Stump grinding price

[debo1683]

Hey folks,
I know this is a regional thing ... but can you provide some info on what a far price for getting stumps ground out is? We have two, one is a white birch and the other a fir tree. Both about 18" in diameter and the quote we got was $175. This seems high to me, but maybe I am cheap. We have some other people coming out for estimates, but unless it gets close to the $85 to rent a 25 hp stump grinder, I am thinking about doing it myself.

I was just curious more than anything what people pay to have this done. I was under the impression it would be about $40 a stump. But I guess I was wrong ...

Thanks!

 

[flusher]

Do it yourself with a rental unit. That's what I did to remove a large almond tree stump about the same size as you're talking. Only took about 90 minutes to get it done. Cost $75 rental.

 

[RandyT]

My nephew does stump grinder and charges $3 per inch. Around here the tree companies got into a bidding war over stump removing and hit a point where they were charging 25 cents per inch. wouldn't even pay for the fuel for the machine, let alone the maintenance and wear and tear on the machine. Put several tree companies out of business and the quality of work went to zero. Some stumps were barely removed below ground level, instead of the the 6-8 inches below grade from years ago.

If you figure that the average stump grinder cost around $40-50 thousand, and burns 2 gallon of fuel per hour, and the time to sharpen the carbide teeth after a few stumps, or replacing the teeth which run about $12 dollars apiece and the average machine has 18-24 teeth you can start to see why the cost is so expensive.

 

[Carl_NH]

i've rented grinders for $150 a day and got about 10 stumps done 12-16" size. Then in 2006 had big stumps - 12 or so 30-48" that a fellow came in and did for $350. One was a three prong maple and the base after grinding was over 8' around chasing the roots. out.

in 2011 a fellow that does tree and stump work cam in and charged $350 for a 7 hour day and did probably 15 or 16 in total.

Note this is just the grinding not the cleanup. Took me a day to clean up after each one.

For small jobs like one or two stumps the travel, setup and moving around are part of the cost so per inch is typical with $2.50-3 average here.

 

[Whisper35]

That quote of $175 isn't bad. Do you know if that includes the clean too? That price would very good if it inclueds the clean up too. Grinding the stumps isn't as easy as it looks, but it usually doesn't take too long.....however the clean can be tedious depending on how big the stump actually is. You can only see what is at ground level. You only have 2 stumps so the clean up shouldn't be too bad. You'll need some topsoil to fill in the holes you will be making.

If you got the time though and don't mind doing it yourself, it probably would be cheaper, but it will take a while longer than if you have someelse do it.

 

[debo1683]

Thanks guys. We got more quotes coming, but based on this I will be leaning towards doing it myself. The quote did not include cleanup....

This company told us to put lime on the area ... is that a solid advice?

 

[muddstopper]

Lets add up the cost of you doing it yourself and renting a machine. Rental $85, are you going to hual it or are they going to deliver. Deliverywill probably be another $75 for delivery and pickup, it will take two trips and man hrs. Now you are up to $160. Pick itup your self and save some money you say, well how far is it to the rental yard and what kind of mileage do you get with your truck and dont forget your time. Say $20 and you are back down to $105. still think you are saving $70, well dont forget the tax that is added to the rental unit or the fuel for the machine. And also dont forget that you will pay for any damage done to their machine, hit a rock and they will charge you for a new tooth. Just because they charge someone for a new tooth doesnt mean they will put it on the machine. Most likely the teeth on the rental unit will we as dull as a Froe. This means you will be working you arsh off grinding out the 2 stumps you have and you aint even saving any real money. Pay the $175, the guy that quoted you that isnt getting rich at that price by any means. He had to buy the machine, maintain the machine and hual it to and from your property, plus try to make a decent wage to boot. I used to grind stumps, and I had a self propelled 31hp turbo diesel machine to do it with. I wouldnt even show up on a property for less than $100 and that was before gas prices took a hike. The actual time spent grinding your stumps might only be a few minutes, but wages have to start when you leave the shop and go on until you get back. Its not just the few minute you spend doing the actual work.

Now as for the lime question. the wood chips will decompose and rob your soil of nitrogen if they are not removed. This usually results in mushroom fairy rings in your landscape. Nothing wrong with them but most people dont like mushrooms growing their yards. If you soils are natually acidic, then lime wont hurt to be added, but it wont do much to help the wood chips decompose either. I would apply a high nitrogen fertilier to the affected area only. The nitrogen will help feed the microbes that breakdown the wood chips and help keep the fairy rings to a minimum.

 

[swick1]

Agreed mudstopper. I won't go out for less than $200 with my backhoe. It's just not worth the $20 in fuel to go anywhere and the minimum 2hrs needed to load up, drive, reload, drive home, and unload. The machine costs me $20/hr to run and the truck cost is about $0.50/mile. Not to mention cleanup costs on dirty jobs! If I worked for stump grinder guy prices I'd be better off working at McDonald's since there is no liability there.

 

[Carl_NH]

I agree - to do any job it costs at least $100 to show up - meaning. If a potential client calls - you call back, they ask whats the price to do xyz, you say well let me look at it but they press for a price over the phone.. Client says Ill think about it when you give them a $200 price - soem call back some dont.

It's really hard for the average person to understand the logistics of running a profitable business - quoting a job at $175 breaks down to the cost to do the estimate, loading the machine (15 min) driving time (20 min) then unloading machine (15) min then actual work grinding two stumps (60) Min, then reloading machine (15) min.

All the customer sees is the "time grinding" or whatever the task is not the hour to load, unload, travel. gas, and insurance - liability-medical expense and more.

 

[muddstopper]

dealing with the public mindset that they should only have to pay you while you are on their site is why I got out of business. Last job I quoted, the guy wanted a price to hydroseed a bank behind his house. It was 30 miles each way. Instead of me driving to look at the job, I just asked him how long and how high was his bank. I dont remember the exact sqft, but it was way less than what one load in my small hydroseeder would cover. I told him I would do it for my minimum price of $300. What??? he says, thats way to much for what he wanted done. Well call someone else then, was my reply. He says, thats no way to run a business and I should at least take a look at the work before I gave him a price. Look, I know how much area my hydroseeder will cover and my expenses remain the same whether I spray out a full load or a piece of a load so I have to stick to my minimum one tank load price. Again I hear, thats no way to run a business and I should at least look at the job before I give him a price. Why should I look at it, if its what you say it is, I know I can do it with one tank load of material. My price for one tank load is $300 and thats not going to change, so why drive 60miles round trip just to hear you say my price is to high and have to argue with you about it. Call someone else and see if you can get someone to do it cheaper but dont tell me how to run a business when you are to cheap to pay what it takes to get a job done. I hung up on him right there and took a torch to my hydroseeder. (yes i really cut it up and the engine is whats powering my wood splitter now). I refuse to work for nothing, I can go broke watching tv and laying on the couch and not even have to break a sweat doing it.

 

[debo1683]

I suppose I am a little ignorant ... I had some dozer work done a while back and the minimum for that was $300. And that made sense to me because it is a big machine, with big parts, diesel is expensive and so is the truck and trailer needed to haul it. I just always was under the impression that a stump grinder was a small machine and low maintenance. Seems like I was incorrect. Thanks for the insight. I am going to keep checking around. Hopefully I won't cause any one to torch any of their machines

 

[swick1]

Dont worry Debo. Lots of people have the same misconception. At least now you can see the other side of the coin

 

[muddstopper]

Debo, dont take my rant as an attack on you personally. Lots of folks never consider the other side of the equation of any job that is being done. There are even more business owners that cant figure their cost of doing business either. I once had a guy tell me he could seed cheaper than me because his overhead was much lower, to this he was telling the truth. I paid workers comp on my employess, and carried $1mil in general liablility insurance. This guy didnt have any insurance. My company was set up as a chapterS corp and we paid taxes. He didnt have any kind of company, just worked out of his house and didnt report any of his side income. Even with him doing this, he couldnt figure out that he needed to charge something for his truck and equipment depreciation. I can give someone a brand new truck and new machine to work with, but if they dont add enought to their priceing to cover replacement cost or repairs, they will be out of buisness as soon as their truck or machine wears out or breaks down.. It doesnt matter if your equipment is paid for, if the business isnt paying for it, you better have a rich uncle or you will be working for someone else as soon as your "paid for" machine breaks, or you will be borrowing money to fix it. Once you start borrowing money to fix things, your standard of living has just gone down and now you are taking home less that you what it cost you to do the work.

 

[swick1]

All hail mudstopper! :salute:

 

[teampryor]

Hey folks,
I know this is a regional thing ... but can you provide some info on what a far price for getting stumps ground out is? We have two, one is a white birch and the other a fir tree. Both about 18" in diameter and the quote we got was $175. This seems high to me, but maybe I am cheap. We have some other people coming out for estimates, but unless it gets close to the $85 to rent a 25 hp stump grinder, I am thinking about doing it myself.

I was just curious more than anything what people pay to have this done. I was under the impression it would be about $40 a stump. But I guess I was wrong ...

Thanks!

Sir, you should do it yourself. When you are done add up the costs and your time. I bet it takes you all day and thats if the rented machine does not have any issues, which it will. Good luck.
But you should not waste peoples time asking for qoutes if you do not intend to hire them.
$175 is more than fair for a small job which is what 2 stumps is. Should of hired that company on the spot.
Minimum around here is in the $250 range.

 

[debo1683]

But you should not waste peoples time asking for qoutes if you do not intend to hire them.

I don't agree with that ... I don't see that as any different than shopping around for a car or a tractor or a gallon of paint. It's not that I didn't intend to hire them, I just didn't know if their price was fair, which is why I was asking. It's just like when we had new gutters put on this summer and I had several companies come out to give estimates. I want to hire the person that is best for me and our house ...

I wasn't taking things personally. I just never had thought about it like you guys put it. It makes sense ... I guess that's why I was asking what was fair.

Thanks!

 

[newbury]

Sir, you should do it yourself. When you are done add up the costs and your time. I bet it takes you all day and thats if the rented machine does not have any issues, which it will. Good luck.
But you should not waste peoples time asking for qoutes if you do not intend to hire them.
$175 is more than fair for a small job which is what 2 stumps is. Should of hired that company on the spot.
Minimum around here is in the $250 range.

The OP intended to hire them if the price was ok. If you've no firm idea what something costs how do YOU (teampryor) find out. I generally contact at least three firms for quotes and definitely DO NOT intend on hiring all three.

Getting and giving "qoutes" are part of business.

 

[muddstopper]

I dont think its wasting someones time asking for a quote, but I do think its the person wanting the work done to be fair when assessing the price given them. Like I said in my pyor post, some folks are working under the table, not paying taxes and are not insured. As a potential customer hireing someone to work on your property, you are financially responsible if that person gets hurt on your property. If they dont have workers comp and you hire them anyways, you are responsible to furnish the workers comp for them. If they damage your property, you will most likely have to pay for the damages yourself. There is a reason why hireing a professional usually cost a little more, and that extra cost is usually worth every penny you might have to pay.

 

[Bdavis]

But you should not waste peoples time asking for qoutes if you do not intend to hire them.
.

I disagree with that and I know several stump grinders in my area that would also disagree. Getting multiple bids is part of doing buisness. The rates will vary according to the season and the level of activity. If a guy is really booked up he is not going to give you the same rate if it is right before Christmas and he has not worked in a few weeks. Having said that, the last couple of years I have settled on one guy and stopped getting multiple qoutes. He has never been the cheapest but I like his professional manner and the equipment he uses is top notch and that to me is worth the extra money

 

[debo1683]

Thanks again for the help, guys. I have decided to hire the second guy that came out for an estimate. He told me between $150 and $175 and seemed to be a lot more knowledgeable and friendly than the others. He is supposed to be out sometime this week to do the work.