Dan Shares How He Started His Stump Grinder Business With His WG24

This West Virginia entrepreneur also delivers firewood for local resorts using his Multilander ATV Trailer

When Dan first bought his property in rural West Virginia, its previous owner hadn't taken good care of it for a few years.

Because of that he had to do property maintenance, cleaning up overgrown trees and brush, so he needed a wood chipper and a stump grinder. 

Little did he know the journey he would go on with his Woodland Mills WG24 Stump Grinder, starting his own stump grinding business earning money helping others clean up their land like he cleaned up his own.

"It's very profitable," says Dan, who also added a Multilander ATV Dump Trailer to his arsenal so he could do firewood deliveries.

Making money grinding stumps

After getting his WG24, Dan says he asked around and offered to do a few stump grinding jobs in his area.

For the first few he charged $30 a stump, with a minimum of five stumps, earning at least $150 a job.

"That particular implement paid for itself, maybe not on the first day but on the second day it was paid for," says Dan.

It was an open market, since there was no other stump removal options or tree services that offer it in his area, he says. Once he started offering stump grinding services then word of mouth began to spread. While he has done some local advertising for his services, positive publicity from customers has travelled a lot further.

"The stump grinder is like a license to print money, it really is," he adds.

It's turned into a lucrative business venture for his local market, and his customers appreciate having a local guy come in with a good price who is able to help with their lawn care by turning their stumps into wood chips.

Adding firewood delivery

Another element to Dan's entrepreneurialship is his Multilander ATV Trailer which he uses to deliver firewood to people in the area. He says that a lot of city folks who resort in the area often don't like needing to get their own firewood and pay him to deliver directly.

It's not a bad little business, he says, and something he especially likes about the trailer is the winch which he uses to dump his cargo. It makes it quick and easy to unload for his customers, which is a necessity in his business.

It fives a face cord, or a third of a cord, which is a lot of firewood, he says.

"It enables me to get in and out of places that would otherwise be difficult," he says.

For added convenience he recently added the chainsaw holder to his trailer, which he says "couldn't be easier" to attach. Now he can have his chainsaw with him wherever he goes.

Growing with the stump grinding business

While Dan says he started with just the stump grinder, he also has a Woodland Mills wood chipper on top of his trailer. It means now he has no difficulty not just cleaning up his own land, but helping others clean their land too.

There were a few reasons why he chose Woodland Mills, he says, and after talking with the staff he says he realized they were people who would care about him after the sale was complete. He also enjoyed the story of the company, how it was started by two engineers who just wanted to make great products.

So now he's expanded beyond just the stump grinder to a full suite of Woodland Mills products.

It also helps that Woodland Mills "has really great hats too," he says.