Houston Stump Grinding Crew for Tree Stump Removal in Montgomery County, TX: Pine Stumps, Price and What We Grind
A pine stump in Montgomery County costs $150 to $400 to grind, by diameter, and the sand makes it quicker than the same job in Houston. Sandy loam over clay drains in a day, the teeth run clean, and the only thing that slows us is the taproot. Loblolly sends one straight down three feet. We grind 8 inches below grade in a yard and grub the root ball when a slab is going over it. Twenty 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 vs. Stump Removal in Sandy Loam over Clay Soil: When to Grind, When to 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. Sandy loam makes the first choice cheaper and the second one harder. Sand lets the wheel cut fast and the chips fall loose, so a 20-inch pine stump is a 30-minute grind. But the clay layer sits 18 to 30 inches down, and a pine taproot goes through it. Grinding stops at the clay. Full stump removal means the excavator pulls the taproot out of that clay, and on a 60-year loblolly that is a hole four feet deep. On our jobs in Magnolia we see water oak stumps with roots running wide and shallow in the sand, and those grind out in one pass with the surface root grinding running six feet from the trunk. Sand also eats carbide, and a set of teeth that lasts 40 stumps in gumbo clay lasts 25 here. 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.
- Twenty stumps or more: by the day, $1,200 to $1,500 minimum trip charge.
Stump Grinding Cost in Montgomery County, TX per Tree Stump, 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. Pine grinds faster than oak of the same size because the wood is softer and the resin keeps the chips from packing. Lots with many stumps go by the day. A cleared acre in Conroe with 20 pine stumps is one day, and a wooded two acres in Willis with 50 is two. The Conroe sketch had 14 pines kept and the rest ground flush, two days for the whole lot, $6,800. 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 sand I tell people to leave the mound and spread it over the lawn. The chips hold the soil through the first storm better than seed does. 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 Tree Service Crews, Tree Removal and Root Grinding on Pine Lots
Most stumps we grind in Montgomery County were left by somebody else, usually after the southern pine beetle got a tree first. Any tree service of northwest Houston will drop the pine 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 pine 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. 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.
A professional stump removal service earns its money on the stumps a rental machine cannot touch, and that is what we specialize in. The hardware store grinder runs 13 horsepower on a 9-inch wheel. Ours swings a carbide wheel on 60 horses of power, so a 24-inch pine that would eat your Saturday is gone in 40 minutes. The right equipment also means we remove a stump without rutting the yard around it.
Professional Stump Grinder and Grinding Services in Conroe, The Woodlands, Magnolia and Montgomery County
Our equipment yard is in Hockley. Send the address and Janine will confirm the route.
We grind stumps in Conroe, Magnolia, The Woodlands, Willis, Montgomery, New Caney and Splendora. The Woodlands has its own tree rules, but a stump is already past that question. Montgomery County pulled 11,597 single-family permits in 2025 by the Census Building Permits Survey, the only county around Houston that did not fall, so most of our stump work here follows a new build. The same machine that grinds a live oak stump in West University or Highland Village on Monday grinds pine in Conroe on Tuesday, and we park the trailer on the street either way. West Houston, Katy and Cypress are clay and tallow. Up here it is sand and pine, and a woodland lot in Magnolia grinds twice as fast as the same count south of FM 1960. Grinding stumps on gumbo clay is a longer day. Two inches of rain saturate the clay under the sand and it drains by morning, so Houston's clay schedule and Montgomery County's are not the same thing. A tree needs 40 years to grow a $400 pine stump. We mow it down in 40 minutes.
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, so they stay as mulch. Since 2018 I have not met a pile of pine chips that needed burning.
Get a Free Quote for 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 in Hockley. The sketch is free. The dozer isn't.
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.