What stump work actually costs here.
Real numbers, not a form that says "prices vary". Stump grinding is one of the few trades you can price yourself to within about twenty per cent with a tape measure, so here is everything you need to do exactly that before you ring anyone.
Stump grinding cost estimator.
Measure across the widest part of the cut face at ground level, including the flared skirt where the trunk spreads into the soil. Drop that number in below.
Indicative only, and deliberately a range rather than a single number. It follows the size bands in the table below and assumes grinding to 150-300mm below grade with the grindings raked back on site. It does not include chasing surface roots, carting spoil away, or full excavation. Send us the measurement and we will turn it into a fixed price.
Stump grinding, by size.
These are single-stump prices for a straightforward residential job in Pakenham, Officer or Beaconsfield in 2026, ground to 150-300mm with the grindings left on site.
| Diameter at ground level | Price band | Typical time | Trees this usually is |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 300mm | $180 - $280 | 20 - 30 min | Ornamental pear, wattle, citrus, crepe myrtle, a shrub gone woody |
| 300 - 600mm | $280 - $480 | 30 - 60 min | Bottlebrush, silver birch, liquidambar, a fifteen-year estate gum |
| 600 - 900mm | $450 - $800 | 1 - 2 hrs | Mature gum, cypress, radiata pine, a well-established elm |
| Over 900mm or multi-stem | $800 - $1,500+ | 2 - 4 hrs | Paddock sugar gum, old peppercorn, anything with buttress roots |
| Minimum call-out | $180 - $250 | - | Applies whatever the size, because travel and set-up are fixed |
The per-centimetre rule. Across Melbourne the working rate in 2026 is about $3.00 to $4.50 per centimetre of stump diameter. A 40cm stump therefore prices at roughly $120 to $180 of cutting, which the minimum call-out lifts to the $180 to $280 band above. The rule breaks down at both extremes: very small stumps are all call-out, and very large ones are priced on time because the flare and the root plate dominate.
Add-ons, and when they are worth paying for.
| Item | 2026 price | Worth it when |
|---|---|---|
| Each extra stump, same visit | 30 - 50% off the standalone price | Always. This is the cheapest money in the trade. If you have a second stump anywhere on the block, do it now. |
| Surface root chasing | $60 - $150 per metre of root run | Roots are lifting paving, a path or a driveway, or you are laying something over the spot. Grinding the stump alone does nothing about roots that have run 4m out. |
| Grindings carted away | $120 - $350 per stump | You are turfing or planting straight away, or the stump was in a front lawn where a mound is an eyesore. Skip it if the patch can settle for six months. |
| Clean topsoil backfill | $80 - $220 per stump | Paired with cart-away. Turf laid over raw grindings goes yellow and sinks, because the chip robs nitrogen as it breaks down. |
| Full excavation instead of grinding | 2 - 4x the grinding price | A slab, footing, pool shell, retaining wall or service trench is going through the exact spot. Not optional in those cases, whatever it costs. |
| Block or acreage clearing | $1,400 - $2,600 per day | More than about eight stumps. Per-day beats per-stump the moment the machine stops travelling between jobs. |
| Services locating on top of a free BYDA enquiry | $250 - $600 | Grinding within a metre or two of a gas, water, power or comms run where the plans are vague. Cheap next to hitting a live service. |
Three real-shaped Cardinia jobs.
A 380mm ornamental pear in an Officer estate backyard
Standard 900mm side gate, stump sitting in open lawn two metres off the fence, going back to turf. Narrow-access machine walked down the side, screens up against the neighbour's fence, ground to 150mm, grindings raked back and mounded. Under forty minutes on site. $290 to $340, and no add-ons worth paying for, because the mound settles into lawn without help.
A 750mm sugar gum on a Nar Nar Goon acreage boundary
Open paddock access, hard old timber, a wide flare and three surface roots running out towards a shed slab. Ground to 300mm, plus roughly six metres of root chased and cut back. Grindings left, because on acreage nobody minds a mound. $680 for the stump, plus $450 to $700 for the root work. The root work was the part that actually mattered, since it was the roots and not the stump that were going to lift the shed apron.
Eleven stumps on a cleared block in Pakenham East
Old windbreak cypress and a few self-sown wattles, all coming out ahead of a build. Priced as a day rather than eleven separate stumps, machine in once, everything ground to 400mm because footings were going in, spoil carted off. Called at $2,400 for the day plus $600 spoil removal, against roughly $4,900 if the same eleven stumps had been quoted individually. This is the case where per-day pricing is not a discount, it is just the honest way to charge.
Four questions that make two quotes comparable.
Stump quotes are notoriously hard to compare because the cheap one and the dear one are often quoting different jobs. Ask every contractor these four and the numbers line up.
- To what depth? 100mm and 300mm are not the same job and not the same price. If the answer is vague, the depth will be whatever is quick.
- Stump only, or roots as well? Surface roots are separate work. A quote that does not mention them has not included them.
- Grindings staying or going? If they are going, is topsoil backfill included, or are you left with a hole?
- Fixed price or hourly? Nobody can see inside a stump. On an hourly rate that uncertainty is your risk; on a fixed price it is theirs.
There is more on this, including what to do when one quote is dramatically under the others, on the Pakenham cost page. If you are still deciding between grinding and full excavation, start with grinding versus removal, and if the spot is being built on, read stump removal before a shed or extension before you accept any grinding quote at all.
Pricing questions we get asked.
Why is stump grinding priced by diameter and not by the size of the tree?
Because the machine removes a volume of wood, and that volume comes from width and depth, not from how tall the tree was. A 25 metre gum with a narrow trunk can leave a smaller stump than a squat old peppercorn half its height. The trade measures across the widest point of the cut face at ground level, including the root flare, and prices from there: roughly $3.00 to $4.50 per centimetre in Melbourne in 2026, with a minimum call-out of $180 to $250 because travel and set-up cost the same either way.
Is it cheaper to have several stumps done at once?
Substantially. The first stump carries the travel, the unload, the services check and the screens. Every stump after that is typically 30 to 50 per cent cheaper than it would be as its own visit. Past about eight stumps the pricing moves onto a day or half-day rate, which is cheaper again. If you have a second stump you were going to leave for next year, this is the easiest saving available in the trade.
What makes a stump cost more than the size band suggests?
Hard timber first: red gum, ironbark and old cypress blunt carbide teeth several times faster than pine, and tooth wear is a genuine cost. Then grit, because a stump in sandy or gravelly ground, or one that has had soil mounded over it, wears teeth faster than the wood does. Then access, since a machine that can only reach one side takes far longer. Then proximity to a wall, fence, meter box or retaining wall. And finally roots, which are separate work priced by the metre.
Does the price include taking the woodchip away?
Not by default, and often you do not want it to. The standard price includes raking the grindings back and mounding them, which is what most people want. Cart-away plus topsoil backfill is an add-on, typically $120 to $350 depending on volume and tip access. Pay for it when you are turfing or planting immediately; skip it when the patch can settle for six months.
Are there hidden costs I should ask about before booking?
Ask the four questions above: what depth, roots included or not, grindings staying or going, and fixed price or hourly. A quote that answers all four in writing can be compared with another quote. One that just names a number for stump grinding cannot.
Send the measurement, get the number.
A tape across the cut face and one photo is enough for a fixed price on most residential stumps in Pakenham, Officer, Beaconsfield and the wider Cardinia Shire.