shaving removal

[jason2078]

I average 100.00 an hour as well.

I average 100.00 dollars an hour gross, so, I think I can afford a helper. But, like you said it takes getting enough jobs/hours a day too.

 

[arbor pro]

$3.00 an inch gets my customers a ground out stump, chip removal, soil replacement, and grass seed. I use a helper to dig out around stumps, pick up chips, replace top soil and grass seed while I move on to the next stump in the yard. I use an 18 foot trailer to haul my vermeer 252 on so it leaves plenty of room to haul my garbage cans full of stump grindings. You would be suprised how many people will still have you put the grindings somewhere in the yard which makes it even easier. The average stump only needs 3 bags of top soil at $1.27 a bag (wal-mart). so, a 30 inch stump that would pay 60.00 with no removal of grindings then pays 90.00 in half a hour lets say. That extra $30 costs $3.81 for top soil, grass seed a few cents, and $4.00 for a half hour helper wage, leaving $22 extra dollars on a 30 inch stump. How can you go wrong? Not to mention the word of mouth business you get.

My method and prices are similar for cleanup and soil replacement. I carry my vermeer 252 grinder next to my bobcat mt50 mini skidsteer with grapple on a 14' flabed trailer behind my f350 dump truck. After I grind stumps and load up the grinder, I back out the skidsteer and make quick work of cleaning up the stumps. The grindings go right in the front of the truck dump bed. Out comes the topsoil (bulk, not bagged) which is loaded near the back of the dump bed.

Total time to grind a 30" stump is around 20 minutes depending on species and age. Price is generally around $1.50-$2.00 per inch so around $50 for this size stump. I get 50% of the grinding cost for each the cleanup and the dirt fill (sometimes more) so about another $50 for this stump to clean it up and fill it with dirt. The cleanup and fill takes me about 20 minutes to do both.

So, 20 minutes @ $50 to grind a 30" stump using a $14k stump grinder and 20 minutes @ $50 to cleanup and fill the same stump using a $14k mini skid. Same time, same equipment costs, same labor exerted, same income.

I've just doubled my sales for this job by offering cleanup and fill. I'm able to do this because I have the right equipment setup for it.

My guess is that most of you who don't want to do cleanup are using big grinders being pulled behind regular pickups. So, if you were to offer cleanup, you would likely have to make a seperate trip with a dump truck or hand-pitch the grindings into your regular pickup and then hand-pitch them back out. Same with dirt. Nobody would make much money cleaning up and filling stumps this way.

Now that I also have a large pull-behind grinder, I have adapted my f350 dump truck so that I can load my mini skid sideways right behind the cab of the truck (I cut the truck sides and hinged them inward so I can turn the 12' dump box into a 9' box with 3' space to load the 3' wide skid steer). Now I can still use my mini skid to clean up stumps that I grind with my pull-behind grinder.

If you have an equipment setup like I have, it is very easy and lucrative to offer cleanup and dirt fill. You can double your sales doing so and it's really not much more effort than grinding stumps It's all about making your work process more effecient and minimizing or eliminating return visits to the same site - especially with today's fuel prices.

 

[ropensaddle]

Yeah 40000 dollars in trailer and skid steer is more than 50.00 for a
cottonseed fork! Most people here don't want to even pay for grinding
let alone cleanup so the few that do a fork works fine! I do want a skid
though but not for clean up of grindings even though I agree it will do
great.

 

[arbor pro]

Yeah 40000 dollars in trailer and skid steer is more than 50.00 for a
cottonseed fork! Most people here don't want to even pay for grinding
let alone cleanup so the few that do a fork works fine! I do want a skid
though but not for clean up of grindings even though I agree it will do
great.

Used mini skid $7500, 14' trailer $2500. Total monthly payment on a $10,000 note is about $200 including principal and interest. Add insurance, maintenance, fuel, etc and you can figure about $400/month on the high end.

Under the scenario I just described making $50 for 20 minutes worth of cleanup work, you will have your monthly expenses paid for within a single morning's worth of work.

I'm only part-time yet, owning this kind of a setup is still very lucrative for my business. If I were full-time, I'd be rolling in the dough (so long as the work is there). And it sounds as though some of you would certainly have the work if you wanted it so, why not expand your services and make more money?

 

[BC WetCoast]

I do take my hat off to you guy's that remove the spoil. It must be very satisfying to look back and see a neat job? But the truth is while your doing that i'v moved onto my next job. And at the end of the day when my nearest competitors are doing the same I don't feel the need to change. On the odd occasions I have put a price in for removal the customer never bite's.

I miss your logic. If we are charging $100/hr for stump grinding, we are also charging $100/hr for mulch cleanup. At least, that is how you should bid it. So, if I make the same amount of money off one stump as you do on two, then I'm ahead because I don't have the travel expense.

The easy way to see if this would work would be to give a grind only/leave mulch estimate and then a second estimate to remove mulch. This works very well for us.

 

[oldirty]

For people living in the north the name is a cottonseed fork, correct name!
I have actually packed a bale of cotton.

this cottonseed fork you speak of....is it long handled or short handle?

 

[oldirty]

Used mini skid $7500, 14' trailer $2500. Total monthly payment on a $10,000 note is about $200 including principal and interest. Add insurance, maintenance, fuel, etc and you can figure about $400/month on the high end.

Under the scenario I just described making $50 for 20 minutes worth of cleanup work, you will have your monthly expenses paid for within a single morning's worth of work.

I'm only part-time yet, owning this kind of a setup is still very lucrative for my business. If I were full-time, I'd be rolling in the dough (so long as the work is there). And it sounds as though some of you would certainly have the work if you wanted it so, why not expand your services and make more money?

sounds like you going after it man. good equipment set up as well.
good luck to you.


edit. i quoted the wrong post. oops, i meant to give props to post#22.

 

[arbor pro]

this cottonseed fork you speak of....is it long handled or short handle?

Here's a photo of one like I use. I bought mine at a Running's Farm Supply store. Any farm supply should have them.

 

[ropensaddle]

this cottonseed fork you speak of....is it long handled or short handle?

usually Short! I wish someone would or could make one
with aluminum! It is good for rakings and even chips

 

[jason2078]

I miss your logic. If we are charging $100/hr for stump grinding, we are also charging $100/hr for mulch cleanup. At least, that is how you should bid it. So, if I make the same amount of money off one stump as you do on two, then I'm ahead because I don't have the travel expense.

The easy way to see if this would work would be to give a grind only/leave mulch estimate and then a second estimate to remove mulch. This works very well for us.

its still the same, we are grinding and cleaning up at 100 hr. and your saying you grind for an hour at $100 and then cleanup at $100 hr. its still the same per hour unless you have a second person that starts after you have ground the first stump and they start cleanining up at $100 per hour. which I might add: a person could fill a 5 yard dump with grindings in a hour with the right equipment which would be a whole lot of stumps.

 

[arbor pro]

If you're a big stump grinding business and grinding is all you do then the most efficient way to add cleanup to your operation is to have a seperate cleanup crew follow behind the grinding crew. This means an additional trip to the site which cost more in fuel and travel time; however, it allows your grinder to move on to another job and stay busy with little down time.
The cleanup crew should be able to make as much or more in cleanup and dirt fill as the grinding crew. The investment for a dump truck, trailer and small skidsteer should be about the same as that for a pickup pulling a big towable grinder.

The exception to the above advice is if you are a one-man operation in which I usually find it more efficient to do the cleanup right after grinding the stump unless I have numerous ones to cleanup in close vicinity to each other - then I will do all the grinding first and return later to clean them all up and fill them.

Now, if you're using a self-propelled or hand-held (alpine or the like) grinder, it would probably be more efficient to do your cleanup right after you grind the stump by pulling both your grinder and a mini skid on the same trailer behind a dump truck like I do (or pitch it on by hand). JMO but, that setup works very well for me.

Everyone keeps talking about lean times and how hard it is to get work these days yet, most everyone on this site complains about cleanup and doesn't want to even offer it as a service. Unless you physically are unable to run a rake, the equipment is available to do the work for you so, why not offer it so long as the price is profitable for your business...?

 

[bombdude]

Well, having started the thread, it seems that my idea of using a blower isn't that great. Arbor Pro, I like your set up. I'm a believer in being a one trip system & having everything at the site with me.

I've got a 352 w/grader blade. 90% of my jobs I grade them flat & dress them with a rake. The others say they'll move them themselves to use a mulch, or they may have a tractor & level/scoop on their on. I even have a landscape lady that I work for from time to time that is adamant that I leave them for her to remove. She doesn't want to mix shavings from different species b/c of different decomp rates.

I also agree that removing is worth as much to me as the grinding. It's a pain. Most of the people that I deal with don't want to pay for it. I guess my thoughts about the blower were that it would "loosen" them & get them outta the hole, & then "scoop up" more than "dig out". And, truth be known, my hand blower is in need of help, & I wanted to justify replacing it with a "mack daddy" blower.

Thanks for the input guys. Lots of interesting discussion.

 

[custom8726]

I always right up the estimate with or without removal of grinds. most people opt for the removal of the grinds but for the ones that choose to keep them we grind and then rake everything back into the hole and mound up the remains on top. I charge as much to clean up as I do to grind so its worth the effort to me. I will bring in soil and rake it to grade and seed if they inquire about the service but I do not offer.

 

[Stump Easy]

I have read this discussion with interest. I am new to arboristsite.com, and I think the only member from South Africa(?). I have a Vermeer SC252 and a Bobcat SG60 on a S185H skid steer. I agreed to remove the shavings on one of the first stumps I cut, a Camphor (Eucalyptus ?) with a ground level diameter of about 2.5 m (seven plus feet) which took me 3 days with my Vermeer, and about the same time to remove the shavings. Never again. Now I convince the client about the mulching value of shavings and leave it to them. If they really need to get rid of them I refer them to a guy that does garden refuse clean ups. It has never cost me a job.

 

[custom8726]

I have read this discussion with interest. I am new to arboristsite.com, and I think the only member from South Africa(?). I have a Vermeer SC252 and a Bobcat SG60 on a S185H skid steer. I agreed to remove the shavings on one of the first stumps I cut, a Camphor (Eucalyptus ?) with a ground level diameter of about 2.5 m (seven plus feet) which took me 3 days with my Vermeer, and about the same time to remove the shavings. Never again. Now I convince the client about the mulching value of shavings and leave it to them. If they really need to get rid of them I refer them to a guy that does garden refuse clean ups. It has never cost me a job.

South Africa huh, Is there enough tree work to keep a crew working full time over there? Just curious, I am nieve to anything that goes on over there besides some hunting adventures I read about.

 

[custom8726]

Oh yeah, Welcome!!

 

[gr8scott72]

South Africa huh, Is there enough tree work to keep a crew working full time over there? Just curious, I am nieve to anything that goes on over there besides some hunting adventures I read about.

Must be. 7' diameter stump. Bigger than anything I've done so far.

 

[custom8726]

Must be. 7' diameter stump. Bigger than anything I've done so far.

I have done quite a few that big with my big rayco with the deutze diesel. It will grind a stump that big in less then a hour no sweat, The cleanup on the other hand is another story all together. I would not ever do a stump half that size with a 252 though. Good machine but not for big stumps IMHO...

 

[Stump Easy]

South Africa huh, Is there enough tree work to keep a crew working full time over there? Just curious, I am nieve to anything that goes on over there besides some hunting adventures I read about.

I'm busy with stumps 3/4 days a week. The competition here uses tractor PTO driven grinders (www.bellaco.co.za if you're interested) and couldnt get in for that stump, so my the client had no choice. Mostly I'm doing stumps around 300mm to 1m (12'' - 3') diameter. Not enough work for a big (70 hp) grinder though hence the Bobcat which can do other work when there are no stumps ...

 

[custom8726]

I'm busy with stumps 3/4 days a week. The competition here uses tractor PTO driven grinders (www.bellaco.co.za if you're interested) and couldnt get in for that stump, so my the client had no choice. Mostly I'm doing stumps around 300mm to 1m (12'' - 3') diameter. Not enough work for a big (70 hp) grinder though hence the Bobcat which can do other work when there are no stumps ...

Yup, I hear ya on the access issue. We have a carlton 2500 portable that will fit between a 36" gate but I still do not think I would tackle a stump 7' in diameter unless the home owner was willing to shell out some serious cash. When you say 3/4 days a week does that mean most of the week? or 3/4 of 1 day a week?