Stump grinding is the last step of most tree removals in Tampa Bay, and often the one people put off. A tree company cuts the trunk close to the ground, then a grinder chews the stump and the top of the root mass into chips below the level of the lawn. The yard is usable again, the mower stops hitting it and the grass or a planting bed can go back over the spot.
Tree Service Tampa FL does not own a stump grinder. It is a free phone line. Call (689) 407-5379, tell the automated assistant how many stumps you have, roughly how wide they are and where they sit in the yard, and the call goes to an independent, locally owned tree service company that works in your part of Hillsborough, Pasco or Pinellas County. That company looks at the stumps, gives you its own price and does the grinding.
Why Tampa Bay yards end up with so many stumps
The storms of 2024 are part of it. At Hurricane Milton's peak, Tampa Electric reported nearly 600,000 outages, mainly from uprooted trees and debris pulling down lines and poles, and every tree cut to the ground in the cleanup left a stump. Add laurel oaks, which UF/IFAS says often start rotting inside at around 50 years old, the dead pines and palms taken down each year, and the invasive camphors and Chinese tallows cleared out of fence lines, and many yards have a stump or two waiting.
What a stump left alone does
A cut stump does not stay a tidy disk of wood. Left in the ground it softens and breaks down over years, and the UF/IFAS woody plants program notes that taking out stumps of dead trees reduces the source of Ganoderma and Armillaria, the fungi behind trunk and root rot in many urban and suburban trees. UF/IFAS also describes one Ganoderma species, G. curtisii, as typically found on hardwoods, especially oaks. If the stump in your yard has shelf-like conks growing on it, that is worth mentioning when you call.
Invasive trees bring one more step. For camphor tree, UF/IFAS invasive plant guidance lists cutting the tree and treating the fresh stump with herbicide right away among its control methods. If the stump came from an invasive tree, ask the company whether it treats stumps and who applies the product, since spraying or treating for hire needs a state pesticide license.
Before the grinder starts: Sunshine 811
A grinder wheel is a digging tool, and Florida treats it that way.
What the law says
Chapter 556, Florida Statutes, the Underground Facility Damage Prevention and Safety Act, requires notice through Sunshine 811 before digging. Tampa Electric reminds property owners and excavators to call 811 or use sunshine811.com at least two full business days ahead. The call is free, and Sunshine 811 says locate marks are valid for 30 calendar days.
Why it matters for stumps
The statute's homeowner exemption covers an owner digging on a single-family lot only to 10 inches deep. Grinders often go deeper, and roots can wrap around buried gas, water, irrigation and cable lines. Sunshine 811 advises calling even where lines were marked before, because erosion and root growth can change where buried lines sit.
Locators mark public lines with paint or flags. Private lines, such as a sprinkler system, a line to a detached garage or a pool light circuit, are not marked by 811, so point them out to the company yourself.
How stump grinding is done
A grinder is a heavy cutting wheel with carbide teeth that sweeps side to side across the stump while the operator feeds it a little deeper on each pass. Grinders come in different sizes, from compact machines that roll through a yard gate to larger tracked or towed units for wide oak stumps, so mention the narrowest gap into your yard when you call. University of Illinois Extension describes a grinding machine as often the quickest and most satisfactory way to deal with a stump, chipping it out to 8 or 12 inches below ground in minutes.
Grinding versus pulling the stump out
| Approach | What it leaves | Where it fits |
|---|---|---|
| Grinding below grade | A shallow hole full of chips; deeper roots stay and rot slowly | Most lawns and beds, tight yards, stumps near fences and slabs |
| Grinding plus surface roots | Chips along the root runs as well as at the stump | Oaks with roots heaving the lawn or edging a walkway |
| Excavating the stump | A large hole that needs fill and compaction | Building pads, pools, new slabs, where a builder needs clean ground |
For most homeowners, grinding is what they want: it does not tear up the yard the way an excavator does, and the hole is small. If you are building on the spot, tell the company, because a footing or slab may need more than a ground stump.
What to do with the grindings
A good-sized oak stump turns into a surprising pile of chips mixed with sandy soil. Decide before the job starts whether you want them left, spread or hauled.
- Leaving them in the hole is quickest, but Purdue Extension notes the chips have a high carbon to nitrogen ratio and will pull nitrogen away from grass planted on top, and the spot will sink as the buried roots decay.
- Raking them out and filling with soil gives sod or seed a fair start. Ask whether the price includes topsoil or just the grinding.
- Using them as mulch in beds away from the house works once they have aged a while. An Ask Extension answer says tree grindings can take several years to break down.
- Having them hauled costs more. In the City of Tampa, curbside yard waste is meant for waste the resident makes, and the city says landscaping companies dispose of the waste they create, so get hauling written into the quote if you want the pile gone.
What stump grinding costs, from published guides
Tree Service Tampa FL does not set prices; the company you are put through to quotes its own. Published cost guides give a sense of the range:
- About $324Angi's average for stump removal in Tampa, with most jobs between $168 and $488
- $2 to $5 per inchHomeAdvisor's national per-inch rate, with many companies charging a $100 to $150 minimum for one stump
- About $272LawnStarter's 2026 national average per job, in a $131 to $438 range
Real quotes vary. Things that move the number include the stump's width measured at the ground, whether surface roots are included, how far the machine has to travel and whether it fits through your gate, how deep you want it ground, and whether the chips are raked out, the hole is filled and the debris is hauled. Several stumps in one visit usually cost less each than separate trips, so count every stump in the yard before you call. If the tree is still standing, the tree removal cost guide explains why stump work is often a separate line on a removal quote.
Questions to ask the stump grinding company
- Who called 811?Ask for the locate ticket number, and walk the yard together to point out sprinkler lines and other private lines.
- How deep, and how wide?Get the depth below grade in writing and whether visible surface roots are included.
- What happens to the chips?Left in the hole, raked out, spread, or hauled away, and whether soil is added.
- What protects the house and the cars?Grinders throw chips and small stones. Ask about guards or screens near windows, the pool cage and parked cars.
- Can you see the insurance?A certificate of liability insurance sent by the company's agent, and proof of workers' compensation coverage.
Check the company yourself. Florida has no statewide license for tree trimming or tree removal, so a truck and a business card prove very little. Ask the company for a certificate of general liability insurance sent by its insurance agent, proof of workers' compensation coverage, and the ISA certification number of its arborist. A company that sprays or treats trees for hire needs a pesticide license from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. You can confirm an ISA certification with the ISA's credential lookup (opens in a new tab).
Count your stumps, guess their width and note whether a gate is in the way. The company you are put through to looks at them and gives its own price before any grinding starts.
How a stump grinding call works
- Call any hourAn automated assistant answers (689) 407-5379 and asks what kind of tree work you need.
- Describe the jobGive your name, a callback number, your city or ZIP and what the tree is doing, including anything on a roof, a car or a line.
- Get put throughThe call goes to an independent, locally owned tree service company, which hears a short summary before it picks up.
- Deal with them directlyThat company looks at the tree, quotes, does the work and is paid by you. If it cannot answer, it gets your details to call back.
How this line works: Tree Service Tampa FL is a free phone line, not a tree service company. It does not trim, remove, quote or schedule tree work and holds no license or arborist certification. Calls are transferred to independent, locally owned tree service companies in the Tampa Bay area. Those companies may pay Tree Service Tampa FL a referral fee. You never pay the line. How it works.
Stump grinding often follows tree removal, and the line takes calls from across the bay area, including Tampa, St. Petersburg, Brandon and Wesley Chapel.
- Tampa Bay service areas
- Tampa
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- Zephyrhills
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- Clearwater
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- Wesley Chapel
- Plant City
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