Stump grinder

[John Paul Sanborn]

He must have a towbehind to be able to do 36 feet of grinding

 

[DDM]

He's got a Vermeer SC505. Actually i was thinking about his 1.00 an inch I do the estimating when he shows up he knows he has a job. Stumpgrinding is all he does so if he's working for a few arborists i guess he makes out okay?
1.00 an inch isnt much.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

When I had a buddy doing my stumps I would make a bid and then tell him how high he could go. I was always over his normal rates so I knew I would have the job done right away and right the first time. Only once did he send a worker out to do one for me. After that he always worked them in with his estimating rout.

 

[stump grinder]

I have a job for wendesday at a co-workers place. It is 72" and with my rayco 1620 jr I am expecting to be there a couple hours if he cuts the stump down like he said he would. I priced him for $140. I want a minumum of $50/hour and more if possable. This is a weird stump. The story goes that it was cut 50 years ago. It still stands 4 foot high. The main trunk is about 30" and this thing that grew under it that looks like a volcanic dome is where the 72" comes in. He thinks it is an elm tree. Anyone familiar with this odd growth? It was said to have grown the bottom after it was cut.

Dean Chartier

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Primary roots and flair are the most decay resistant tissue in a tree and can last decades before they breakdown.

Sounds like the tree was cut and then sprouts came up and wer removed after many years of growth.

 

[treeman82]

Dean, where is West Chazy? Never heard of the area before. I remember hearing last year about a guy in Beacon who has one of the track Vermeer stumpers. You gotta get him several hours worth of work minimum. But he gets like $800 a day and will bang out a heck of a lot of stumps with that machine. So $800 a day if you wanna include the 1 hr drive each way into his work time, but not the time he is working for you... then that's still what? $80 per hour?

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

50-ta is a sweet machine! 50hp shaft driven. I seen them go through huge stumps in minutes.

$32,000

 

[stump grinder]

West Chazy is 50 miles due South of Montreal. About 100 miles North of Lake George, right off I-87. This is where we had the ice storm in '98. That was wild! Lots o'stumps up here right now!


Dean

 

[rbtree]

Bidding stumps by the inch is a good way to lose your shirt. First of all, a 4" stump has 12.56 square inches, a 40" incher has 1256. 10 times the diameter 100 times the area. Plus, a larger stump will have more root flare, roots and depth to consider. All these things must be considered, plus specified depth, access, etc.

I used to bid all my stumps for my guy, who has a huge Vermeer 1102, and a 252. I try to get him $100-130 per hour. Any less of a figure is selling yourself short. A stump grinder is a very high maintenance item. Now I borrow ( do trades) or rent a buddy's 252 for small or backyard stumps, and try to get $100 an hour or more.

Just did an alder for $200, 1.25 hrs shop to shop. A little high, maybe, but it was a rush job.

Obviously, if you have to compete with lowballers, getting good prices is tough. The only liability with stumpers is rock throwing (use hinged plywood) or hitting underground utilities (use a locator service), so cheap competition comes out of the woodwork......

....as if it didn't with tree work.....

 

[stump grinder]

RB,
I hear you , about the area of the stump. I have figured out the area for all stump sizes that I will be doing. I realize what you are saying. the money is in the small quick stumps. I don't want to scare off customers either though. I am working fairly cheap. i am not sure what the market will bare. What would you price a 72" stump at? This at the shoulder where it enters the ground. I priced it at $140. I have already adjusted my prices once and i am sure i will do it some more as i get a better feel for the market.

Dean

 

[rbtree]

I dont know stumpgrinder, hopefully its not all solid wood, 2 hours sound optimistic, but I havent seen it. Seems like 200-300 for a regular customer would be more like it.

Think of the wear and tear on the machine, teeth replacement,etc.

I did an appx 48" maple stump, with difficult backyard access on slightly sloping soft ground. It took about 3 hours, I got about $300 for it, after 800 for the removal.

Heck, I remember getting $160 for a 2-3 foot stump 26 years ago, which included chip hauling.

I once bid 900 on an 9 foot sequoia stump. we did the tree for ~$3000. A year later, it was gone, the ungrateful guy had called someone else.

 

[Nickrosis]

For our business, we have different machines for different stumps, but if there were only one machine, I'd take Rayco's RG-50 over anything else. It's priced well for what you can do with it.
There aren't a whole lot of niches that can make as much money in a single day as you can with a stumper and a pickup. I wouldn't mind stumping all day once a week - it's easy and you can gross $500 on a Saturday, if you ground 8" every 30 minutes. In a land clearing scenario, you could do more, but be charging less.
How deep? On a silver maple, I'd go pretty far down and hit the surface roots, but on a declining maple, I would go 6" below the flair. On a dead tree or an old stump, out of sight, out of mind!

Nickrosis
www.uwsp.edu/stuorg/ssa

 

[rbtree]

Hi nick,

Welcome to A-site

Nice website, are you the webmaster?

Will we see you in Seattle for ISA 2002? Come climb a 215 foot tree. Tim needs volunteers for the kid's climb, which might be a prerequisite for the big climb.

Who is "we" with all the stumpers?

 

[stump grinder]

Well as long as we are throwing out websites, here is mine too.

www.stumpcutting.com


Dean Chartier- working too cheap!

 

[Nickrosis]

Originally posted by rbtree
Nice website, are you the webmaster?

Will we see you in Seattle for ISA 2002? Come climb a 215 foot tree. Tim needs volunteers for the kid's climb, which might be a prerequisite for the big climb.

Who is "we" with all the stumpers?

Yes, I'm the webmaster. I love working on the site, and I hope it shows. If you have any suggestions or comments, I'm open to all of them.

Personally, I won't be able to make it to Seattle because of my summer camp. I'll be in Europe for all of July and half of August, but my fellow officers and classmates will be there. It sounds like a terrific time, but I have a lot of things to do this summer.

We? My family has a small tree and landscape business in Milwaukee. I hope to do more in the business as my dad desires to do less.

Stumpgrinder: you have a good website, I like the ease it has.

Nick

 

[Toddppm]

Cool site, Make the phone number much bigger though and put it at the top and the bottom and maybe somewhere else!
I had a 1620 too for about 3 years before I got my new 1625, it's all I need. I've done some big stumps with it. I do wish I could rent a bigger one sometimes but I usually don't get them anyways.
I always include whatever part of the stump is above ground including the root flare when pricing. I don't always price by the inch sometimes I'll figure it both ways and put which ever one I think they'll go for if I want the job. Either way you need to price higher until you hit resistance which I think will be around double what your're charging now! Don't give them a breakdown of how you are charging if you can help it, it's none of their business.

 

[stump grinder]

I'll let you guys know how it went, I do the 72" in the morning. The guy was suppose to cut the stump down, I don't think he did though so I am bringing the husky in case.He is going to have to pay extra if i have to cut it. I am going to take pics, I'll post it when I get a chance. I have to work30 hours over wednesday and thursday night so I may not post until Friday. We'll see. I am glad there is a place to talk about this stuff! I am on a list for my suzuki bandit 1200 too. These list are a great place to exchange info. Thanks guys!

Dean

 

[stump grinder]

Here is the stump. I was right, the guy did not cut it! There is another $35 for me!I was getting below grade and then I bent a tooth that started rubbing the frame. Guess I learned to bring everything next time. I'll go back and finish it Friday afternoon , it's my day off. Getting a great deal on a small chipper that day too. I wanted to have something around to cleanup storm damage. I have someone to take the wood, so I just need a small one. I am getting a craftsman 8hp it was used mostly just for the ice storm in '98 and has less than 10 hours on it. I plan on a real chipper in the future but, this was too good of a deal to pass up. He paid $600 for it new and he is selling it to me for $250. I can always get my money back on this one!

Dean

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

My inderstanding of fungus is that 8 inches is where most of them wont send up fruiting bodies, so if you just scuff it ab burry the customer will have mushrooms for ages.

Also the flair and hevy roots are the most deacay resistant the soil in that area will slowly sag for decades. with a deep grind you can get that all over with in a few years.

 

[TheTreeSpyder]

Let me know if that 8 hp. chipper is built for production work.............