Tree Removal
Whole-tree takedowns on tight peninsula blocks, sectional dismantle or crane where the driveway will not take a truck.
Learn more →Why the stump is its own job
A stump grinder is a separate machine to everything else on a tree truck, and it is the machine most likely to be defeated by a Northern Beaches block. The narrow-access units fit through a 750 millimetre gate and will handle a backyard stump. The big self-propelled machines chew a two-metre fig stump in an hour but need a driveway they can actually get down.
That is why grinding is quoted as its own line rather than folded into the removal. You should be able to see what it costs and decide, not discover it as an extra after the tree is on the ground.
What grinding actually removes
The visible stump and the flare, plus the top layer of root where it radiates out. It does not remove the entire root system. The deep and lateral roots stay in the ground and rot down over several years, which is fine under turf and a problem under a new slab. If you are building over it, say so, because that changes the method and sometimes rules grinding out in favour of full excavation.
The grindings themselves are a mix of wood chip and soil. They are useful as mulch away from the hole and useless as backfill under new planting. We leave them, spread them or cart them off, whichever you want, and the carting is priced separately.
Sandstone, sand and the two ends of the peninsula
The Northern Beaches has two very different substrates, and grinding behaves differently on each. On the ridges and the escarpment — Frenchs Forest, Elanora Heights, the upper Avalon and Bilgola streets — the soil over Hawkesbury sandstone is thin. Stumps there sit on rock, roots run sideways across a shelf, and the grinder works wide rather than deep.
Down on the coastal flats and the old dune country behind Narrabeen, Collaroy and Dee Why, the sand is deep and the roots go down. Those stumps grind easily but leave a bigger void, and the hole needs proper backfill or it settles into a dip in the lawn over the following winter.
Booking it with the rest of the work
The cheapest time to grind a stump is on the same visit as the tree removal, because the machine is already on the truck and the access is already open. Palm stumps are a special case — fibrous rather than woody, hard on grinder teeth — and are covered on the palm removal page.
Call (02) 9000 1858 to have a stump looked at, or see which suburbs are covered on the service areas page. What drives the price on both jobs is set out in the cost guide.
More services
Explore our other services
Tree Lopping and Pruning
Crown thinning, deadwooding and clearance pruning that leaves a eucalypt stable through a southerly buster.
Learn more →Palm Tree Removal
Cocos, Canary Island date and bangalow palms cut down or cleaned up, with the seed heads bagged before they drop.
Learn more →Emergency and Storm Damage
After-hours callouts for trees on roofs, hung-up limbs and blocked driveways once an east coast low has passed.
Learn more →Hedge Trimming and Height Reduction
Lilly pilly, viburnum and pittosporum screens cut back to a line, plus honest advice on what a height reduction can and cannot do.
Learn more →
FAQs
Frequently asked questions
How deep does a stump get ground?
Around 300 millimetres below the surrounding surface for turf, and deeper where paving, a slab or new planting is going in. On the Northern Beaches the limit is often the sandstone itself. Where the shelf sits close to the surface the grinder reaches rock before it reaches the planned depth, and we tell you that on site rather than afterwards.
Can I plant a new tree in the same spot?
Not straight into the hole. A ground stump leaves a large volume of wood chip and shattered root that ties up nitrogen and settles unevenly as it breaks down. For replanting, the grindings are dug out and the hole backfilled with soil. For turf it is usually enough to remove the excess, top with soil and level.
What about surface roots running across the lawn?
They can be ground out too, and on old camphor laurel and fig stumps that is most of the work. Roots under a driveway, a retaining wall or a service trench are a different conversation, because taking them out can undermine what sits above them. Those get looked at before anything is cut.
Do you need council approval to grind a stump?
Not for the stump of a tree that has already been lawfully removed. The approval applies to removing the tree. If the tree is still standing, grinding the base is not a shortcut around a permit, and ring-barking or poisoning a protected tree to make removal look necessary is an offence Northern Beaches Council treats seriously.
Free, no-obligation