Stump Grinder - Ridiculous Side Hustle??

Post by Sandtrap » Mon Sep 23, 8:28 am

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Some randome thoughts:
1. There is always going to be a lot of manual labor. Lot's. Will you be doing the shovel work yourself?
2. The grinder will make debris to be hauled away. The tractor can get the bulk of it up. Will you be doing the raking and shovel work yourself?
3. The ground will have to be backfilled with dirt. The tractor can do much of it. Again, lot's of manual labor. Do you have a good back?
4. Tractors are not very good on sloped ground. Worse if wet. Dangerous if heavy slope and wet and sideways. Trees do not only grow on flat land.
* This is a really big consideration. Ability to drive between homes, maneuverability, safety, etc.
* Homeowners can be fickle. They want the stump removed then envision the ground and surrounding area untouched and pristine. Yes. Unrealistic. But, you will need to fix every spot of ground that you mess up.
5. As stated earlier, a tracked Bobcat has a low CG and works great on moderate slopes. In time, you may want to swap your tractor for this.
*A direct hydraulic drive is far superior to a PTO. And, being in back of the tractor, get's "interesting" on site.
6. Is your trailer a hydraulic dump trailer? If you haul away debris you will want this. Or, there will be lot's of shoveling.
7. If you were in the trades or construction industry, etc, as a day job, this might make sense. But, coming from medical sales, non physical work, means it might get "interesting". A stump grinding business would do well when networked with tree trimming contractors that do not want to bother with the stumps. Can you work in this dynamic? Have you done that before?
8. A successful side hustle can sometimes turn into a lucrative main career and entrepreneurial business, which is great. Every business naturally either grows or shrinks. What will you do if the stump business grows such that you have more business, and need employees, and insurance, and etc.?
9. There are ongoing costs to a new business "besides the initial investment" and it will feel like pouring money into a dark hole. With nor guarantee of result. Are you prepared to do this?
10. Is the business seasonal where you are? (winter?). There are ongoing costs such as insurance, etc, that you have to pay regardless of job income. Can you do this?
11. You will get the jobs that the landscapers, tree trimmers, and site prep companies, do not want to do or can't do. The jobs where the homeowner, stump location, logistics, etc, are the PITZ.

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Great tips and suggestions thus far.Some randome thoughts:1. There is always going to be a lot of manual labor. Lot's. Will you be doing the shovel work yourself?2. The grinder will make debris to be hauled away. The tractor can get the bulk of it up. Will you be doing the raking and shovel work yourself?3. The ground will have to be backfilled with dirt. The tractor can do much of it. Again, lot's of manual labor. Do you have a good back?4. Tractors are not very good on sloped ground. Worse if wet. Dangerous if heavy slope and wet and sideways. Trees do not only grow on flat land.* This is a really big consideration. Ability to drive between homes, maneuverability, safety, etc.* Homeowners can be fickle. They want the stump removed then envision the ground and surrounding area untouched and pristine. Yes. Unrealistic. But, you will need to fix every spot of ground that you mess up.5. As stated earlier, a tracked Bobcat has a low CG and works great on moderate slopes. In time, you may want to swap your tractor for this.*A direct hydraulic drive is far superior to a PTO. And, being in back of the tractor, get's "interesting" on site.6. Is your trailer a hydraulic dump trailer? If you haul away debris you will want this. Or, there will be lot's of shoveling.7. If you were in the trades or construction industry, etc, as a day job, this might make sense. But, coming from medical sales, non physical work, means it might get "interesting". A stump grinding business would do well when networked with tree trimming contractors that do not want to bother with the stumps. Can you work in this dynamic? Have you done that before?8. A successful side hustle can sometimes turn into a lucrative main career and entrepreneurial business, which is great. Every business naturally either grows or shrinks. What will you do if the stump business grows such that you have more business, and need employees, and insurance, and etc.?9. There are ongoing costs to a new business "besides the initial investment" and it will feel like pouring money into a dark hole. With nor guarantee of result. Are you prepared to do this?10. Is the business seasonal where you are? (winter?). There are ongoing costs such as insurance, etc, that you have to pay regardless of job income. Can you do this?11. You will get the jobs that the landscapers, tree trimmers, and site prep companies, do not want to do or can't do. The jobs where the homeowner, stump location, logistics, etc, are the PITZ.

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I often sort of wonder over the years just how many dollars we've saved by burning wood and I can say without a doubt that it is many thousands of dollars. BogyDave touched on a few points so let's see if I can touch on some just off the top of my head.

Although we burned wood before having a family, we consider those years that our sons helped with the wood to be very profitable for growing boys! The work taught them much and we spent many hours together which is priceless.

After our sons left we continued but one must remember that we love all parts of wood burning starting with felling the trees and bucking up the logs, splitting, stacking, etc. Although an injury forced us into buying a hydraulic splitter, previous to this my sons and I did all the splitting by hand. Personally, I started doing this at an extremely young age; about the time I started school.

We do pay some taxes on our land but the taxes on the land are extremely low. We own an atv, but we also use the atv for many more things than hauling wood. Same goes for the trailer. Same goes for the saw. And what is this about folks stating $200 a year or more for the saw? My present saw was purchased for less than $300 and it is 10 years old. The only other cost has been for a couple of chains, files, gas and oil. No way has that saw cost us what folks are fond of quoting.

Exercise! No gym dues for us. In fact, we do our cutting during the cold months when many spend their time indoors. We get good exercise by putting up wood. In spring when we no longer want to cut trees because of the birds and animals, this is when we do the splitting and stacking. A wonderful way to spend late winter or early spring days. Come warmer weather we get our exercise in many other ways.

Around here folks who heat with propane have to pay an annual fee in addition to expensive propane. Another cost we do not have. Nor do we have gas or oil trucks coming in our driveway.

One could go on and on but one of the biggest benefits of having wood heat is that we don't have to be cold in the winter. We hear and know of folks that don't even keep their homes at 70 degrees. We used to visit a couple quite often but quit doing so because in the winter we had to put on outdoor clothing in order to go visit because their home was so cold. They also dressed that way. As for me, our home will not be cold. We want to be comfortable and we keep it at a temperature that is comfortable for us; usually around 80 degrees. I shudder thinking what it would cost in oil, gas or electric to keep our home at that temperature.

Plainly speaking, my wife and I are into retirement and we want to be warm. We want to be as healthy as possible. Heating with wood helps us in this quest.

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