Advice on running a yard as a business

K

K27

Well-Known Member
Joined
12 April 2007
Messages
1,863
Visit site
Please could any of you that run your yard as a livery business give me advice on how you started and set up, how you work out your pricing structure, costing out feed bedding etc and if you do part/full liveries how you work out how many of each you will offer.

I'd particularly like to hear from those of you who have set up a livery using a rented yard- i.e you have a rent bill to cover as well as making enough profit for yourself as well as including necessary extras for the horses i.e bedding/haylage/feed- obv. it goes without saying that the potebtial business would run as such.

I'm just in the planning stage at the mo and would like to take on a much lager yard so that i can have that as my full time job! (have had a private yard for the last 3/12 years and many years of owning/riding and competing etc). Have seen a yard i'd like to go and look at if i can make the figures add up!

Any help/advice you can offer i'd be most grateful!- many thanks :)
 
Last edited:
I hate to curb enthusiasm but if you search here you will find loads of threads about opening a livery yard and the general consensus is don't do it. Particularly if you don't own your own premises.

Most livery yards don't make a decent profit and those that run them have other means of income to support their living costs.
 
BBH said:
I hate to curb enthusiasm but if you search here you will find loads of threads about opening a livery yard and the general consensus is don't do it. Particularly if you don't own your own premises.

Most livery yards don't make a decent profit and those that run them have other means of income to support their living costs.
Click to expand...

BBH i totally understand what you mean, and that is my concern i.e it must be hard if not nearly impossible to make a living when you don't own the actual yard!
 
It all depends on how expensive the rent is and how much work you can do yourself, tbh. Margins are tight, but not impossible. certainly economy of scale works much better than exclusive service, as unfortunately, if you charge what it's really worth, you are going to price yourself out of the market.
 
Running a "yard" from someone else's premises is fraught with difficulties. Firstly you'd need to check (sorry if obvious!) that the owner is happy for you to run a "business" from their premises as it might well mean they'll be asked for Business Rates for their premises!!!

So it would be essential to talk it through with the owners; in any case IF there's an opportunity to run a livery business from their yard then you'd need to know why they haven't done so themselves!

That's your first step I would suggest. But TBH I would think that a lot of people who offer their yard's for rent, would intend that to be for private purposes and there's usually a clause in the contract to say that there is to be no "subletting" or whatever.
 
I run a yad from rented premises but I have a commercial rental agreement which is expensive to set up in the first place!

In all honesty the money I make barely covers the cost of running the yard and the work is intensive. I spend alot of my time dealing with grass management (spaying, topping, harrowing, fencing) as I can't afford to pay someone to do it.

I have 13 boxes on the yard and 19 acres.

My rent is very low but I had alot to do to the yard to make it a viable business which meant anything I have made I have put back into it.

look into it very very carefully and be very realistic - it has taken me 3 years to have a yard full of liveries who are staying - many have come and gone in the meantime and you need to factor in that you wont always be full to begin with and make sure you can still cover the costs.


rent
rates
insurance
electricty
water


all remain much the same no matter how many people you have on the yard.
 
My advice is not to do it if you want to make a decent living. I have had to buy an extra eleven acres as only had an acre per horse and it has meant feeding haylage during the summer when they are out 24/7. Most years, I only just break even. I do it for the love of it rather than the money. We own the premises (and now eighteen acres) and have to pay business rates on all of the stables and the arena. I am currently waiting for planning approval to put up floodlights as one of my clients has changed her job and now needs to ride in the evenings. We may not get the planning and if we do, I have been told that our business rates will go up because of the floodlights! Sorry to sound so negative but I charge quite a lot for full and part livery and still it only just covers my costs. Yards that are lucky enough to produce their own forage and bedding are the only ones that stand to make a real profit I think. I buy mine in from premium suppliers and that is what eats up my profit.
 
Wagtail said:
My advice is not to do it if you want to make a decent living. I have had to buy an extra eleven acres as only had an acre per horse and it has meant feeding haylage during the summer when they are out 24/7. Most years, I only just break even. I do it for the love of it rather than the money. We own the premises (and now eighteen acres) and have to pay business rates on all of the stables and the arena. I am currently waiting for planning approval to put up floodlights as one of my clients has changed her job and now needs to ride in the evenings. We may not get the planning and if we do, I have been told that our business rates will go up because of the floodlights! Sorry to sound so negative but I charge quite a lot for full and part livery and still it only just covers my costs. Yards that are lucky enough to produce their own forage and bedding are the only ones that stand to make a real profit I think. I buy mine in from premium suppliers and that is what eats up my profit.
Click to expand...


Know exactly what you mean- where i am based now is a private yard, it's just my horses there however the owner pays rates and runs it as a business, i have had a few people ask in the past if they can send their horses to us on livery, but every time i do the sums just for an extra horse or two on paying part or full livery, the sums just don't add up- i think like you it's because i'm having to charge for quality items that my horses are getting and wouldn't want to skimp on anything for a horse thats in my care, so yes, it eats in to the profits in a big way as i have to factor that in to the quote!- it's not a definite anyway, just toying with the idea!

Hope you get your floodlight planning approved- shame it reflects on the rates! mad or what!...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top