A tree comes down on a Tuesday. On Wednesday the customer looks at a stump the size of a dustbin lid in the middle of a lawn and rings to ask when somebody is coming back for it.
Nobody is. It was never quoted, it needs a different machine, and the conversation that follows is entirely avoidable.
Quote it at the same time
Always, as a separate line, even where the customer has not asked. It costs nothing to include and it prevents the Wednesday call.
The decision customers are making
Whether the stump matters. It depends entirely on what the ground is for, and most customers have not thought about it until they are looking at one.
When leaving it is fine
Woodland areas, rough ground, borders where it will not be disturbed, and anywhere it can decay quietly. It is the cheapest answer and it is frequently the right one.
When grinding is right
Lawns, areas being reseeded, anywhere it is a trip hazard and anywhere a customer simply wants it gone. It is the most common option and the best value.
When full excavation is needed
Building work, new hard landscaping, paving, anywhere foundations are going and where the entire root system must come out. It is a considerably larger job.
Explain what grinding actually leaves
A hole full of chippings rather than clean soil, and what happens if you plant into it. Customers expect topsoil and are surprised, which is the same expectation problem as removal and disposal questions in flooring quotes.
Explain the depth options
How far below ground level, and that deeper costs more. It matters for turf, for paving and for planting, and customers should choose knowingly.
Explain the chipping question
Whether they are left, spread or taken away, and what that costs. It is the most common addition and it should be priced.
Explain the access requirement
Machine width, gate access and whether it can reach the stump. A stump behind a narrow gate is a different job entirely.
Explain the services risk
That pipes and cables can be near a stump, what is checked and what happens if something is found. It is a genuine constraint and it is rarely mentioned.
Explain the regrowth question
That some species send up shoots from a remaining root system, which ones, and what can be done about it. Customers blame the contractor for something nobody warned them about.
Explain the replanting position
Whether a new tree can go in the same place and what needs to happen first. It is the question customers ask after the stump is gone.
Explain the timing option
Grinding can happen on the same visit or as a separate return, and each has a different cost. Saying which is cheaper, and that returning later means a second mobilisation charge, lets a customer decide properly rather than discovering the difference after the tree is down.
Publish prices by stump size
So a customer can decide before anybody attends, which is the transparency in hidden costs of AI chatbot pricing and the capture in tree surgery quotes and what arborists need to see.
Getting started
Quote stump work alongside every felling, publish prices by size and explain what grinding leaves, then capture enquiries at any hour. SpideyChat for landscaping and tree businesses answers from your published pages, plans are on the pricing page, and the chatbot ROI calculator works through the numbers.