Stump Grinding prices.

[Darin]

I was browsing through the newspaper the other day and saw a guy advertising $25 stump removal prices up to 20". I thought inflation made things go up. I used to grind at $4 an inch with a $50 minumum and that didnt include cleanup five years ago. Has prices changed that much or is this just some lowballer. What are some current prices of some of you? Or how do you price stumps if you dont do a per inch formula?

 

[Dave]

I'm getting $2.00 an inch which is about average around here although I've heard a rumor that the competition will remove chips, grade with loam and seed it for $5.00/inch. Too much like gardening for my taste. When I started there were about four stump machines in the state, now every outfit has at least one.That factor alone does a lot to keep prices down.

 

[Deere John]

I no longer have a stumper, but in using the backhoe or other means, I figure on $40 overhead charge plus an estimate based on $120 per hour, including setup and travel.

Like Dave, I try to avoid the "gardening" aspect. People don't want to pay for it, and in the heavy-textured, stone rich soils that are around here, that is too much like work.

 

[Darin]

Wow, two different extremes on pricing. Deere John are you in a more rural area where there isnt a lot of competition? Dave pointed out in his area he had one of the first stumpers and now everyone has a stumper. Keeping the prices down. You have a different form of equipment actually taking more of a stump I'm assuming. As a stumper can only go so deep. Is that why you feel you can charge more. If you take a whole stump with a backhoe you could even plant a tree in the same place? That was my customers complaint with a stumper that you really couldnt plant a new tree in the same location because of the depth of cut.

 

[Deere John]

Ya Darin - there are only three stumpers in town - two owned by my former competition, and one from a rural fellow. I have a variety of buckets for the backhoe (down to 12"), a single tooth frost ripper that I have customized a tooth for to allow me reach under stumps and sever tap roots, and large pads to minimize damage to lawns. People are generally happy with this, but there are stumps I just refer to the stumpers.

People sometimes want the stump gone, tipping fees apply, so they may replant. Bigger stumps usually get buried deeper when the utility locates permit because again, they don't want to spend the money on tipping a 2,000 lb stump and refilling the hole.

I try to price and deliver service on the top-end of the price spectrum. I'm the same way with snow plowing. It is getting harder to do, because many people are becoming self-employed and entering fields where they see a niche - relardless of whether they are qualified or not. Still, in my situation, I have few hours to commit on a daily basis, so I have to charge more to cover the overheads. My market is about 80,000 people.

 

[Sam]

$2/inch seems to be pretty standard around here. That's what I charge my people. That's just to grind it, nothing for the mess. Some guys will do it for less for you if you give them some volume.

Sam

 

[Eager Beaver]

We have been in the stump grinding business for 12 years. Current pricing ranges are from 2.00 to 3.10 or more per inch depending on location, backyards with gates( using a smaller grinder) root removal, adding topsoil, seed etc. In our area there were originally 3 people grinding. Now everyone is either a tree removal expert on each corner with a old bucket truck and a chipper and or purchases a stump grinder. I watch every year 10 or more people come into this market and then they are gone. They realize that it is work or get hurt by inexperience. I am hoping by this new website we can get more proffesionalism in this market such as ************ in the Lawn Maintenance market. Good luck with this site!!! If I can be of any help in the stump grinding area I will.

 

[Tree M.D.]

stump grinding

I charge between $5- $5.50 per inch dependant on the size and quantity with a $75 min.

 

[treeclimber165]

We have a couple reputable stump guys here in central Florida. My favorite guy has 8 stump machines and charges approx. $2 per inch. This is for grinding and a quick rake-up, no hauling. Most of the guys I know (reputable, smaller tree guys) use him, but most of the bigger guys in town have their own stump machines. Part of the reason our prices are so low is the Vermeer dealer right here in town, if parts and service were not so accessible I am sure prices would be higher.

 

[treeman82]

over here i get per inch. and that is about 4 dollars per inch. just to be quick about it i walk over the widest part of the stump. every time i put my foot down is 50 dollars. that is how i usually do it. otherwise sometimes i will do rental plus time, if there is not that much work to do. again that is just grind the sucker out of there, pack up and leave.

 

[sonny]

Its not stumps but we were a Utility tree contractor. last job on SCE property, or contract was $39.00 per trim. that was for distrubition lines, in the yr. 1992. This is the yr. 2001 contract tree price is $ 25.00 per tree.

 

[Deere John]

Yikes Sonny - that's pretty tough to get a 36% paycut over 9 years. Fuel, insurance and labour has done nothing but increase since '92. Is the competion stiff where you are, or is the utility, as they are here, really playing hardball with your tender?

You must have to really do the volume to cover your costs.

OH - I I just read your post again - the 2001 price is 25.00, but you didn't say that you got it. Maybe the one who did will go belly-up, and make room for you and more reasonable prices. Do you get alot of private work when you are visible and available doing utility trimming??

 

[sonny]

I dont think them nice Orange trucks are going to go belly up.& we started doing just transmission lines, Much better just climbing highrer & heavier cutting.We moved to easy CHEAP city work, Called it quits as far as cutting trees, as of 01/01/1999. Never been happier !!!. No 41 % workers comp., Unreal libility ins. & all the law suits, etc.

 

[sonny]

sorry I lied . called it quits 01/01/2000

 

[Treebeard]

I've been thinking of buying a grinder. Anybody got good or bad things to say about particular brands?

 

[Darin]

Yeah, get a Rayco. Its a superior brand to all in my opinion. The closest dealer would be in Denver unfortunately. They are the world's leader in manufacturing and distributing stumpers.

 

[treeclimber165]

I am passing on this info second hand, as I have not done much stump grinding. A local guy who has done my stumps (and 1/2 of Orlando's) for over 10 years owns about 12 stump grinders right now. He has run Vermeer and Rayco. He loves his BIG Rayco, but uses his BIG Vermeer most of the time. The machine that makes him the most money, and he uses it most often, is his 252 Vermeer.
He does have a local Vermeer dealer, about 5 miles from his house.

 

[lufkincy]

Stump Grinding Questions

I just bought the stump grinding part of my son-in-law's tree service. The only machine I have now is a Vermeer 252. The stump grinding was sort of a loss leader for him. He charged $25 per stump regardless of the size. I'm barely breaking even on the ones I do for him. I'm charging $2 per inch with a $50 per location minimum. I have several questions. First, some of our pine trees have huge roots on the surface - 8-10" diameter and they extend sometimes 10 to 15 feet from the stump. How do you price or handle these? My second question is some help getting a handle on the hourly cost. In a few months I will have my own figures, but it would be helpful if some would share their hourly costs - labor, maintenance, depreciation, fuel & oil, etc. Thanks. Cy Stapleton, Lufkin, Texas

 

[tree md]

We have a $150 minimum and usually figure each stump by it's level of difficulty and give a bid. Got to be careful though, I got my lunch eat on a stump a couple months ago. Had to grind 12 stumps in all (biggest was about 2 foot across) but we had one Bradford Pear that was in a location that had drainage issues. Real tight take down over a condo and a landscaped area. I originally quoted them at $150 to grind that stump. They asked me if I would grind it all the way out to a few exposed roots that went out about 4 feet. I told them no, that that price was only to grind the base stump. They told me that they needed to have a drain put in there and they would either have to pay me or pay the drain guy to get the roots out and said to add to my estimate if need be. I said no problem, I was already going to have the stump grinder there and would grind the roots out for another hundred, bumping the price up to $250. Well, My guys slung a rock or something and took out a sliding glass door. I had to pay for the damages out of pocket to keep from using my insurance. After paying for the glass replacement I paid a total of $20 bucks to them folks to grind their stump. That didn't include what I had to pay my guys in labor. Good thing the overall job well made up for our blunder.

 

[D Mc]

We have a 35 hp Kandu stumper. We recently replaced our old Kandu with a new model after 10 plus years in service. An awesome stumper and can get into backyards and delicate areas with very little impact.

As with most stumpers, you do have to take care not to fling debris and rocks. In addition to the rubber guards on the stumper itself, we also set up plywood shields.

With this machine we bid our stumps at $3/diameter inch. That price can vary depending on type of stumps, location, quantity, etc. Our minimum is $50. We charge extra for taking away the mulch. Be clear on this in your estimates (in writing). Most of our clients do like to utilize the mulch but that can be a huge time investment if you have to take it and didn't bid it.

We figure stump grinding should bill out at least $125/hr minimum to cover expenses, depreciation, cost, etc.

D Mc