Hello

[bombdude]

Thought I'd introduce myself. I'm a 20+ year cop & lookin' to get into stump grinding part time. Can't work security jobs forever.

Been lurking around on this site a few times & decided to join.

I'm not a climber, so I'm more interested in grinding. Got a few questions:

New or used equipment??

Best advertising methods??

I've got 2 days & maybe a couple afternoons a week to work at this. Can it be profitable, or would I need more time to devote to it to it to "get ahead"??

Answers & other general advice would be most appreciated.

 

[copper86]

Hi Bomb. Same general idea here. Just bought a Carlton 2000 walk behind grinder. I have a couple buddies that have their own land scaping companies and they will start giving me all there stumps. I am going to split a flyer insert with them in the local paper. Flyers is an insert and it goes out to about 9000 people and they gat a lot of work that way. Brand new to grinding here too. Trying to make a little extra on the side. Only 6 years "on the job here", so i got a few more to go. Good luck. Mike

 

[Barry Stumps]

Hey guys i started out doing what you are thinking of. I bought a brand new vermeer 630B. I had a basic phone ad and started out slow the 1st half of the 1st season and finished stronger the rest of the year. The second season was a great start and ended up paying for the machine by the end of the 2nd season. My ginder only had about 90 hours on it by then. My success was mostly cleaning up all my mess and not leaving a big pile of mulch that you always see. I haven't had any ads in the last 5 years and all word of mouth, I stay very busy. This was a great investment and i never looked back on what i could done different. Hope this helps.

 

[copper86]

Barrystumps, thanks for the help. I have been told the same thing, all in the clean up. I have also been told it helps to look "presentable" some people are scared to let some of these guy's in their houses just to give them a quote. Well we will see whats happens. Thanks again.

 

[Barry Stumps]

Your quite welcome and good luck. You might want to consider to buy a bigger grinder after you get this one paid off. You will find out that it is too small for most jobs considering the time involved. If this is the one im thinking of. Be patient and you will do great.

 

[bombdude]

Thanks for the input guys. I just picked up my brand spankin' new Vermeer SC352 yesterday.

Starting to post some fliers & run an ad in the local paper. I'm pretty excited about the possibilities.

 

[bombdude]

Copper, I agree on being presentable. I believe in professionalism, & making a good first impression.

As far as cleanup goes, I got the grader blade attachment on my unit. I plan to at least grade the mulch level. I find the pile of mulch to be pretty unsightly.

 

[Barry Stumps]

What I do is take a pass or 2 till I'm about 3 inches below ground level and shovel everything out in back of truck. I then make my final pass around 10 to 12 inches deep and rake out some chunks left over. The rest is mostly dirt and leave about 4 inches on top that will settle back down after a few rains. I also give the option to take out to ground level will it will settle a few inches lower than ground level. This gives them better grass. I get much return business and referrals from giving this detail.

 

[pbtree]

Welcome aboard Bombdude! :chainsawguy: