stumpy66
ArboristSite Operative
you da man!!!!
Rates for stump grinding???
- Thread starter MOE
- Start date
Help Support Arborist Forum:
Lumberjack
Banned
I grind for $150 per hour, although we bid jobs by estimating the time it will take. Its not uncommon to bring in 200 or better per hour if everything goes well, although we are content with 150 per hour.
On clear cuts we work for $125 per hour. Pricing by the inch isnt a mathmatically sound idea. A 20" stump has 4 times the wood of a 10" stump so either your screwing them on the small stumps or you are getting screwed on the bigger stumps.
Do you have liability insurance? Workmans comp or at least disability insurance? You could probably get more done if you worked from dawn to dusk not dusk till dawn. Do you file taxes? What about maintance on the grinder including time spent working on it? Teeth, grease, oil, filters.... and again on your truck/tractor.
500 stumps under 6" tall here being at most 15" would take us 2 minutes per stump or less, grinding 6-8" deep. Thats at least 30 stumps per hour thats roughly 5 dollars per stump. At most it would take us 17 hours to grind those stumps which translates into $2225 (first 4 hours at $150). Outta that we would burn around 3 gallons per hour of fuel=51 gallons= $118.32. In 17 hours we will have used at least 2 tubes of grease=$2.50. Then we have 15% workmans comp on labor, along with 15% of taxes, then the liability insuance, vehicle insurance, tags, yada yada yada, then oil changes divided out to the numbers of hours used. Then in 17 hours we should be on our second set of teeth if we change them (assuming nothing was found in the ground) with a cost being roughly $.625 per tooth per hour, 12 main cutters, assuming nothing was found that sheared bolts, lobbed off teeth ect. Figure at least 10% for profit of the company which is $222.50 Then figure $20 per hour for running the grinder=$340 If you figure a 3k hour life of the grinder factor in 15 bucks per hour or another $255. All told figure an extra 650 for those days after you cover all that ^^.
On clear cuts we work for $125 per hour. Pricing by the inch isnt a mathmatically sound idea. A 20" stump has 4 times the wood of a 10" stump so either your screwing them on the small stumps or you are getting screwed on the bigger stumps.
Do you have liability insurance? Workmans comp or at least disability insurance? You could probably get more done if you worked from dawn to dusk not dusk till dawn. Do you file taxes? What about maintance on the grinder including time spent working on it? Teeth, grease, oil, filters.... and again on your truck/tractor.
500 stumps under 6" tall here being at most 15" would take us 2 minutes per stump or less, grinding 6-8" deep. Thats at least 30 stumps per hour thats roughly 5 dollars per stump. At most it would take us 17 hours to grind those stumps which translates into $2225 (first 4 hours at $150). Outta that we would burn around 3 gallons per hour of fuel=51 gallons= $118.32. In 17 hours we will have used at least 2 tubes of grease=$2.50. Then we have 15% workmans comp on labor, along with 15% of taxes, then the liability insuance, vehicle insurance, tags, yada yada yada, then oil changes divided out to the numbers of hours used. Then in 17 hours we should be on our second set of teeth if we change them (assuming nothing was found in the ground) with a cost being roughly $.625 per tooth per hour, 12 main cutters, assuming nothing was found that sheared bolts, lobbed off teeth ect. Figure at least 10% for profit of the company which is $222.50 Then figure $20 per hour for running the grinder=$340 If you figure a 3k hour life of the grinder factor in 15 bucks per hour or another $255. All told figure an extra 650 for those days after you cover all that ^^.
Stumped_4_Life
ArboristSite Operative
I'm a Independent Stump grinder....MIDDLE FINGERS TO THE SKY IF YOU DONT LIKE MY REPLY
Stumped_4_Life
ArboristSite Operative
And to be 100% Honest, I'm just in it for the money Like the rest of the 40 Gazillion Stump grinders are.
howel07264
ArboristSite Operative
in it for the money
Lets face it we'll never get rich grinding stumps. a part time retirement job for me but great money considering the hours worked each month.....regan
Stumped_4_Life said:
Lets face it we'll never get rich grinding stumps. a part time retirement job for me but great money considering the hours worked each month.....regan
Lumberjack
Banned
Stumped_4_Life said:
So am I, without proper coverage though your not covering your bases IMO. When we only ground stumps we had half mil in liability, now we have 1 mil and Workmans comp.
There is plenty of money in grinding, there is plenty of ways to mess it up and not be covered, dare anyone argue that with I?
stumpy66
ArboristSite Operative
Lets face it, its a dirty, noisy horrible job that is not valued by most tree surgeons...The money should be right, how ever you value a stump it has to be affected by local competion, who the customer is and what that want to do with the site after....thats before you look at how stoney/sandy the ground is, how near fences it is, what machine you can get in. The trick is to be happy with your rate and your job..then if you don't get it you didn't really want it......except now...it sucks in the Uk now, no one in there gardens at the minute...dead as a dodo....folk might get a better rate if they were to ring.....(i had best check the phone to see if it is switched on or on mute)
Stumped_4_Life
ArboristSite Operative
Starting in APRIL, i will only be Grinding stumps on Saturday Since my fathers retired from Running his paving business its My turn to take over......Grinding stumps will be a good side income now for me rather than a FULL TIME income...I think it will be nice Giving Bids on one Saturday, then doing all of the work on the next And not worrying about it, because i have the other Business to fall back on.........Even if paving gets slow i can always start my Stumper up and do a few jobs.
Stumped_4_Life said:Starting in APRIL, i will only be Grinding stumps on Saturday Since my fathers retired from Running his paving business its My turn to take over......Grinding stumps will be a good side income now for me rather than a FULL TIME income...I think it will be nice Giving Bids on one Saturday, then doing all of the work on the next And not worrying about it, because i have the other Business to fall back on.........Even if paving gets slow i can always start my Stumper up and do a few jobs.
ahh that explains it just some pocket change for ya, gotcha. my rates are based on a business that operates with a lot of overhead and as a full time career.
stevieb
ArboristSite Operative
I used to charge by the inch, but if it takes an age to get the machine to the stump due to obsticales etc... the time factor can leave you out of pocket, now I work out an hourly charge. I dont tell the customer what my hourly charge is as i dont want them panicking every time I stop for a brew. I work it out in my head taking into account root flare which can take a while to get through and x that by my hourly rate. It works for me and I dont have problems. I dont worry too much about the competition I charge what im comfortable with and thats that....... I also try to avoid telephone quoting this is always troublesome it may work for others but has always caused me problems when I get to the job people do tend to stretch the truth a little.
Similar threads
