How to estimate a stump job

Don't feel guilty, especially since you still don't know how long it will take! If you do it for cheap you May as well get a job.
 
I remember the first time I bid a tree over $1000...was $1600. And the guy said, "Do it". It was a big step to start bidding bigger but you gotta do it if the numbers take you there. SOMEBODY is going to do the job...may as well be you. Don't feel bad about making good money. Feel bad about cheating yourself.

If you give someone a price and they like it good deal...if it could have been done for less...well, aren't you glad you didn't.
 
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  • #56
The 2 rental places I deal with have been very reliable. Everything I have rented from them has started easily, and worked as it should. The handlebar style grinder I rented from this one before started easy and had a sharp teeth. Some of that may be luck-of-the-draw, but they've been good to me in the past so i'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.
 
woodslinger said:
I'm 30 minutes from this one, not counting the travel time to go get the grinder. There is a place within a mile of them (where I rented a lift for my most recent job for them) but for a weekend rental the place I use is cheaper, and in the opposite direction. So splitting the job would crank the cost up by 3-500 bucks. Just the hassle alone would drive me bananas. Plus I'm doing several other stump jobs the same weekend, so if this one covers the rental, the rest are EASY money.
I'm trying to figure out what seems reasonable right now. Just for baseline I figured at $5 per inch and came up with 1755, estimating the root swell just above ground level, and 3356 using a sliding scale for diameter with cleanup. It feels excessive to me to pocket 2-3 grand (after expenses) for 1 day of work. But I think my conscience often stands in the way of my wallet. . .
Click to expand...

Give them the high esti and see if you can do it under that price. Stump grinding is expensive and hard on machine, you have no idea how many rocks you are going to hit.
 
If they accept a high price, you can always drop it a bit if you've killed it, telling them you expect a fair days pay for a fair days work, and you respect them as good reliable customers.

You don't have to, as they accepted the price. Sometimes, sometimes this turns Some customers into "let me know the price when you're done" or ready to accept the next bid without worrying about getting taken advantage of.

If you come in with a big profit, put it toward the next under-bid job, or your future machine payment so you can get away from rentals. You need to grow. A small show doesn't have the overhead of a larger show, but the market value is the same for the work. Sometimes, the value is higher, because you're the owner-operator taking extra pride and effort before calling it good and done.


For stumping, you need to know your local soil type. Here we have rocky glacial outwash in some areas (14,000 years ago, this area was pure bedrock, under crazy ice), and some areas nice rock free loam.
 
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  • #61
All good points, Sean, thank you. Sometimes hearing those things that we already kinda know, helps keep things in perspective.

Could you expand a bit on the soil type? My propery is mostly shale, which makes a big difference when doing excavating (and more specifically the direction of digging vs the "grain" of the shale). This customer's house I think is different (maybe less rocky, maybe just different rocks) composition, not sure what though. Does that affect the stump grinding, or the cleanup?
 
Rocks damage teeth. Sometimes you need to dig a rock out of a root, otherwise you're in for chipped, broken teeth.

If you have to grind through what was a riverbed of rock and soil, its different that clean topsoil (something sometimes 6" deep in a housing development).

This is Orcas Island soil http://rozewood.com/soil-investigations/glacial-outwash-orcas/.

Rocks also can bounce/ ricochet, so more risk to surrounding objects.



Dig a bit around the stump, or probe with metal rod/ rebar, as applicable. Walk on the area around a big stump to feel for big, sub-turf roots.

From what I hear, and stands to reason, the smaller the machine, the sharper the teeth must be. You can get by with duller teeth on a bigger machine.



https://www.masterblasterhome.com/s...ks-tools&highlight=stump+grinding+tips+tricks
 
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  • #63
I rounded off a bit and delivered a price of 3k to her today. She said "wow this stuff is expensive". She did not seem to think I was overcharging though, she just wanted to split it into thirds. I explained that each split involved renting a machine again and that I could split the bill for her. She is checking with her husband, I'm pretty sure it will be a go-ahead with the full job and break the bill into 2 or 3 payments.
 
Chris...that sounds good. I have a couple clients that I do that with...both widows. Took the one lady over a year to pay off a $2000 tree but she was steady and did it.

I had her OK to just make the tree safe for $1000 and then take the rest down after she paid for that (90 foot poplar or gum was shedding limbs onto the house...the gutter was built around the tree...nutz). We just took the whole tree down (easier for us that way) and she paid over time.

2nd lady doing same with a recent maple.
 
It's not really a superpower! Most guys who've done a bit of grinding would be able to do it.
The way it grinds and colour can also tell you what it was.
 
I agree, I think I can do it, just never thought about it, Im going to check. Right now in my head I can definitely summon the smell of oak and tulip.
 
So, one stump would be more?

What about a 45" flush cut oak stump? Good ground, been cut for a year or less.

I had rented a grinder, not cheap, and had hoped to share the cost with neighbors + a little profit as they came asking when they saw me grinding my own stumps, but I ended up spending the whole day on my stumps, so I'm trying to figure what a pro would charge vs what I need or what I could get away with. It's a wimpy "30hp" grinder with stock teeth, though I got lucky with it for a few minutes when the turbo kicked in, but that scared me considering it was a rental and I didn't want to have to pay for damages. That's a story for another time.
 
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