I price everything by the job based on an hourly rate. I have an hourly rate for tree companies and contractors and an hourly rate for homeowners. Chances are, I'll never see that homeowner with one stump again so I price them a little higher. I give a good price break to tree companies and contractors. Also, I add a little for drive time/mileage with gas hovering around $2.89/gallon and all the stop and go city traffic I have to sit in.
The $/inch thing has never worked for me. It is not uncommon for me to walk with $300-400 for a 30" stump when the $/inch deal would have paid less than $200. I go high with my email and phone quotes and have surprised more than a few customers when I handed them an invoice for less than what had I quoted. Then, I hit them up for references and hand them a stack of business cards. If I blow through the job in record time, I give the customer a discount. I'm in this business to stay and gouging customers is not a good longterm plan. As a one-man show, I do not like to do haul off and price it accordingly. There are just too many $8/hour Mexican yard men to jack with hauling chips so I let them do it.
I charge a premium for my service but I provide a better service than most other grinders. I grind deep and take out the whole mound, not just the stump so the area is properly prepped for sodding or landscaping. It takes me longer but, so far, I've had very few call backs and you won't see green shoots sprouting out of one of my jobs after a few weeks. You get what you pay for...
One last thing. My grinder gets torn up just the same on a cheap job as it does on an expensive job. I'd rather sit at the house and do maintenance on my equipment than ruin a good set of sharp teeth on a $50 stump. Like I said, I'm in this for the long haul and breaking even or, worse, losing money is no way to run a business.
