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I thought stump grinding was a scam until a client in Reno showed me his 3 year old lawn
For years I turned down stump grinding jobs because I figured the old school way of cutting flush and letting it rot was fine, and honestly I thought the machines were just a way to charge people an extra $400 for nothing. Then a guy in Reno with a dead cottonwood in his front yard told me he had ground stumps done at his last place and three years later he was mowing right over the spot with zero bumps or mushrooms. So I rented a grinder for a job in Sparks last spring and watched the chips pile up 8 inches deep over a root flare that would have taken me two hours with a chainsaw and a mattock. Here is the catch though, the hole it leaves is a mess, you need a ton of backfill, and if you grind too shallow the roots still send up suckers. I have done about 14 since then and I still cant decide if its worth the price for the customer or if I am just selling convenience. Some guys around here say leave the stump tall for wildlife and let nature take it, others say grind deep and be done. What do you all tell folks when they ask if its really needed?
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oliviat1727d ago
So when you grind deep enough to kill the suckers, how much backfill are we actually talking? Like are you hauling in a yard of topsoil per stump or just mixing the chips back in and topping it off? And do you charge the customer for that dirt on top of the grinding price or eat it?
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