Budget costs for field - advice welcomed

D

Deborahm

Well-Known Member
Joined
24 April 2008
Messages
75
Visit site
I'm hoping to buy a 4.5 acre field for my neds. It's currently down to grass (been cut for silage last 2 years) but no water, no electric, no shelters, no fencing (perimeter hedges quite well established). I will also need to subdivide the field at least in half so I can rest it, split up neds etc.

I need some advise for budgeting on converting it over to paddocks (subject to planning permission);

How much would it cost to get water, electric, and fencing put in?

We're also hoping to buy the bungalow next to it, but it's some way from the property to the field so can't easily get electric or water from existing house/garage.

What price would you pay for a field like this (its in Bedfordshire)?

Any advice welcomed so I can work out how much this is gonna cost me!
 
The short answer is budget for a lot!

A friend bought 40 acres of agricultural land and got planning for a stud. There was water there already but the water board will charge you per metre to connect up and extra for any roads that need to be dug up in the process. Post and rail is pretty expensive - £15 per metre and not much to be saved by doing it yourself which is backbreaking, once you factor in the cost of hiring all the machinery and the time. The cost of electricity, according to my friend was astronomical. The company wanted £10K to connect up from the nearest pylon (which was 10m from their boundary) and he managed to get them down to £5K by buying the step-down transformer himself - and that was a real hassle to get them to agree to it.

I'd pay the going rate for agricultural land and not much more. It's not yet amenity land so it's not worth the corresponding increase in price.
 
You'll be lucky to buy the field for £50k I suspect it will make more.

Fencing anything from £2-15k

Electricity £10-15k

Water £2k

Perhaps isn't what you wanted to read, but thats the reality.

I have a yard with no electricity 200m from the nearest overhead powerlines, the cheapest price I've been quoted to get a 15kvA single phase connection to the closest part of my yard boundary is £15k+Vat. That was a few years ago so I suspect it would be considerably more.
 
we had water put from the road to just inside one of our fields and it was £500.once the supply was in(including the meter and stop-tap) we done the rest ourselves.
 
farmerandy said:
You'll be lucky to buy the field for £50k I suspect it will make more.

Fencing anything from £2-15k

Electricity £10-15k

Water £2k

Perhaps isn't what you wanted to read, but thats the reality.

I have a yard with no electricity 200m from the nearest overhead powerlines, the cheapest price I've been quoted to get a 15kvA single phase connection to the closest part of my yard boundary is £15k+Vat. That was a few years ago so I suspect it would be considerably more.
Click to expand...

I'd agree with this.

Our paddock is 2 acres and cost us £28.5K ten years ago. Our water supply cost about £1k at the time even though the actual water main went up the middle of the lane and it was only about a meter from that into the paddock - and my OH actually works for the water company!

With regard to the electricity supply, the pole is actually in our field with the overhead wires crossing the field, but the electricity company still wanted £14K. We didnt bother and just use a generator instead.
 
Just been to look at the field during my lunch hour and the land is looking very scruffy now.

The owners usually get a local farmer to cut it and take silage off it (in return for trimming the hedges), but this year that doesn't seem to have happened. They've allowed it to grow long and the thistles and ragwort have taken over. I'm wondering if farmer isn't interested in cutting it for silage now there's so much ragwort in it :-(

Is it going to cost much to get it back to decent grazing? How do I get it cut if no one wants it for forage? I certainly wouldn't feed any hay taken from it to my horses.
 
I think you can get it cut, baled and just taken away if its really as bad as you say. When we bought our paddock it was in a bit of a state with docks and thistles (but no ragwort). We got a local farmer to cut and bale it and then he took the hay away for his cows. I dont think cows are as fussy as horses!! He left the worst bales (which were mostly dock) and we just burnt those.
 
Unless land is cheap where you are, I would budget a lot more for the land than 50k. There are currently a couple of plots of grazing land for sale local to me; one is 2 acres and is 47k and the other is 4.64 acres and is 89k. And if you'd like 4.4 acres + 2 stables you are looking at 130k (it is advertised as being straight onto the New Forest but omits to mention the extremely busy A36 trunk road is in the way!!)

Getting water laid on depends on what is there already or very close. I had water laid on to my (rented) field and waited with fear and trembling for the estimate but it turned out that there was a capped off main right by the gate so cost the princely sum of £68 to do the connection (I had to buy the actual tap and length of copper pipe).
 
When budgeting for the field, I don't think it would be unwise to view the field as an investment, especially if you intend to add value in way of stables, water, electric, fencing etc.

It perhaps could offer a useful inflation proof pension pot in years to come?

Or be great to pass onto the next generation for them to enjoy too.

You don't need the electric and water to start with.

Whenever you buy land, it seems like you overpay. In hindsight it always looks cheap.
 
good luck, I have recently bought a bit more land and i use a lesiure battery connected to lights which is fab and not noisy like generators (which tend to be tempting to thieves) I have also used thick electric tape with a combination of poly posts and the odd wooden post (banged in with manual post rammer - hard work but cheap) as my 2 eat wooden fencing and I will be planting hedge in November.

I would def spend money if you have it on getting water there (unless a long hose pipe would reach from house).

I paid 10k per acre in somerset - prices are massively different from one village to the next let alone across counties.

I would second getting farmer to cut and take away old grass/weeds - wont cost you the earth (they may not charge as someone else said if they can use for cows) worth pulling ragwort first if feasible. Then just resting ground and cutting frequently - I have just bought cheap ride on mower for £500 which is a god send - ground looks better after just 2 cuts ! and I dont have to wait for the farmer to turn up to cut !

Ring round for best price on stables/field shelter - I had a 24x12 building which was 6x12 tack/feed room and 18x 12 field shelter - its on large hardstanding with mats inside - they use it all the time summer and winter - was around £2k for building and £1k for hardstanding but that was in 2005 ! it adjoins the arena so they live on hardstanding/arena in bad weather ! they sleep and wee on nice soft arena so no need for bedding !

fingers crossed for you.
 
I bought some land ( 7 acres ) a few years ago at tender with the intention of building a yard.

I must have spend circa £100k on top to get it as a functioning yard and this is still plenty more that needs doing.

Water was £3k to connect and only had to come over the road.
Electric in my view is a necessity and cost circa £14k post n rail another £8k, the yard base and stable yard from a good manufacturer was £45k and the biggest money sucker was drainage work and stuff you don't actually see.

Having said all that you can't beat having your own place and when I worked out how much 2 large horses would have cost me in livery over their lifetime it was worth it.
 
Thanks for all your advice and financial figures. Really helpful. I will have to post a reply with how it all turns out. I have a feeling it will take a while to get it sorted though. as I hadn't thought through how much work it is gonna take A big project for us, I fear, but hopefully an investment in the long run too as FarmerAndy says. No doubt I will be back to pick all your brains again soon.

Thanks again for taking the time to post and share your experiences, much appreciated.
 
People are paying huge sums for land at the moment...we have had several 2 acre plots some with stables and some without anything all going for £50k upwards to about £70k!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top