The honest answer nobody likes: it depends on the stump – but there’s no mystery to it and no hidden chart. Stump grinding around Winston-Salem starts at a $200 minimum, and from there every job gets one firm, all-in price. What moves that number is the stump in front of us: how big it is, how hard it is to reach, how hard the wood is, and how far the roots run. No trip fee, no fuel surcharge, no “we hit roots” upcharge halfway through.
Why there’s no per-inch chart
Size matters – a bigger stump is more wood to grind – but it’s only part of the story. A 24-inch oak sitting open in the backyard can be an easier job than a 12-inch stump wedged against a fence with roots humped across the lawn. A flat per-inch rate would ignore access, wood hardness, and root spread – the very things that decide how long we’re on the machine. So we factor the measurement in along with everything else and quote the whole job as one price.
The $200 starting point
That’s where pricing begins, not a flat rate. Loading the grinder onto the trailer, driving out, calling in the 811 locate, and grinding a single small stump costs us about the same in setup as a bigger visit. The minimum covers that trip. So if you’ve got one little stump, the smart move is to go find its neighbors.
Grinding several at once is where you save
Because the trip is the fixed cost, once the machine is already on your property each extra stump comes in cheaper than it would on its own. That row of old Leyland cypress or the hedge line you’ve been meaning to deal with – doing it all in one visit beats calling us back three separate times. Tell us the count and we’ll work up a whole-yard price.
What moves the price up or down
- Stump size – more wood is more grinding, so it’s part of every quote, just not the whole of it.
- Access – usually not a problem, but a long carry or a narrow gate can add a little time.
- Wood hardness and root spread – a hard old hardwood, or roots that have humped up across the lawn, take longer than a soft stump that grinds clean.
- Rock, fence wire, or fill – old stumps sometimes hide a surprise. If we spot one, you’ll hear about it before we start, not after.
How you get a real number
The only way to price a stump accurately is to see it, so your firm price comes from a free on-site visit – we measure, check the access, and hand you an all-in quote before any grinding starts. In a hurry? Text a photo of the stump with something for scale – a shoe, a soda can, a tape measure – and we’ll ballpark it, often the same day. Just know that the photo gets you a ballpark; the on-site look makes it firm. See the full breakdown on our cost page, or send the photo to get started.