Brush Chipping & Stump Grinding FAQ's
We’ve answered some of the most frequent questions about our brush chipping and stump grinding services below. However, we encourage you to reach out via phone, text, or email if you have any additional questions that we haven’t answered in our FAQ’s, and we’d be happy to answer them as promptly as possible.
General Service FAQ's
Our primary service area includes most of Halton Region (Milton, Acton, Georgetown, Oakville and Burlington) and some surrounding areas including parts of Guelph, Brampton and Mississauga.
We do travel outside of our primary service area for an additional travel fee. See our primary service area here or contact us to check if we service your area.
We’re very experienced in chipping up brush piles and grinding stumps and are usually very accurate in our estimates. However, our estimates are based on your description of the job as well as pictures you provide us. Images can sometimes be difficult to see perspective, so we recommend including an item in your pictures that can give us a perspective of the true size of your tree stump or branch pile. An accurate description of the job including access to the stump or brush pile is also imperative to an accurate estimate. We will usually provide you with a price range in our estimates but if we feel our estimate was significantly off once we arrive on-site for the job we will discuss it with you prior to starting work.
Unfortunately, we do not offer on-site quotes as we have found it is not cost-effective to do so. However, our brush chipping and stump grinding estimates are usually very accurate as we will provide you with a price range based on your description and pictures of the job. Once we arrive on-site to perform the work, if we feel our estimate was significantly off, we will discuss this with you prior to starting the work.
No. We operate our brush chipper seasonally. Each season is weather dependent. We will begin operating our chipper once the snow is melted in the spring and continue until we have significant snowfall in the late fall to early winter. Usually, our season will run from March/April through to November/December.
Yes, Chip It Guy is fully insured!
Brush Chipping FAQ's
How much wood could a wood chipper chip if a wood chipper could chip wood?!
We work very quickly. Our chipper is hydraulically fed and can chip through brush much faster than a small garden chipper.
Typically, we should be able to chip through approximately 20-30 cubic yards of freshly cut brush that has been properly piled in about an hour. That’s about equivalent to the exterior size of 2 minivans put together. However, if we have to drag brush to the chipper, organize branches or sift through materials that can’t be chipped, this could take longer.
The length of time it takes to chip a brush pile also depends on:
- How old the brush pile is (older brush takes much longer)
- What species of tree the branches are from
- How far the brush pile is located from where we can park the truck with the chipper
- How well the brush pile has been prepped for chipping
Only branches from shrubs, bushes and trees can be fed through the chipper.
Under no circumstances will we feed the following items through our chipper:
- Furniture
- Construction lumber
- Root balls
- Dirt, rocks, cement or garbage mixed in with brush piles
- Anything with nails, screws or other metal
Please ensure your piles are free from any of the above items to ensure we can complete the job quickly without having to sift through un-chippable materials.
We like to reference the exterior size of a minivan to get an idea of how large your brush piles are.
15 cubic yards is about equivalent to the exterior size of 1 minivan
30 cubic yards is about equivalent to the exterior size of 2 minivans, and so on.
Our chipper is a 4 foot wide trailer that weighs over 2000 pounds and is towed behind our truck. We will not drive our truck and chipper on grass or any surface that is not paved or graveled. For this reason, we require that your branches are brought to the front of the house and piled close to a roadway or driveway where we can pull our truck and chipper as close to the pile as possible. If you are unable to re-locate your branches from the backyard and require us to drag them to the chipper location, your job will take considerably longer and we may not be able to accurately estimate the amount of time or cost involved. If the backyard condition, terrain, access or distance to our chipper are unfavourable, we may not be able to accommodate dragging your piles to the chipper location.
On rural properties, and only when you are planning to keep the wood chips, we can arrange to bring a small tractor to pull the chipper up to your branch piles. This will still require a minimum 4 foot wide access gate, as well as favourable ground and terrain conditions. Please inquire.
The older the brush piles are, the more difficult and time consuming they are to chip up. The older the branches are the more likely they are to break apart when we go to feed them through the chipper, making for a time consuming job. How old is too old? It really depends on the species of tree and other environmental conditions. If you’re unable to pick up branches without having them break into small pieces, the branches may be too far deteriorated.
Chipping fresh brush piles is always faster and more favourable.
After your initial branch trim from the main tree trunk, we recommend NOT trimming or pruning the branches any further. Our chipper is hydraulically fed, so the longer the branches are, the faster we can chip them. In some cases, the width of the branches may need to be trimmed to fit through the chipper, but we are equipped to trim branches as needed as we go.
No. Unfortunately, at this time we do not offer yard clean up or property maintenance services and are unable to accommodate the collection of branches from around your property or forest. We would suggest to hire a gardener, landscaper or property maintenance company to collect your branches into piles that are properly prepped for chipping. Once the piles are ready, we can come in and chip them up.
In most circumstances, no. Our chipper is 4 feet wide and 2000 pounds and is towed behind our truck. We will not drive our truck and chipper on any surface that is not paved or graveled.
However, for rural properties we can arrange to bring along a small tractor to pull the chipper to your brush piles. This can only be done if you are planning to keep the the chips and have them blown near where your brush pile is located. It will also require a mininum 4 foot wide access and favourable terrain and ground conditions. Please inquire.
While we cannot guarantee removal of larger wood that can’t be fed through our chipper, if we have available space in our chip box that isn’t used during your job or our next jobs after yours, we will do our best to remove what we can. We are not able to remove root balls.
Stump Grinding FAQ's
The stump grinding can take anywhere from 15 minutes to 2 hours. The amount of time will vary based on numerous factors including the size, species and age of the stump, and the presence of any rocks or other barriers.
No. Stump grinding produces wood chips from the ground stump. For small to medium sized stumps the wood chips created from stump grinding will be left in the hole to decompose. For larger stumps there will be a mounded pile of wood chips left over top of where the tree stump was.
We do not remove the wood chips leftover from the stump grinding. They can be left in the hole to decompose on their own, or are great used as mulch on garden beds, trails or used in your compost.
Tree stumps are ground to a minimum of 6″ below grade level. We can grind up to 12-16″ upon request, however this will be more expensive and is really only needed in certain circumstances.
We will require to know the diameter of the stump at the widest part of the base at the ground level.
Yes. Surface roots can be removed with the stump grinder as well. In order for an accurate estimate, please let us know if there are surface roots that need to be removed along with your stump.
Yes, with proper preparation grass can grow where your stump was removed. The sawdust and mulch from the stump removal can rob the soil of nitrogen which grass requires to thrive. We recommend removing as much of the sawdust and mulch as possible out of the hole, and adding nitrogen rich fertilizer to the area before planting your grass to help restore the health of the soil.
We do not recommend this. While it is possible, there are many factors that may impede the survival of the new tree. Some of the concerns include:
- The mulch left behind from grinding the stump changes the balance of the soil
- The previous tree that was there has likely already stripped the surrounding soil of many important nutrients
- If the tree that was removed was diseased, there may still be pathogens in the surrounding soil
- The surrounding underground tree roots are still there and may not give your new tree enough space to grow healthily
Our suggestion would be to select a location six or more feet away from the stump site depending on the size and type of tree that was removed. It’s always best to consult with a tree care expert when you purchase your new tree.
It usually isn’t a problem as our stump grinder only requires a 36″ opening which is the size of a standard backyard gate. However, it’s important that you measure your gate opening to make sure our equipment can make it through. Sometimes we may not be able to get into your backyard due to grade issues or certain types of steps as our stump grinder is a very heavy piece of equipment and runs on tracks. Please advise us of any possible barriers; pictures are also helpful.
Yes, but this type of scenario requires a lot of caution and sometimes we can’t get the full stump or grind down as much as we might be able to on a stump that has ample clearance. Our machine can get as close as 8″ from a wall or other barrier. We will always do our best but, safety comes first so we can’t guarantee full removal of stumps that are within 8″ from a wall or other barrier.
Chip It Guy will call to request a locate to ensure all underground infrastructure is marked prior to your stump grinding job. Locate requests take a minimum of 1 week but in many cases can take longer. Locates do not identify private underground systems such as septic systems, sprinkler lines, gas lines to a pool heater or BBQ or buried electrical from a house to a shed, for example. It is the responsibility of the homeowner to advise Chip It Guy of the location of any private underground infrastructure prior to stump grinding.
Depending on the size, species, moisture content and environmental conditions, a tree stump can take anywhere from 12-20+ years to rot away by itself. Decomposing stumps can also attract unwanted pests.