Can I get a price check on my stump work? Am I charging enough?

[elmostump]

Price check

In NC This would be 80.00 to grind area grass to grass. I always rake in neat pile blow off area and anything tracked to trailer. Hauling my 1635jr on dedicated trailer I don't haul off grindings because of I would have to make extra trip. Leave the landscaping to the professionals.

 

[Hoosier]

In NC This would be 80.00 to grind area grass to grass. I always rake in neat pile blow off area and anything tracked to trailer. Hauling my 1635jr on dedicated trailer I don't haul off grindings because of I would have to make extra trip. Leave the landscaping to the professionals.

Man, I would think the cost of that much run-time would exceed $80 on a 252 sized machine with gas and wear on equipment. Maybe a large machine has lower runtime costs..dunno?

But thanks for the info!

Moe, If I do a $75 stump it is typically an alpine job with just the pickup truck and not the full rig (NPR Dump & Trailer), those sized stumps make no real debris so haul off is non-existent. I dont haul tools and a trailer anywhere for $75-85.

 

[ducaticorse]

This sounds best and I'd probably be close to the same price doing all of that. If you go through the trouble to do it right, like most companies don't. ie: remove ALL of the grindings that you can and not leave any big unground chunks of root or stump in the hole. Bring good dirt, seed, fertilize and straw........that's a lot of work.

Per inch price really doesn't make any sense at all, figure out what out you need per hour- site to site and price it from there. I think $100.00/hour doing grinding work etc. with the Super Jr. is fair if you can get it.

Stump grinding pricing is all over the chart. Where I am I have used two individuals. One is 50% higher than the other and has a machine that is worth a fraction of the cost of the one who is priced drastically lower. The lower priced guy is doing something right because he just bought a brand new 55K machine this weekend. I do not do my own stump grinding, because quite frankly, I hate doing it. That stump just for a grind in my area would cost me $75 to hit with my lower guy, and $150 with my higher guy, and that would be grind and leave..

 

[howel07264]

So, I have been doing this for a few years now and I thought I would ask around about pricing. I know many guys use a per inch price but I am finding that is just not applicable. In many cases where the stump needs to be obliterated with the roots being dealt with and the grade set back to flat from the root crown you cannot simply use a "per inch" price to obliterate a stump for replant.

I tend to get calls from people that had other guys do a stump poorly and they took it just a few inches below grade and I think those guys are doing the "per inch" price and generally undercutting everybody else and at the same time making everyone look bad.

By the way, whoever is grinding on the south-side of Indy with a rented grinder needs to be run out of town.

Anyway, I tend to obliterate a lot of ornamental stumps so the spot can be re-used for a new tree. Often that means spending a bunch of time chasing roots with an alpine after blasting the stump with my Super Jr. and I am wanting to know if I am charging enough?

Here is an example of the stuff I run into.
This stump, while not huge had a large diameter dirt "Crown" from the root spread, the root mass was thick and heavy all the way out to that fence post, in fact that post was in heavy wood that needed to be ground away to get that post out because it was trapped in wood. (That was fun).

I ended up grinding all the way out to the lawns edge and then flattening out the soil and removing all of the large mulch. I spent some time on it for sure.

Would you say that a stump like this would typically run in the $125 range for this kind of work or would you charge more or less?

I know most of my local competition would just hit the stump and get it below grade and go, but I tend to work in higher end housing areas that want things put back the way they were and a "Bump-n-go" would just not work in my business model.

I dont think using the hour meter would work either because of the use of two machines in some instances, not to mention that I often need a pick to pull roots up etc..

Thanks for any insight gang.

$500 per run hour for the grinding. 15 minute job=$125
$10,000 per hour to shovel, and remove chips. (It's funny I don't ever get that work)

 

[MOE]

$500 per run hour for the grinding. 15 minute job=$125
$10,000 per hour to shovel, and remove chips. (It's funny I don't ever get that work)

Sounds like my one for the price of two special I offer for jobs I don't care to do.

 

[ShermanC]

Sounds way low. Here it would be $200 for the stump, and another $200 to remove chips, soil, seed, and mulch.

Ronny knows the business well. You can always drop price if the job goes better than planned and gets done sooner. But if you didn't see the buried headaches you will eat crow to get your estimate and anything higher. The public we serve seldom understands what is hidden behind the green door (under the lawn) and when your estimate goes on tilt, you are "the bad guy" for it was you who did not foresee the possible complications. My repeat customers don't even ask my price. They just tell me to put them on the list, knowing I deliver the best service I can and fees are a good value. We never catch up and run out of work.

 

[Creeker]

Just looking at the ground lift from the root mass underground I'd be pricing that job on having to do a lot more grinding than was immediately directly under the stump. In Aus. I would charge round $150 to grind it and that would include chasing out all the roots to the edge of the lawn that were shallower than say 6" (150mm) from average ground grade at the site. I just rake it up and leave it.

A lot more messing around with some of these sort of jobs than meets the eye if you want to do a good job and not leave a 'crown' of root ends that surface when the owner levels it all out and starts wanting to mow it.

I get the occasional 'crown' removal from grinders that don't go out wide enough from the stump and needless to say, the h/o is quite unhappy about paying twice.

 

[NCgrinder]

To me ,that looks like a 6'x6' area to take down to grade.. with having to chainsaw the existing stump height , grinding around that post(risking a set of teeth..!!) , and taking the stump all out ... I would price it at $175.00-200... That's not hauling off any mulch but raking up the site

 

[Topbuilder]

To original post,
I would be at about :
$100 minimum
$10 chainsaw cut
$10 PITA T-post

That would include grinding all area so flat again. Separating chips/dirt as best I can. Dirt back in the hole and area raked up. Chips left in pile for others...

 

[tidy]

contractor: "how deep should we grind it?" customer: "Oh, as deep as you possibly can would be most excellent please-and also the lowest price possible if you don't mind". I'm sure we have all had this conversation before
My mentality goes like this: I was asked to grind a stump, I quoted to grind a stump, I grinded a stump therefore job is complete end of story. If you want grindings removed its up to you to say so. Carting it off isn't something I'm keen to sell...

 

[NCgrinder]

Tidy Tree Work : The customer that finds out after the stump is ground that the grindings are NOT going to be removed , may just refuse to write the check!!
Ask me how I know...!! I learned this lesson early in my career..Most of my customers have never had stumps ground and naturally assume their yard will look like it did before the stump was ground..
I have found that discussing how deep, how wide, grindings disposal,extras, and all aspects of the job ,including price & payment are settled BEFORE I move onto the job.... and I make a point of telling them twice , if I'm not going to remove the grindings...
If all you're going to do is just grind the stump only, then the customer should be well aware of those specifics..
Nothing worse than leaving a customer dissatisfied over something that should have been discussed

 

[tidy]

NCgrinder,
I agree and do similar myself, my previous post was more a vague poke at people that want to claim services that were never written on a bid...

 

[NCgrinder]

Oh how well I know those "freeloaders" that try to get something for nothing...Thats also one of the main reasons I cover everything before I start..Took me a few times getting screwed over before I learned ....If I'm going to do something extra for free, I want it to be my choice...
After all,this stump removal business can sometimes be a real grind....!!!

 

[Creeker]

Re extras, quite often my average customer is an older widow who can't do a small limb trim and after a stump removal I often do that for them and find the referrals and goodwill a beneficial strategy for the business rep. in the community.

We all get the customers who find 1/2hr of extra little bits for us to do that weren't mentioned in the initial quote, measure up the outlay in benefits V effort/cost required and take it from there.

Probably 40% of my work is for repeat customers, speaks for itself I guess.

 

[OLD MAN GRINDER]

Looks like a 100.00 job if I was doing it.....been grinding stumps for almost 10 years now and never has anyone wanted me to remove chips and resod, we do stumps in million dollar homes as well as middle class and low rent areas, all my repeat customers just call and tell us to put them on the list, I also do work for about 4 diff tree services, been working for them long enough that they know approx what I will charge and can give the customer a ball park figure...my wife fills the holes and spreads the chips so everything looks good, have never had a complaint on our work...I set our pricing on the size of the stump and the time I would take to do it, I try to get 100 per hr, sometimes its a little over and sometimes a little lower, that's about all the area will allow down here, a lot of guys doing stumps for 10.00 each, very competitive area, a lot of variables involved when it comes to pricing, every area of the country is different...

Hope this helps....


Bob.....

 

[no tree to big]

in chicago would be about 200 to grind 200 to leave level or i should say thats what we would charge as a stump only job maybe a lil better if we removed the tree n did it at the same time. if it didnt have that mound around it prob bee 200 to leave level. we try to avoid those kinda jobs not really worth it for us cause they normally come in in the middle of summer after the guy got tired of hitting it with the lawn mower a few times. i wonder what the price tag was for this beast of an elm stump we ground out this year I think we ended up grinding 18 feet in diamiter cause there was this wicked exposed solid root plate

 

[BuckmasterStumpGrinding]

If the customer wants to rent a cheap manual grinder and try to save some money it will cost them.
- $150/day for the grinder.
- gas for the machine and gas to get the machine back and forth.
- possibly trailer rental.
- disposal fees for the chips.
- their time at ?/hour.
- the risk of hitting something hard and being charged to repair the rented grinder.
- the risk of hitting a utility line that they are not insured against.
- the possibility of having to re-rent the grinder if they miss something.

This is your competition on most jobs. If you beat this price most customers will be happy.
$200 for the job pictured should be a bargain to even the most confident do it yourselfers.

 

[BuckmasterStumpGrinding]

Now that I see my last post I think I might make some fliers like that... or maybe bid sheets.