in about 20 minutes. Cost would be about 50-75% of total grinding cost so another $100.

Dirt fill is usually 100% of BASE grinding cost so, in this case, around $90.

Total cost for grinding, cleanup and fill = 150+100+90 = $340 plus tax.
 
I have run a a "dingo" hydro stump grinder for nearly 3 years and I honestly wish I had heard TV's advice 3 years ago. I have just bought a Bandit hb20 and would estimate this machine is roughly 3 times faster than the existing unit I using the exact same teeth.

As to stump pricing, I have always priced on diameter at base on the longest measurement. This is Australia so pricing will be radically different but I can easily get the same or higher hourly rate for stumps as I can for tree work with my new grinder.

I think TV has it right. If your nearest competitor is 45 miles away you have a monopoly and can fairly charge what YOU think you are worth.

I would be interested to find out, assuming you get the job, exactly how long it took you to grind this stump with your rig. Thanks. :)
 
I have run a a "dingo" hydro stump grinder for nearly 3 years and I honestly wish I had heard TV's advice 3 years ago. I have just bought a Bandit hb20 and would estimate this machine is roughly 3 times faster than the existing unit I using the exact same teeth.



I would be interested to find out, assuming you get the job, exactly how long it took you to grind this stump with your rig. Thanks. :)

That stump is still there at the hospitol, suckering up to beat the band. Guess I'll see if I get it this summer....
Ken
 
Back
Top