Houston Stump Grinding and Tree Stump Removal in Fort Bend County, TX: Price per Stump and What We Grind in Blackland Clay
A stump in Fort Bend County costs $150 to $400 to grind, by diameter, and the blackland clay under it sets the schedule. This clay is the heaviest we work. Wet, it packs the wheel and the machine ruts the yard. Dry, it cracks open and the grind goes quick. We grind 8 inches below grade in a yard and grub the whole root ball when a slab is going over it, which in Fulshear and Richmond is most of the time. Fifteen stumps or more go by the day. Call (713) 587-6978 or send a photo with a tape measure across the top. Janine will have a number back to you by tomorrow.
COUNTY FIELD GUIDE
Stump Grinding or Stump Removal on Low, Flat Blackland Clay Soil: Grind the Stump or Remove the Root
Grind it if grass or a landscape bed is going over it. Dig it out if a slab, a driveway or a fence post is. On blackland clay there is a third case. If your lot is low and fill is coming, every tree stump on the pad has to come out whole before the dirt goes on, because a buried stump decays under the fill and the slab sinks into the void five years later. Full stump removal here means the excavator pulls the root ball, then we backfill the hole in six-inch lifts and track it in. On our jobs in Richmond we see tallow crowns the size of a truck tire with roots running sideways just under the surface, and a crown left behind sprouts a dozen stems by fall, so the surface root grinding runs out ten feet. Pecan is the other local problem. Its roots go deep and the wood is hard, so a 30-inch pecan is a $400 grind that takes an hour. Safe stump removal next to a house means a plywood shield, a smaller machine and a call to 811 three days ahead, because the irrigation line is never where the homeowner thinks it is.
- Under 12 inches across: $150, 20 minutes.
- 12 to 24 inches: $250 to $300, under an hour.
- Over 24 inches: $400, or full root removal by the day.
- Fifteen or more: day rate, floor is the $1,200 to $1,500 trip minimum.
Stump Grinding Cost in Fort Bend County, TX: Per Tree Stump, and Multi-Stump Lots by the Day
Numbers first. The lot decides the final price.
The price is $150 to $400 per stump, measured across the widest point of the cut at ground level. Tallow is soft and grinds fast, but every crown has to be ground deep or it comes back, so it prices like a harder wood. Mesquite south of Rosenberg is the hardest stump in the county, and a 12-inch mesquite takes as long as a 24-inch tallow or a 30-inch pine. Lots with many stumps go by the day. A cleared half-acre in Fulshear with 15 tallow stumps is a day, and we cleared one like that off FM 1093 last spring, mulched the brush in the morning and ground 17 crowns by dark. The Katy sketch on the Fort Bend side ran one day and $3,000 with the stumps included. Wood chips stay in a mound where the tree was unless you want them hauled, and haul-off adds $600 to $1,200 a load. On this clay I tell people to spread the chips thin over the lawn as mulch and let them rot into the soil, because bare blackland clay seals over and sheds water, and no seed takes on it. I price from a photo with a tape across the top, and the estimate is the invoice unless I find a steel post inside the wood. Call (713) 587-6978 or send the photo. Janine will have the number back by tomorrow, and the free estimate on site is free anywhere in Greater Houston.
Single stump
Illustrative range by size, access, and depth.
Multiple stumps
Same trip. Better to see them all before we roll.
Changes the day
Access, moisture, and what must leave the lot change the real number.
Tree Stump Removal After the Tree Service Leaves: Tree Removal Stumps and Root Grinding
Most stumps we grind in Fort Bend County were left by somebody else. Any tree service of northwest Houston will drop the tree and leave you the base, because emergency tree removal after a storm is paid by the hour and stumps are slow. I don't offer professional tree care services, trimming or planting. I grind what the tree man leaves. On our own land clearing jobs the stumps come out the same day with the mulcher or the excavator, because one left in a build pad rots, settles and cracks the slab in year three. A stump left to decay feeds termite and carpenter ant colonies for a decade, and the beetle larvae move into the fence next. That is the pest problem. Unsightly stumps in a front yard are an aesthetic problem, and in Cinco Ranch or Aliana the HOA letter arrives before the grass does. One under a new patio is a structural one, and a rotted one is a tripping hazard the day the grass hides it. Tree stump removal on a lot we did not clear costs the same as on one we did, and the debris goes out with the same trailer.
Having the right equipment is most of the job on blackland clay. A rented grinder with a 13-horsepower engine stalls in wet gumbo and spins on a 30-inch pecan. Ours puts 60 horses of power behind carbide teeth on a hydraulic swing, so the pecan that would take you a weekend takes us an hour. We specialize in those, and any professional stump removal service should remove a stump of any size and leave the yard flat behind it.
Professional Stump Grinder and Grinding Services in Katy, Richmond, Rosenberg, Fulshear and Fort Bend County
Our equipment yard is in Hockley. Send the address and Janine will confirm the route.
We grind stumps in Richmond, Rosenberg, Fulshear, Sugar Land, Needville, Missouri City and the Fort Bend side of Katy. Fort Bend County pulled 9,638 single-family permits in 2025 by the Census Building Permits Survey, and Fulshear took 3,264 of them, so most of our stump work here follows a new build on a lot that was prairie two years ago. The same machine that grinds a live oak stump in West University or Highland Village on Monday grinds tallow crowns in Fulshear on Tuesday, and we park the trailer on the street either way. West Houston and Cypress are the same clay. Two inches of rain saturate this clay and it stays soft for ten days, longer than Houston's gumbo, so I schedule yard work for the dry stretch. Grinding stumps on Houston clay is a longer day than the same count on a woodland lot up north. A tree needs 30 years to grow a $400 pecan stump. We mow it down in an hour.
Residential and commercial work runs the same way, same machine, same rate. Commercial properties with a row of parking-lot stumps go by the day. We are stump grinding specialists second and land clearers first, and the grinder rides on the same trailer as the mulcher. Under a county burn ban the chips cannot be burned, and inside the FEMA floodplain along the Brazos the hole gets filled the same day so it does not hold water.
Get a Free Quote for the Stumps in Your Front Yard, Driveway or Fence Line
Get a free quote by sending a photo of each stump with a tape measure laid across the top, plus your address. Janine will have a number back by tomorrow, and the on-site look is free inside Greater Houston. Tell her what is going over the hole, grass, sod, a slab or an irrigation line, and whether you want the chips left or hauled. Call (713) 587-6978. I will not call it competitive. I will call it $150 to $400 a stump, in writing, before the trailer leaves the yard. Tallow doesn't die. It waits. We grind it anyway.
Tell Janine about your lot.
The address. The growth. Three honest photos.
Design preview. This form does not send or store information until a backend is connected.
Plain answers.
If your question is about wet ground, Janine will ask me.
How much to grind one stump?
For planning, many stumps fall in a $150–$400 range, but the size, roots, depth, and access decide the quote. Send a close photo and the diameter.
Is stump grinding the same as removal?
No. Grinding takes the visible stump down into chips. Full removal takes out more root mass. A lawn and a slab need different results.
Do I need a permit to clear my lot?
It depends on the address and scope. Grading, floodplain work, drainage changes, wetlands, and local tree rules can trigger approvals. We check the jurisdiction before any regulated dirt work begins.
What happens to the brush?
Forestry mulching leaves chips on the ground. Full clearing can include piles or haul-off when the next use needs a different finish. Tell us whether you want mulch, a clean pad, or both.
Who answers the request?
Janine reads the web forms and handles the schedule. She usually responds within the hour during working hours. Hollis reviews the ground and takes responsibility for the scope and number.