The short answer is yes. The long answer is; it depends. You would think that tree service companies typically handle both the tree and the stump, but there are a few nuances to factor in before you hire a tree company to grind your stump.
Tree guys generally don’t like grinding stumps. We’ve talked to numerous tree companies who say they actually hate stump grinding. Why do they hate grinding stumps? They make way less money grinding the stump than they do cutting the tree down. They don’t want to do it, and sometimes they just won’t do it, even if they were hired for the job. It takes them more time that they could be using cutting down more trees. They won’t tell you to your face, but trust us when we say the guy cutting down your tree probably doesn’t really want to grind your stump.
The cost for the tree company to cut the tree and grind the stump doesn’t always make sense for them. Often times, their customers aren’t ready to pay to have the stump ground when the tree is cut initially, meaning they aren’t guaranteed to even use their very expensive high maintenance grinder on every tree they cut. They may own their stump grinder outright, but many times, it’s a big expensive machine that they don’t use often enough to justify owning. Some tree companies will own smaller less costly machines to offset that cost. Others may simply rent stump grinders to take care of their customers stumps, but then again, these rental grinders and smaller machines make grinding the stumps take longer making it even more costly for them. Long story short, stump grinding machines are hard to maintain and break down often and if you don’t have a big one it takes a long time to grind a stump.
If you do get a tree guy to grind your stump, you may be disappointed in the result. They didn’t want to do it in the first place, they may do it in haste and miss quite a lot. Good luck getting them to come back to fix it. Most tree services would rather not offer stump grinding at all than risk getting bad reviews for doing a poor job. This is why we have many tree companies who recommend grinders like us to finish the job. We’re quick and easy, and ensure our customer’s satisfaction.
Now it’s important to note that not all tree companies are like this, but we’ve seen and heard enough to know better than to hire tree companies for stump grinding. Leave it to the guys who make it the focus of the business; like Mr. Stumpgrinder. All we do is grind stumps, and we love doing it. Our work is guaranteed so that you can rest assured knowing that if we missed a spot, we’ll make it right quickly with no questions asked.
Trevor