stump grinding charge?

[lawncutter1982]

hi, i have a question..how do you charge for grinding out tree stumps.... i would like to add this to my business but have no idea what is a normal charge rate thanks in advance

[turfmaster]

Lawn care business tips

Originally Posted by lawncutter1982 hi, i have a question..how do you charge for grinding out tree stumps.... i would like to add this to my business but have no idea what is a normal charge rate thanks in advance Around my area I see signs for $39.00 for 18" or smaller for stump grinding. I don't know what the average price is above 18" If I were you I would call a local guy in your area and ask them what they charge.

[picframer]

We use a stump grinder attached to the 3 point hitch on one of the tractors, driven by the PTO, min $45.00 site charge, $35.00 float charge (travel time charge) $90.00 an hour or we will pull them with a backhoe or excavator, same base rates, backhoe is $65.00 an hour, excavation $105.00

We don't grind that many, we mainly pull them out as the root system, depending on the tree can be an issue for the home owner, this unit is super fast, mainly used on hardwoods as the root system is such that it makes a major mess pulling a big stump and leaves quite a hole to be filled.

[picframer]

Forgot image

[Steve]

There are a bunch of articles in my blog on stump grinding. I'd suggest visit the site and search for stump grinding.

But to get you started here is one.

How to estimate and market stump grinding.

Andy, when you have a stump grinder attached to the tractor, do you have a separate charge for using that stump grinder and then the tractor? So is there a combined hourly charge for both of them being used? Or how does that work?

[picframer]

Each tractor is charged the same rate per hour, doesn't matter which attachment except the tiller, that I charge per job and they average about $205. an hour, reason being I have no competition.

Now this new DR. Power Vac that arrives Tuesday for collecting leaves will be by the hour, I suspect in the $50.00 range perhaps more, I have to test the waters, once again I have no competition, every yard care company I have seen doing this manually and hauls the leaves away with a trailer, we will power vac which will turn the product to a very fine mulch (20 to 1 ratio meaning it turns 20 bags of leaves into 1), I will store it with the wood chip pile and sell it as compost in the spring.

Having commercial gear may cost but it brings the business/revenue and profit big time, one of the staff did a simple pressure washing job jesterday, small house and deck $515.00 (2 decks, one guy 9 hours plus 6 gallons of simple green) now there was a company across the street doing a house very similar, I saw four guys, a very small pressure washer, pails and scrub brushes, anyhow I dropped the staff member and gear off an left (gear being a commercial John Deere unit, 12 foot step ladder, Simple Green detergent, fuel and hoses), within two hours I had three calls from people who were watching Sean, long story short we picked up four jobs (so far, this is in the heart of the city) so he can stay in that area until next week, we even picked the house up across the street the other company was doing, the owner fired them at noon as the gear they had wasn't doing the job, we are doing his house this morning.