Building your own Stables/ Arena

[Fanatical]

I realise this isn't really comp riders but this is where I post the most and thought it might be most relevant.

Ok, I’m a long way off being in this position but if you bought a property with land and wanted to build stables and an arena, roughly how much would it cost?

Probably 6 – 8 stables and an arena that is at least 25 x 45.

I know there are a lot of things to take into consideration and costs will vary but just looking for a rough guide if possible. Has anyone on here done this?

 

[wench]

At a very rough estimate (work in construction but not houses/equestrian stuff)

£60-100k.

Assumed that you get all the work done by contractors and you are going for brick stables.

 

[Fanatical]

Thanks Wench. I should have said, I'd like the arena done 'properly' so would get contractors in, but there is the possibility of doing some parts of the stables ourselves and getting 'mates rates' from a local builder.

Would prefer brick built stables but will definitely consider both options.

 

[kerilli]

hmm, hard to say... depends what's there already (the cost of the concrete pad for stables alone can be eyewatering) and what you want. it's like saying "how much is a new car?"
6-8 stables - wooden, or brick? or, in a barn, so indoor? layout? (affects how much concrete you need!) also need - feed room, tack room, hay storage? muck disposal?
arena - fencing? drainage? (depends on subsoil). surface? (what's it for? jumping big, mostly dressage? lots of horses per day or only a few?)
sorry, far more questions than answers I know, but if you decide exactly what you want you can then get quotes and have a far better idea...

 

[rowy]

Our 20x 40 ménage ended up costing 20- 30k including 6 floodlights, drainage, planning (which we had issues with) and surface.

 

[Honey08]

We probably spent around £20k on our yard of wooden stables, if I remember rightly, for four stables (one a foaling box) and two portables standing on metal skids and concrete. This includes a heck of a lot of hardcore (for the stables, drive, and a turnout/parking area of road chippings), which is quite deep as we live in a bog! Also concrete pads for the stables and yard, rubber mats and all fittings (rug rails, tack lockers for each stable) etc. Planting hedges and trees around the area, fencing and gate for the yard..

As with the above poster, planning was the biggest issue - we technically should only have 4 stables, hence the two portables, but they've never come to check up...

 

[Mlini]

The 20x40 on our yard cost nearly £30k but was done by proper arena people. You can get landscapers/builders to do the same job for much less.

 

[zizz]

our barn has 5 stables and a breeze block tack room, we did most of the construction ourselves as OH is an agri engineer. Barn istelf is 36' x 30' with 11' eaves and 15' ridge steel frame, roof lights, timber clad and fully lined with kickboarding this cost £5,800.
the concrete flooring then cost a further £3000, the actual stables OH made from steel with very thich wooden bottoms and we had them painted as it was cheaper than galvanised, they were about £3500 and the tack room probably cost about £800 to build (the steel security door was £290).
We are looking to put in a 20x40 school but even though OH has accounts with alll the main suppliers round here, the stone we will need for the drainage is approx £12,000!

The planning fee for the barn was only £80 as it is an agricultural building not equestrian, which is why we went down the barn route as opposed to a stable yard.

 

[showjump]

Hi, the cost depends on loads of things really. Lie of the land, drainage, whats there already (if anything) how helpful/ not helpful the local planning authority is.
We have done it twice now; first time built 5 steel framed U shaped stable block (clad in wood), arena, fencing, car park. First yard getting planning was a nightmare, the things were told we were not going to be aloud was crazy! For example they wanted to see the show jumps, in case somebody walking down the lane complained about them!!(i kid you not!) Second time american barn type, 5 stables, arena, walker, driveway etc. Planning was a breeze. Although did use planning consultant who was brilliant. Wouldn't like to guess the price, and would be hard as dad owns a metal work company, and OH arenas/fencing etc. So we have been lucky!

If you need any more info pm me.

 

[zizz]

Gosh I have made my stables sound quite cheap and nasty which they aren't at all! I am very pleased with them and they were certainly much less expensive than buying the ones I wanted from Monarch!! Here are the doors and they have full height grille dividers in the same steel as along the top of the doors;

the stables along the side of the barn are slightly different with the doors in the middle and the grilles sloping down to the height of the doors.

 

[Fanatical]

Thanks for the replies. Very useful info and lots to think about.

 

[Polotash]

Totally depends on how fancy you want them.

I found the cheapest way by far was to build a pole barn and then put internal stables in. My 6 internal stables (so 6 fronts and 4 middles) was £3600 from Graham Pluess (google will find him). The pole barn materials cost about £8000, but we did pretty much all the labour ourselves.

If starting from scratch putting down a concrete pad and then a wooden range of stables on top is also cost efficient.

Services is what costs the real money - you need to bear in mind how close electricity and water are when you're looking at places to buy. Electric is especially pricey, I brought mine 300m from the nearerest pole and it cost £5000, but a friend of mine was told £80,000 to bring it 900m. You're at the mercy of the electric companies too, so no opportunity to get cheaper quotes!