Say what goes in the hole. That chooses the machine.
Stump grinding chews the stump below grade and leaves chips. That is the right end for most yards. You want grass, mulch, or an open bed where the tree was. You do not want a tripping stump, and you do not need every root pulled to the dripline.
Digging the root plate is the other job. The stump and the main roots come out of the ground. It tears the lawn, it needs room for the machine, and it is what you book when something solid has to sit in that spot.
A lawn wants a grind. A footing wants the plate gone.
Which one you are actually buying
Book a grind when the next step is soil and seed, sod after the hole settles, or a shrub somewhere else in the bed. Haul the chips or use them as mulch away from the trunk of the next tree. Do not rake them level and call them fill. They rot, the spot sinks, and a new planting in a chip hole fails the first summer. The lawn version of this is its own note: grind, haul, soil, then wait before anyone lays turf.
Book the plate out when a patio, a footing, a pool deck, or a new tree has to occupy the same hole. A grinder cannot promise a clean pit for concrete. Roots you leave behind will still be in the way of a trench. Say “foundation” or “replant here” in the estimate notes so we do not show up with only the stump cutter.
Sprouts can still come off roots a grind leaves behind, especially elm, privet, and some ornamentals. A grind stops the stump you can see. It is not a guarantee the species gave up.
Call 811 before we grind and before anyone else digs. The cutter and the landscaper’s trencher both hit lines.
Access decides whether the grinder fits.
What to photograph
The stump, with a shovel or a foot in the frame so the width is obvious. The path from the street or the gate. Slope, steps, and anything the machine has to pass. And one line on what you want there next: lawn, mulch, or construction.
If the tree is still standing, this is a removal first. We flag when a permit may apply — you confirm with the city. We do not pull permits unless that is scoped in writing.
Start Easy Estimate or call 408-439-6975.
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