So, are thinking about hiring a stump grinding professional, have already hired one or wondering if you got a good stump grinding job done? Are you wondering what to expect from the job? You have come to the right place. There are many things about a stump removal job that a customer may not be aware of. The average stump removal job is not straightforward or as simple as one might think. Here are some things to know about stump removal.
- The average depth of the grind for stump removal might not completely remove the stump. On bigger or deeper stumps this means that some of the stump may be left in the ground. A 4–6-inch depth is a great depth if you want to grow grass back over the top of the stump removal area. You’ll need complete stump removal for fence post installation, concrete preparation, and other reasons. Let your stump grinding professional know before hiring them for the job if you need complete stump removal.
If you decided to hire the cheapest stump grinder you could find there is a reason the company is cheap. Don’t be surprised if they leave you with a flush cut to ground level or a little below then disappear.
2. A stump machine may not be so friendly to your yard. Your contractors’ stump removal machine can come in many different sizes, weights a drive styles. The hardest machines on your yard are the types of machines using wheel and tire type drive systems. The machine that is least likely to do major damage to your yards grass is a small stump removal machine on tracks.
If your yard is saturated to the point where your foot sinks at all in the soil when your walking around there is a high chance any type of machine will harm your yard.
A good professional stump grinder knows how to keep your yard as perfect as possible by using sheets of plywood on the stump grinding machine path to the stump. They will probably charge you more for this yard preservation service. It will lengthen the time the job takes and require extra labor.
3. There might be legitimate reasons the quoted stump removal amount might increase during the job. It is common for contractors to use a model of coming in with the lowest price quote just to hook the customer and get the job then use illegitimate reasons to raise the price during the job. We aren’t talking about that here. Your stump removal professional might run into embedded metal, stones, or brick while grinding the stump. I’ve even heard stories of stump guys running into embedded cars parts during the job.
There might also be large underground, previously unseen roots that need to be removed that your contractor could not see for original quote.
If the ground is severely mounded around the stump and it wasn’t obvious in the picture that was sent to your stump removal professional the cost to grind out this additional area might significantly increase the cost of the stump removal. You don’t have to worry about this if the ground is level around your stump.
Embedded metal or stone material in a stump can ruin a $200 set of stump grinding teeth nearly instantly. Some lower horsepower machines will all but stop grinding with really dull teeth. Most of the time the stump removal job must be immediately stopped when embedded material in the stump is revealed.
The chances of running into embedded material in the stump is low but happens regularly. For me it seems like I run into embedded stone or metal in the stump requiring a job cost increase about 1 in 20-30 stumps that I remove.
If the embedded material is metal it will have to be ground out with a disc grinder or similar tool. If it is stone, it must be chiseled out. You can imagine that sometimes this is no easy task and takes extra time, labor, and valuable material. The average additional charge for removing embedded stump material is about $80-200 depending on what is embedded in the stump and how much material is embedded.
4. You’ll need to keep children and pets indoors and some areas of the property during the grinding process. It might be tempting to watch the grinder cutting the stump away. For some people watching the stump cutter wheel grind through a stump is very satisfying. Just be aware that although a good stump grinder keeps most of the chips and debris contained there is still a chance of being hit by debris. Keep your distance and use caution during the stump removal.
Also, your stump removal contractor will need to have all the cars and other valuable items moved away from the stump removal job site before the grinding can start. Your contractor will also need a place to park a truck and trailer.
5. It’s always a good idea to call 811 well in advance of the stump removal job day. There is always a chance you stump removal contractor will hit internet, cable, or other shallow buried lines. There are ways to reduce the chance of hitting these lines, but there is no way to guarantee that your contractor will be able to miss these lines.
Electrical lines, gas lines, and water lines should be buried deep enough so the stump grinder will not hit them, but it is nice to know where they are located and double check the depth of these lines with soil probe if possible.
6. Chances are, not all tree stump roots will be removed with stump removal. If you hire a good stump grinder, they will typically remove above ground visible tree roots only. It might also be an additional charge if the roots are large enough. It is nearly impossible and an unreasonable task for your stump removal guy to guarantee removal of all tree roots with a stump removal job.
7. Stump grinding wood chip clean up is generally not included with stump removal. A good stump removal contractor will rake into a neat looking mulch chip pile over the stump removal area. Grass will not grow in fresh wood mulch chips. If stump grinding mulch chip removal is needed by customer is usually over doubles the cost of the stump removal so most customers choose to handle the stump grinding mulch cutting themselves. It is usually a straightforward simple process for customers to handle chip removal themselves. There is a more thorough article on this subject here: https://indianastumpgrinding.com/2023/12/the-complete-guide-on-what-to-do-with-left-over-stump-removal-mulch-chips
It’s not a great idea to use stump grinding mulch chips around the perimeter of your house. Fresh wood chip mulch does not contain Termite treatment and can attract Termites near your house. Mulch chips that mixed in the soil from stump grind might rob nitrogen from your soil. It isn’t a great idea to mix the mulch from stump removal near other plants you want to grow.
8. There is a good chance you can drastically lower the cost of your small stump removal job by talking to your neighbors to see if they want stump removal at the same as you. For example, if you just need a few small stumps removed from your yard you’ll probably just pay the minimum stump removal charge. A lot of the minimum charge is just a trip charge so each additional stump can be removed by your contractor while they are at your job for cheaper.
If your neighbor has a few small stumps to remove as well, your stump grinding contractor will probably remove those stumps for a significantly less charge per stump since the contractor is already out there on the job site. Then if you just split the total cost with your neighbor everyone wins and ends up getting a much cheaper stump removal price.
Keep in mind that this needs to be arranged and scheduled prior to your stump removal job date so your contractor can schedule the extra grind time in.
9. Some site preparation might be needed before the stump grinding job starts. Your stump removal professional will need a clear path to get a stump removal machine that will weigh a minimum of 1,500 pounds and measure a minimum of 35 inches wide. Also, everything needs to be removed around the stump for stump removal job to start such as: bricks, stones, and hardscaping and other items that might be in the way. Your contractor will probably need at least an 8-foot radius of cleared area around the stump to work if the stump is large. A lot less cleared area is required for small stumps.
10. A stump can kill adjacent trees if the stump being removed is closer than about 6 feet away from the other trees that are alive. A good stump removal professional can prevent this by not going too deep with the grind.
Usually, a stump removal contractor cannot grind much closer than 6 inches to objects that are near the stump. So, if you have a fence, driveway, or foundation that is too close to the stump don’t expect your stump removal contractor to remove the stump right up to these objects. It might not even be possible.
11. A tree stump needs to be a certain height before it can be removed by a stump grinder. Your stump needs to be cut to about 8 inches or below in height or your stump removal contractor might have to charge more for the stump removal. Usually if a stump is too tall your stump removal guy will have to perform an extra crosscut of the stump to get the stump to grindable level with minimal left-over mulch chips from the grinding process. Here are some reasons why this last crosscut is commonly not performed by the tree service and stump is left high.
- This is cut is a lot harder on chainsaws.
- This crosscut pinches and dulls chains very quickly.
- The cut can have dirt around this level or in stump (dirt can instantly dull a chain).
- This type of cut can be more of a hassle to do, can require a much larger saw, and can require specialized expensive chains and adds more time and labor to the job.
- For large stumps, crosscuts of this type can take more time and be tedious work require the use of additional tools like wedges, pry bars, and hammers.
12. You might not want to hire the cheapest quote for stump removal. If you have read the post to this point it is an obvious conclusion that there is a tremendous amount of moving parts and thought that needs to go into a stump removal job.
So, if you hire “Lowest quote Larry” or “Have to do the job twice Tim” you might be in for a lot more hassle and cost in the long run.
In conclusion you can see there might be a lot to take into consideration when hiring out a stump removal job. Did you find anything in this post useful? Do you have anything to add? Please let us know.