Stump grind pricing

[CuriousGeorge17]

I'm new to the site so I'd appreciate any direction y'all could give me. I've read probably every discussion on stump grinding on the site and I'm sure y'all are tired of it. I just needed to ask for myself since I haven't seen any that are more recent than a few years ago or in the south. I have a full time job with a pretty large tree company and have thrown around getting into stump grinding on the side. Well I think I'm going to move forward on it and start hunting for a machine locally. But my question is on pricing. A friend of my wife wanted some stumps ground so I thought this may be my first job even though I was going to have to rent a machine. He had a oak stump that was almost 40 inches with roots that spread 6 feet in multiple directions. He also had 3 30-32 inch oak stumps and two 18-20 inch pine stumps. I quoted him 500 dollars. He told me the last guy that had started on them before he broke down was charging him 25 bucks a piece. Am I way too high? Or was the other guy just giving it away? I'm slightly discouraged that my first potential job fell through due to the price. Just looking see if I'm way off or something. Thanks for any advice y'all can provide.

 

[Wickets]

Just dropping in to say that you must charge what you feel is right and so at the end of the job, you feel like a winner and the person you did the work for feels like they got their monies worth. btw, $25 got your wife's friend zilch...the dude might as well have just offered to do the work for for a hotdog and a glass of warm tap water!

 

[Bwoell14]

I've looked into doing stumps but farm them out instead. I'm no expert but $25 is stupid. The guy I use has a $50 minimum and charged $400 for 2 of those oak stumps you described. With a $50,000 grinder, it'd take 2000 stumps just to break even. I'd say your price is fair.


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[ATH]

Guy I sub stumps out to charges $2 per inch of diameter...no minimum. That is why I don't buy a grinder.

I'd probably be more like $50 plus $2 per inch to make it feel worthwhile. He is happy. I am happy. Clients are happy (assuming he shows up...had a couple of problems with that last year).

 

[CuriousGeorge17]

Thanks y'all I didn't think I was completely crazy. I couldn't have done it for 25 a piece even if he was MY friend, rentals aren't cheap around here. That was right around $3 an inch not including the roots. But hopefully it was just a fluke since I'm on the hunt for a machine to get the ball rolling. Pickings are slim down in south Mississippi it seems.

 

[jefflovstrom]

We do a lot of stumps all year, always by the hour.
Jeff

 

[Deleted member 117362]

A local tree service here charges $50 for those smaller stumps and $75-100 for larger one. So you are in the ball park for this area.