Stump Removal

That tree's been gone for a while but the stump is still there — sitting in the middle of your yard, getting in the way of mowing, and slowly becoming a termite hotel. Or maybe you just had trees taken down and the tree service left the stumps. Either way, stumps don't remove themselves, and the two options are grinding or full extraction. We do both.

Stump grinding is the more common approach. We use a skid steer-mounted stump grinder that chews the stump down 6–12 inches below grade, turning it into a pile of wood chips. The root system stays in the ground and decomposes naturally over several years. Grinding is faster, cheaper, and less disruptive to the surrounding lawn than full extraction. For most homeowners who just want the stump gone so they can mow over the spot, grinding is the right choice.

Full root ball extraction is the heavier option — we use our excavator to pull the entire stump and root ball out of the ground. This leaves a bigger hole that needs to be backfilled, but it removes everything. Full extraction is the right call when you're doing construction over the stump location (pouring concrete, building a structure), when the stump is from a species that sends up aggressive suckers from the root system, or when you just want everything gone completely.

Multiple stumps are common — especially after land clearing or storm damage. We price multiple stumps per-stump with volume discounts. If you have a dozen stumps from a recent clearing job, we'll handle them all in one visit. Our skid steer-mounted grinder moves between stumps quickly without tearing up the lawn the way a trailer-mounted grinder being dragged across the yard does.

Stump size matters for pricing and approach. Small stumps under 12 inches grind in minutes. Large hardwood stumps — 24 inches and up — take longer and produce significantly more chips. Species matters too: soft maples and pines grind fast; old oaks and hickories are dense and take more time. We quote based on what's actually there, not a one-size-fits-all price.

After grinding, we typically leave the wood chips in the hole and mound them slightly above grade to account for settling. You can seed over the chips or rake them out and bring in topsoil — your choice. For full extraction, we backfill the hole with clean fill, compact it, and grade it level with the surrounding ground.