03 — Stumps
Stump grinding
Below grade, roots and all, so the spot can be planted, poured on or simply mowed across.
A cut stump is not a finished job
Left in the ground, a stump does three things: it trips the mower, it sprouts, and it feeds whatever fungus moves in next. The surface roots running off it are usually the bigger nuisance — they lift sod, crack edging and catch a blade every time you cut the grass.
Grinding takes the stump and those roots down below grade, turning the whole lot into chips. What you do with the hole afterwards is a decision worth making before we start.
Backfill or haul
Grindings make a bigger pile than the hole they came out of. Two normal options:
- Backfill with the chips and mound it a few inches proud, because it settles. Cheapest, fine if you just want grass creeping back over it.
- Haul the grindings off and fill with topsoil. This is what you want if you are laying sod, planting, pouring concrete or setting a post anywhere near the spot.
Access decides the machine
The narrowest gate, gap or path between the truck and the stump decides what can get in there. Measure it before you call and we will know straight away whether it is a walk-behind job or something bigger. Soft ground after rain matters too — we would rather wait two days than leave ruts across your lawn.
Doing it with a removal
Most stumps get ground on the same visit as the removal that made them. It stays a separate line on the quote because it is a separate machine and a separate hour, but doing both at once saves a mobilisation and gets the whole thing finished in one go.
Below grade
On the day
Ground, filled, swept.
- Utilities checked firstNothing gets ground over an unmarked line.
- Surface roots taken tooThe runners that lift sod and catch the mower.
- Your call on the chipsBackfilled and mounded, or hauled off entirely.
- Blown down afterChips off the drive and the walkway before we go.
Questions
Stumps, answered.
How deep do you grind?
Below grade — deep enough that the spot can be sodded, planted or mowed over. If something is going on top of it, like a slab, a post or a raised bed, tell us and we take it deeper.
What happens to the hole?
A ground stump makes a pile of chips bigger than the hole it came from. We can backfill with the grindings and mound it slightly to allow for settling, or load the lot out and leave you a clean hole for topsoil.
Can I plant a new tree in the same spot?
Not straight into ground chips — they rob nitrogen while they break down. Have the grindings hauled off, backfill with topsoil, and plant a foot or two to the side of the old stump so the new roots are not fighting the old ones.
Will the machine fit through my gate?
That is the first thing we check. Measure the narrowest point on the way to the stump and tell us the number when you call — it decides which machine comes out.
Get the yard back
One machine, one afternoon.
Most residential stumps are done and cleaned up inside a few hours.