how much were you quoted? there was a company in the neighborhood last fall going door to door, took down a tall skinny tree, ground down its stump, a large stump in my front yard (18" or so), and a crab apple stump in my back yard for like $150...i talked them down a bit since they were already in the neighborhood doing everyone elses houses, and it wasnt like they were making a special trip. took down the tree in about 5 min, stumps took another ~10-15...ive got their cards upstairs