Arena Build Companies, recommended and who to avoid! Midlands preferably

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jnb

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As above, what arena build companies have you used, and who should we avoid? I am aware of Shropshire Paddock Care to avoid, any others?
Looking for a basic 40 x 20 sand/rubber possibly with Clopf /fibre stabiliser.

Thank you all :)
 
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nutjob

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Mine was done by Clarke Equine Services. It's been in about 10 years now and the drainage has stood up very well to some extremely wet winters and the soil here is a very heavy clay. It is also used though out the winter and at night in the summer for turnout. It's been topped up with sand a couple of times. Some of the bottom retaining boards have needed replacing but overall very pleased with it for the price which was competitive at the time. I'm in the Midlands but they used to travel all over.
 
Red-1

Red-1

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I do not recommend Combi Ride or whatever the new incarnation of Maple Arenas is.

Left us with an unusable arena, backed each other up then Maple went bust, only stayed open with a slightly different name. Combi ride then blamed Maple. It was the surface that was the issue. There was insurance that was supposed to be separate but that turned out to also go bust!

My top recommendation is to check companies house as to who is involved in any company and make sure they haven't left a trail of ex-companies in their wake.

I would also look at any reviews and actually contact the people listed. It amazed me when we were listed on Maple's website as happy customers, when we were trying to sort out the mess they had left us with!
 
Tiddlypom

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Charles Britton. My 40m x 20m sand and rubber arena is now 10 years old, and performs faultlessly. When looking I was given the names and contact details of customers with existing CB arenas. One local one I did visit was then 15 years old, and was still going well.

Never heard of a horror story about a CB arena. They did all the planning side, too.

ETA The 2 man contruction team lived on site during the week in a touring caravan. The materials arrived on time when required, there were no holdups. Think it took 3 weeks from start to finish.
 
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Ceriann

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Tiddlypom said:
Charles Britton. My 40m x 20m sand and rubber arena is now 10 years old, and performs faultlessly. When looking I was given the names and contact details of customers with existing CB arenas. One local one I did visit was then 15 years old, and was still going well.

Never heard of a horror story about a CB arena. They did all the planning side, too.

ETA The 2 man contruction team lived on site during the week in a touring caravan. The materials arrived on time when required, there were no holdups. Think it took 3 weeks from start to finish.
Click to expand...
This. Mine has been in 6 years and looks as good as the day it was done.
 
catembi

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DO YOUR RESEARCH! DO NOT DO WHAT I DID...! To add insult to injury, I had a quote from Charles Britton but didn't go with it... I made a website complete with pictures on my complete & utter disaster of a manege so other people can learn from my hugely expensive mistake. www.cheapmanege.weebly.com

I moved 4 years ago & had a new manege put in built by a drainage expert (we are on very heavy clay). It cost £60k but is a million, billion times better than my first arena. Buy cheap & all you are doing is buying an expensive disaster that will need sorting out! (Which is what I did - not a comment on anyone else's posts.)
 
ycbm

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gallopingby

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I think the best way is to go local. Find out who friends or even random arena owning people in the neighbourhood have used. The biggest part is drainage and digging out at the start. A retired guy who lives near me reckons it should take a week to dig out the basic area, after that you’ve the drainage, stones layers etc before you even start on the fencing So 2 - 3 weeks for a top job unless you use a company with a number of employees. Basically l think you get what you pay for and although it’s possible to make do with a DIY job it may serve your purposes but won’t last as long.
 
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