What to do in off season?

[dirthawger]

I've just started stump grinding about a month ago. I've had moderate success, my goal was to make equipment payment and advertising, and I've successfully exceeded that. I have had a little trouble competing with the guys that are willing to grind all day for next to nothing but I'm still making it. I was curious as to what y'all do in the off season, I've heard stump grinding gets real slow in the winter. I've considered selling firewood but don't have a lot of access to free wood.

 

[Ted Jenkins]

40 years ago I Paved driveways and made access roads during summer months then cut firewood during winter months. That concept was a constant failure. The weather proved to be too too unpredictable. Some years I could lay asphalt all year long then other years we had 4 months of snow. Asphalt work was by far more profitable during warmer months. However asphalt work requires a crew of at least one or two people or more. Then it is a full time endeavor to keep the work lined up and scheduled. Fire wood is very hard work and not so profitable, but it can scheduled for days off. I cut cut wood 12 months a year and rarely have much wood laying around. It gets delivered almost as soon as it is split. Most customers do care if they get delivered in the summer and most do not worry about paying as soon as it is delivered. Most of my wood has not been free. Right now I am removing several dead trees from a property for free. That is not free because I have to reduce the brush as much as possible and keep everything neat. The good side is that wood sells for a high price here. Thanks

 

[steppe]

It all depends what else you are willing to do. In winter I usually run hunting parties. Terrible job to get paid to go hunting Plus I normally drop a line about how I do tree work normally and sometimes that gives me new leads on work!

 

[dirthawger]

if I did try and sell firewood, where do i get my supply as I don't cut trees down

 

[benjo75]

Don't compete with the guys who work all day for little to nothing. Their machines and bodies will be wore out soon and they still won't have any money. I've watched those kinds of tree services come and go around here for 25 years. You can charge an honest price and do quality work and at the end of the year you'll be way ahead.

I used to sell firewood and I still keep a few cords stacked and covered. But I don't advertise because there's no money in it. It's just if I have plenty of energy and want something to do. I'm not above mowing, bush hogging or odd tractor jobs. I usually use any down time I have to completely go over my saws and maintenance on equipment. I usually have a couple weeks of preventative maintenance that can be done at any given time. I used to call other tree services that I work with and see if they have any jobs in my area that could use one of my buckets or even just a ground man for a day or two. I always offer to rake. I don't like it but neither do they and it can give you a few days of work sometimes. And that can lead to other jobs.

Get signs on your truck and trailers. Go to Wal Mart and park right up front so everyone has to walk right by your grinder to get in the store. People who might not even be considering having work done might suddenly be reminded of that old stump they're tired of mowing around. Go to the grocery store around 5 or 6 in the evening when everyone is getting off work and the store's are busy. Spend an hour or so there. Sit in the truck and do paperwork. You'll be surprised how many people walk up and ask if you grind stumps. Yes, with a stump grinder on your trailer they'll still ask. Free advertising is always good.

 

[dirthawger]

Yea I need to get me some signs on my truck for sure. I know I'm just impatient waiting on the phone to ring everyday which just isn't going to happen, especially just starting out. I've actually done good I think 1700 so far this month. I was just thinking selling firewood would be a great way to make some extra cash, but doesn't look like it.

 

[dirthawger]

i also wanted to ask, where or who should i talk to to get those 100+ stump jobs, I got a carlton 7015 trx and would be very profitable with those types of jobs. Guy I bought it from said he never really messed with residential, he would mostly do commercial jobs, just curious if he was just blowing smoke or what.

 

[Sundriedtomatoes]

Im not sure what it's like where you're at, but if you need wood call your local tree guys. On removals we have to hump wood out and PAY someone to dump in their lots. If you say "I'll take it for free just help me load it." I'm sure they'd jump on that. We have in the past. Issue would be drying it in such short time.

 

[no tree to big]

i also wanted to ask, where or who should i talk to to get those 100+ stump jobs, I got a carlton 7015 trx and would be very profitable with those types of jobs. Guy I bought it from said he never really messed with residential, he would mostly do commercial jobs, just curious if he was just blowing smoke or what.

We get big contracts from 70 years of contacts...we have a few big landscape construction guys who we do tens of thousands of dollars of work for. The big jobs are few and far... maybe ask the guy u bought it from who he worked for? Most guys who clear land have their own grinders. Talk to excavating company's big earth moving companies anybody who moves dirt.
You say u did 1700 in a month how many days did u actually work? How many stumps? How many locations? How much did you pay for the grinder, truck, and trailer? What where your operating expenses? (Fuel and teeth)

It's hard to give advise from a thousand miles away that is market sensitive

Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk

 

[dirthawger]

We get big contracts from 70 years of contacts...we have a few big landscape construction guys who we do tens of thousands of dollars of work for. The big jobs are few and far... maybe ask the guy u bought it from who he worked for? Most guys who clear land have their own grinders. Talk to excavating company's big earth moving companies anybody who moves dirt.
You say u did 1700 in a month how many days did u actually work? How many stumps? How many locations? How much did you pay for the grinder, truck, and trailer? What where your operating expenses? (Fuel and teeth)

It's hard to give advise from a thousand miles away that is market sensitive

Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk

I paid 27500 for the machine, truck and trailer are paid for, forgot how much I paid for those. I'd have to look at my books to see how many days but I guess 7 days and all but 1 were 2 hour jobs, the other was 4 hours. So I can't complain. I'm just trying to get more business coming in. Luckily I'm not reliant on stump grinding to pay my bills. That's all very good advice y'all have given me. Guess I need to break out the phone book and look for excavating companies. One company that would be great are logging companies, ever do business for them? They leave tons of stumps, lol.

 

[benjo75]

You might talk to some smaller loggers. There are still a couple around here that log with mules. They usually get the back yard jobs and the jobs that aren't too big or too far out of civilization. The kind of homeowners who want smaller operations usually want the mess cleaned up and would probably want the stumps gone too. If you talk to 50 people you might get 3 or 4 hits. But phone calls are free. Don't be afraid to stop and talk to people. I have people constantly stopping to see if I'm hiring or to hand out a few stump grinder cards or lawn service cards. I keep them all. Never know when it might pay off.

 

[Jakers]

Down time???????????? What is down time????????? After 9pm im usually here reading til I fall asleep in my computer chair. 530am im up again and goin be 6..... in theory anyway.

we dont get much down time around here. storms in the early and mid summer, standard tree jobs in the spring and fall, trimming and deadwooding in the late summer, steep lake bank removals in the winter on the ice. then theres the snow removal on the snow days in winter and standard removals or trimming the rest of winter. stumps are all spring summer and fall, no hard frozen ground stumps

 

[Groundman One]

I've just started stump grinding about a month ago. I've had moderate success, my goal was to make equipment payment and advertising, and I've successfully exceeded that. I have had a little trouble competing with the guys that are willing to grind all day for next to nothing but I'm still making it. I was curious as to what y'all do in the off season, I've heard stump grinding gets real slow in the winter. I've considered selling firewood but don't have a lot of access to free wood.

Shovel roofs like we do.

Or is there not a lot of snow in Louisiana?

 

[dirthawger]

Haha, no we don't get any snow down here, haven't had any in almost 3 years. I got a feeling it won't slow too much but i still have my full time job so guess it won't hurt as bad. I have been kicking around the idea of growing cut flowers and selling to a florist. I just think firewood is gonna be way too much trouble without investing 10k and im just not that interested in it.