How to Price Stump Grinding: By the Inch or the Stump

How to price stump grinding comes down to one measurement and one decision. The measurement is the stump's width at the ground, flare included. The decision is per inch, per stump, or a minimum for the first stump and per inch after it. This post reads a city's own rate, a homeowner survey, FEMA's machine rate, BLS wages and a rental counter's list, then prices three stumps.

How to measure a stump for grinding: at the ground, flare included

Measure at the ground, not across the cut. Falls City, Nebraska, which grinds stumps for residents, charges by "the full-width of the stump"; Fixr's homeowner guide says "the correct way to measure the tree size is at the bottom, not at the stem." The base is wider than the top because the trunk flares into the roots, and the flare is wood the wheel has to chew.

1. 1Step 1: Lay a tape across the stump at ground level through the widest part of the flare and read the inches.
2. 2Step 2: Stumps are rarely round, so take a second reading at a right angle and price the larger one.
3. 3Step 3: Note the height above grade; Toro's compact grinder reaches 33 inches up, and anything taller gets a saw cut first.
4. 4Step 4: Count the surface roots, note anything close by (fence, wall, sprinkler head), and photograph the stump with the tape in the shot.

Stump grinding cost per inch: a city rate and a homeowner survey

Falls City, Nebraska charged $3.00 per inch of full width with a $30.00 minimum in 2023, and its page points to the current annual fee resolution for this year's rate. Fixr's homeowner cost guide, updated January 31, 2025, puts contractors at $2 to $5 per inch or $30 to $200 per stump, and says many companies hold a minimum of about $100 to cover travel.

Stump grinding minimum charge: why the first stump costs more

The city rate is a floor set by a crew whose machine is already paid for; the survey band is what homeowners say they paid; neither is your cost. The expensive part of a single stump is the trip: drive, unload, walk the machine in, grind, rake, load. Per inch pricing spreads the trip over the inches, which works with forty inches in the yard and fails with ten. Set a minimum for the first stump at an address and a per inch rate after it; Fixr reports minimums of about $100, Falls City's is $30.

What the machine and the operator cost per hour

FEMA's 2025 Schedule of Equipment Rates prices a Vermeer SC852 stump grinder (74 hp, 23 inch cutter wheel) at $55.28 an hour and a Vermeer SC1052 (115 hp, 26 inch wheel) at $56.33 an hour, and says "Labor costs of the operator are not included in the rates." Your own number is payments, fuel, maintenance and tooth sets divided by the hours the machine runs; the schedule is a published check.

For the operator, O*NET's wage page for tree trimmers and pruners, from Bureau of Labor Statistics 2025 data, shows a national median of $24.50 an hour; ten percent earn $18.24 or less and ten percent earn $38.61 or more. Payroll taxes and a tree company's insurance ride on top of the wage.

Stump grinder rental cost when you do not own the machine

Grand Rental Station in Dickson City, Pennsylvania lists a mini grinder for stumps up to 12 inches at $60 for four hours or $90 a day, a stand-behind unit for stumps up to 30 inches at $75 for four hours or $125 a day, and a towable hydraulic grinder for stumps of 30 inches and up at $175 for four hours or $250 a day. A rented machine makes the day rate the job's floor, so batch stumps by neighborhood and rent the size that fits the stump.

Depth, roots and the flare: what the base price includes

Write the depth down first. Illinois Extension's stump guide says grinders range "from flush to the soil line to over a foot deep" and that "the deeper you want a stump ground out, the more it will cost you." City specifications show the common number: Wadena, Minnesota's 2026 request requires "a minimum depth of 8" (inches) below the existing natural ground around the stump," and Cedar Rapids, Iowa grinds right-of-way stumps "approximately 8 inches below grade." Toro's STX-26 compact grinder cuts 12.5 inches below grade, so a deeper spec means a bigger machine.

Purdue Extension advises against planting new trees or turf right over a ground stump: the ground settles "as it decays and loses its structural fiber," it "can take several years to fully decompose the stump," and the roots left behind can send up sprouts. Replanting in the same spot means a deeper grind and more fill.

Roots are the second line. Wadena's spec includes grinding the above ground roots and dirt mounds around the stump; Fixr prices root grinding at $100 to $200 an hour. Quote surface roots by the hour or per root, and say in writing that the base price stops at the edge of the flare.

Access, rock and fences: the site questions that change the price

Walk the path from the truck to the stump before you price it. Toro lists its STX-26 at 34 inches wide and 1,200 pounds, with a 47 inch, 90 degree sweep at the head; measure every gate and gap on the way in, because the narrowest one picks the machine. Steps, a slope or soft ground after rain are time on the clock; rock dulls teeth, and a fence or paver edge inside the sweep means hand work, so those stumps get an hourly rate instead of a per inch one.

811 is "the free national before-you-dig service"; contact it "a few business days before you begin any digging," wait for the utilities to mark their lines, and work around the marks. Its project list includes planting trees and shrubs, and a grinder moves more soil than a planting hole, so treat every stump as digging.

Chips: leave them, spread them or haul them away

The chips are a line on the quote. Iowa State Extension says the chips and sawdust "should be removed as thoroughly as possible before planting grass" because they "have a high carbon-to-nitrogen ratio and can temporarily reduce the nitrogen available to new grass," then says to "add quality topsoil to replace the volume lost to grinding" and mound it above grade for settling.

• Leave the chips: raked into the hole and leveled, the cheapest line, the one Wadena's request writes as cleanup by others.
• Haul and fill: chips out, topsoil in, mounded for settling; Cedar Rapids removes the waste and restores with topsoil and seed.
• Haul, fill and seed: the complete line; Fixr's homeowner guide puts cleanup at $2 to $3 per inch on top of the grinding.

Bundling the stump with the removal, and when to keep it apart

When the stump comes from your own removal, the grinder is already on the quote. Price it as its own line under the removal so the customer can take it or leave it and the removal rate stays comparable with the next bid. Pricing tree removal per inch covers the removal side. A stump someone else left is just the trip and the machine, which is where the minimum does its work.

Writing the stump grinding quote

Write five things: the width at the ground for each stump, the depth, what the base price covers (the stump to the edge of the flare), the extras (surface roots, rock, hand work at a fence), and the chip option the customer picked. Add the locate's lead time, one line that says the ground will settle, and the photo of the tape across the stump; writing a service quote customers approve covers the rest.

In MakeHay, the quote builder takes line items per item, per square foot, per linear foot or flat: "Stump grinding, by diameter" is a per item line with the inches as the quantity and your per inch rate as the price, and "Haul-away and topsoil fill" a flat line under the removal; the demo quote on the tree service page shows "Removal only" beside "Removal and stump" as good, better, best packages, and a photo of the stump with the tape across it arrives through the request form.

The stump is a separate line or a package the customer picks.