What you should actually expect to pay

Why two quotes for the same stump come back different

The per-inch rate is the part everybody publishes and the least useful part of the answer. Diameter sets a floor. What moves the real number is whether the machine can reach the stump, how steep the ground is, how deep you need it ground, and whether you want the chips gone. Here is the whole list, in roughly the order it matters.

1. Diameter, measured at ground level

   Crews quote per inch across the widest point of the stump at the ground, not the trunk at chest height. A stump that looks like a twenty inch tree is often a twenty eight inch stump once you measure the flare.

2. The minimum fee

   Nearly every crew in Cherokee County has a minimum of one hundred to two hundred dollars for rolling a grinder to your house. A small stump does not cost proportionally less, which is why one stump alone is the worst value in this trade.

3. Access, which is usually the real number

   A grinder needs roughly thirty six inches of gate clearance to reach a back yard. If it will not fit, the crew is either bringing a smaller machine or hand-clearing a path, and the price moves more than diameter ever does. Measure your gate before you call.

4. Slope

   Woodstock lots are not flat. Towne Lake Hills and the Allatoona side in particular have grades steep enough that a crew has to winch or reposition, which adds time.

5. Grinding depth

   Four to six inches below grade is standard and is enough to plant grass over. If you are laying sod, pouring concrete, or setting a fence post, you need twelve inches or more, and that is a different price. Say which one you want when you call.

6. Chip haul-away

   Grinding a stump produces a surprising volume of chips, usually more than fills the hole. Leaving them on site is free. Hauling them off is not, and it is the line item people forget to ask about.

7. Root spread

   Sweetgum and water oak throw surface roots well past the stump, and they will keep sprouting if only the stump is ground. Chasing roots is priced separately from the stump itself.

8. Number of stumps

   The second stump in the same visit is roughly a quarter cheaper than the first, because the drive and setup are already paid for. If you have three, get them all done at once.

Doing it yourself

A rental grinder runs somewhere near a couple of hundred dollars for a day, plus a trailer and a vehicle that can pull it. For one medium stump that is roughly a wash against hiring a crew, except you spend a Saturday and the machine throws debris hard enough to matter. For two or more stumps, hiring wins outright, because the crew's minimum fee is paid once and the second stump comes in about 25 percent cheaper.

Before you call, have three answers ready

Crews quote faster and more accurately when you lead with these. How wide is the stump across the flare at ground level. How wide is the gate or the narrowest point between the street and the stump. And what is going in that spot afterwards, grass or concrete, because that decides the grinding depth and it is the single most common cause of having to call somebody back out.