Last Updated: · Written by Flatwood Land Clearing Palm Bay
As national budgeting ranges, stump grinding costs about $120 to $400 for the first stump and $30 to $60 for each additional one, or about $2 to $6 per inch of diameter, with service minimums of about $80 to $160. Flatwood Land Clearing Palm Bay provides stump grinding across Palm Bay and its service areas, priced from the number of stumps, their diameter, the access and what happens to the grindings.
In short
- First stump: about $120 to $400. Each additional stump: about $30 to $60. Per inch of diameter: about $2 to $6. All national budgeting ranges.
- Big jobs are often priced by the hour, about $100 to $200, and small ones hit service minimums of about $80 to $160.
- Access decides more than wood type: a stump behind a narrow gate or next to a pool costs more than one at the street.
- Grinding is right for yards and lawn areas. A house pad or driveway needs roots out, which is grubbing.
- Brazilian pepper and saw palmetto resprout from what is left, so grinding alone does not end them.
Typical ranges and how they are applied
These are national budgeting ranges, not quotes and not company rates. Quotes use one of three units, and the cheapest unit depends on the job.
| Unit | National budgeting range | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| First stump | $120-$400 | One stump, or the first of several |
| Each additional stump | $30-$60 | Several stumps ground on the same visit |
| Per inch of diameter | $2-$6 per inch | A few stumps of known size |
| Per hour | $100-$200 | Many stumps on a cleared lot or acreage |
| Service minimum | $80-$160 | A single small stump |
The gap between the first stump and the rest is the trip. Loading the grinder, driving out, unloading and setting up cost the same for one stump as for ten, so the first stump carries that cost and the rest are priced on grinding time alone.
Per-inch pricing is measured across the stump at ground level. At $2 to $6 per inch, an 18-inch slash pine stump works out to $36 to $108, which is often below the service minimum, so the minimum or the first-stump price applies instead. Per-inch pricing makes more sense on larger stumps or a short list of known sizes.
What moves the price on a Palm Bay stump
| Driver | Why it matters | Effect on price |
|---|---|---|
| Diameter | Grinding time rises fast with size | The main driver on per-inch and per-stump quotes |
| Count | The trip cost is spread over more stumps | Each additional stump costs far less than the first |
| Access | Fenced backyards, gates, pools, septic tanks and soft ground limit which grinder fits | A smaller grinder takes longer |
| Surface roots | Laterals running out from the stump need grinding too if they lift the lawn | More time per stump |
| Wood | Oak is dense and slow; slash pine is resinous; cabbage palm is fibrous | Moves time per inch, not the unit |
| Depth | Deeper grinding for a planting bed or a footing takes longer than grinding below sod | More time per stump |
| Grindings | Left, raked into the hole or hauled away | Haul-off is an added line |
| Kept trees nearby | On a Palm Bay lot under construction, no machines inside a kept tree’s root zone | Hand work or leaving that stump |
Two Palm Bay conditions come up on most jobs. Ground in the city’s flatwoods soils holds water about a foot down from June to November, so, as the best time to clear land guide explains, a grinder working near a soft swale or a wet backyard may need mats or a dry spell. And where a yard or lot has more than one stump, from storm-thrown pines or an earlier lot clearing, the price for each additional stump is the one that matters.
Pine, oak, palm and pepper stumps
Slash pine, the main pine of Palm Bay’s flatwoods, grinds at an ordinary pace, and its roots tend to stay shallow where the water table is high. Live oak and other oaks are denser and take longer per inch, and an oak’s surface roots can spread well out from the trunk.
Cabbage palm stumps are fibrous rather than woody. A cut cabbage palm does not grow back from its stump, so grinding is about the yard’s surface, not regrowth. Saw palmetto is a different matter: its trunks run along the ground and resprout, so a ground-down palmetto clump can come back unless the trunks are dug out. Saw palmetto clearing covers that.
Brazilian pepper resprouts from its stump and sends up suckers from its roots. Grinding a pepper stump without treating it often brings back a cluster of shoots. UF/IFAS Extension publishes control guidance for cut pepper stumps, and on a Palm Bay lot being developed, the city’s code requires Class I invasives such as pepper to be removed before the certificate of occupancy.
What’s inside a stump grinding price
| Part of the price | What sets it | Local figure or source |
|---|---|---|
| Operator time | Number and size of stumps, wood and access | Tree trimmers in the Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville metro earn a mean $21.48 an hour, about 20% below the $26.91 national mean (BLS) |
| Ground labor | Raking grindings, cleanup, moving the machine around obstacles | Landscaping workers earn a mean $18.50 locally vs $20.33 nationally (BLS) |
| Trip and setup | Getting the grinder to the site | No public figure; carried by the first-stump price or a minimum |
| Grindings removal | Whether chips are left, raked in or hauled | Disposal at Brevard County sites per the county’s posted gate rates |
| Utility locate | Lines near the stump, especially in front yards | No public figure; the locate is scope to check before grinding below grade |
| Permit | The stump itself; the tree removal is what Palm Bay’s permit covers | Tree removal permit for trees of 6 inches or more, per the city’s current fee schedule |
A wage is not a billing rate. The hourly rate on a grinding quote also carries the grinder, fuel, the trailer, insurance, licensing and overhead. Still, with local tree crew wages about a fifth below the national mean according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, a Palm Bay stump that lands at the top of the band does so because of its size, its wood or its access, not because local labor costs more.
Have a count and rough sizes?
Send the number of stumps, their approximate diameters and a photo of the way in. The scope prices them on one visit.
When grinding is the wrong finish
Grinding cuts a stump down below grade and leaves the root system to decay in the ground. That is right for a lawn, a garden bed or a yard where nothing will be built. It is wrong under a house pad, a slab, a driveway or fill, where decaying roots leave voids and the surface above them settles.
On a lot being cleared for a house, the building areas are grubbed, which means stumps and roots come out, and grinding is kept for the parts of the lot that will be lawn. The stump grinding vs stump removal guide explains the choice, and clearing and grubbing covers the pad.
Illustrative budgets
These examples are illustrative, built only from the ranges above. They are not quotes or past jobs.
One 24-inch live oak stump in a fenced backyard. Per stump: $120 to $400. Per inch: $48 to $144. The first-stump range is the realistic one here, and the fenced access puts it toward the upper half.
Five storm-thrown slash pine stumps in a front yard. $120 to $400 for the first plus $30 to $60 for each of the other four, or $240 to $640, before any grindings haul-off.
A cleared half-acre with 25 stumps in the future lawn. $120 to $400 for the first plus $30 to $60 for each of the other 24, or $840 to $1,840. On a job this size, an hourly quote at $100 to $200 an hour is worth comparing.
What a grinding quote usually leaves out
- Hauling the grindings away, which debris hauling covers, or bringing in topsoil to fill the hole
- Grinding surface roots beyond the stump itself
- Herbicide on resprouting pepper stumps
- Sod or seed over the ground-out spots
- Removal of the tree itself, which is a separate job and, in Palm Bay, a separate permit for trees of 6 inches or more
The Palm Bay lot clearing cost guide shows where stump grinding fits in a full clearing budget, and the per-acre clearing cost guide covers acreage. For an overgrown yard with stumps and brush together, overgrown lot clearing and storm debris cleanup explain the wider job.
Get a number for your stumps
The ranges here are for planning. A count, rough diameters and a photo of the access narrow them to your yard or lot. Call, or send the address and a few phone photos.