Cost of building a ménage?

[spacie1977]

Does anyone have any idea how much it costs to build a 20x40 ménage including planning applications, materials & labour?
And is there a massive difference in cost between the different surfaces?

 

[Red-1]

The bigger companies (and smaller ones come to that) will give a free quote.


Were you intending to do the work yourself?

 

[charli_]

All I know is that the materials used vary in price depending where they are - so material from your area is the cheapest. It's worht speaking to people in your area who have one to see what they have to say.

 

[L&M]

Anywhere upwards of £12,000, depending on the groundworks needed/surface/fencing etc. Ours was £18,000 but is a 30x50 m.

 

[spacie1977]

The bigger companies (and smaller ones come to that) will give a free quote.


Were you intending to do the work yourself?

Not sure who'll be doing the work. I'm just working out rough costs for moving house to somewhere I can also move horses to. Hubby and I have been house hunting for 8 years but not found anywhere that ticks all be boxes until now, and all of a sudden we find 3! However none of them have a ménage.

 

[bluedanube]

Depends how many people you want in your ménage... Although a ménage a trios could be interesting... ;-)
Personally I'd spend the money on a manège...

Sorry just couldn't resist....

 

[spacie1977]

Anywhere upwards of £12,000, depending on the groundworks needed/surface/fencing etc. Ours was £18,000 but is a 30x50 m.

Hmm £15000 is what I was guessing but hoped it would be less. Did you do any of the work yourself?

 

[Tiddlypom]

Probably £25k+ from one of the nationwide big boys for a 40m x 20m arena.

 

[whiteflower]

Probably £25k+ from one of the nationwide big boys for a 40m x 20m arena.

this, unless your are doing the work yourself. many years ago we go quotes ranging from 18-45k. it also very much depends on the surface. we have had a new surface on ours not long ago (drainage, membrane etc all left intact) cost = 8.5k

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

I understand that DIY seems like a good idea, and I would probably go this way myself as there is no one round here capable .......... I would need a top class driver and research the whole business first.
I would say that I most of the arenas round here have been problematic, due to self build and cutting corners, once the drainage fails it all goes downhill rapidly.

 

[meesha]

I got drainage guys to do groundwork, they levelled ground, dug drains, put down membrane, put in pipes with clean stone then loads of other stone (which was rubbish stone, had I realised I wouldn't have used it but it has been OK, saved me 2k as didn't pay for much of it as not as described) then 2nd membrane then topping. I have cushionride and love it, never so much as puddle, needs a top up after 5 years, never slippery and keeps ponies clean. Boards round outside, posts then thick tape instead of rails, total cost 7k, pics in profile, 20x40m

 

[spacie1977]

Wow £7000 is amazing! Unfortunately I can't see the pics in your profile.
The yard I used to keep my horse on had a 'top up' of their rubber surface using a 2nd hand surface. Basically someone had dug up their menage and sold the topping to my yard. I was peed off at the time because it was full of stones from where they had dug too deep, and no one on the yard could use the school until we had hand picked all the rocks out. It took 2 weeks, a lot of back ache, and grumbling and we were still fining the odd fist sized rock for months later. But looking at the prices involved I can see why they went for a 2nd hand surface now.

 

[FionaM12]

Depends how many people you want in your ménage... Although a ménage a trios could be interesting... ;-)
Personally I'd spend the money on a manège...

Sorry just couldn't resist....

I was going to be the pedantic one who pointed out the spelling mistake but you beat me to it.

 

[meesha]

Look in my profile at my albums, I reckon it would be 10k now as cushionride is a bit dearer and the stone would cost you more. I jump and school on arena and use it as winter turnout when wet. Due to tonnes of drainage it hasn't gone at all deep or mushy just needs more down.

 

[Annie B.]

Put loads of time in going to see other peoples manège and ask questions about their drains and surfaces and if it ever freezes or floods. I had mine put in 10 years ago with drains that can be cleared with a dyno rod, all posts concreted in, heavy quality post and rail, all clean stone, double membrane and the best silica sand and sports rubber I could find. It's never flooded or frozen and has enough weight in the surface not to get blown a way when it's blowing a gale up here. I paid £22k and absolutely love it, I hope you enjoy building yours it's very exciting. X

 

[fburton]

I was going to be the pedantic one who pointed out the spelling mistake but you beat me to it.

But it's still pronounced men-arje, isn't it??

 

[Orangehorse]

Time and time again I hear of people who have ended up with something unsatisfactory if they have tried to cut corners. This doesn't mean that you can't do it yourself, I think there is a book published which tells you how, and also some of the large supplies will do a "supply only" on materials and leave you do find the plant and machinery yourself. If you are going to do it yourself you need to spend lots of time researching exactly what you are buying when you reply to ads in H & H. I suppose this "project management" is what you are paying for when you engage a firm to do the whole thing.

Very often you will see a local firm advertising, so the thing then is to ask to see some arenas that they have already installed and find out how happy their customers were.

The last one I heard of was an OH who went to get the sand and bought builders' sand as it was cheaper. Big and expensive mistake.

If you go to the expense of having a surface you really want something you can ride on all year round, otherwise, what is the point?

 

[Tiddlypom]

But it's still pronounced men-arje, isn't it??

That's how I pronounce it, too. Are we correct?!

I will stick to 'arena', as it's safer!

 

[FionaM12]

That's how I pronounce it, too. Are we correct?!

No. I always thought it was menage (and pronounced as such) until HHO told me otherwise. Here's the dictionary reference with correct pronunciation:

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/manège

 

[Tiddlypom]

No. I always thought it was menage (and pronounced as such) until HHO told be otherwise. Here's the dictionary reference with correct pronunciation:

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/manège

Thanks for that, I stand corrected. I will definitely stick to 'arena' !

 

[FionaM12]

Thanks for that, I stand corrected. I will definitely stick to 'arena' !

Much safer!

 

[tootsietoo]

I'm just doing this at the moment. I've had three quotes for a 20x40. Two from local groundworks contractors, who do the odd manage as well as liming, farm groundworks etc. Both came in at £23,500 ex VAT. The other quote is from Landtech, a Warrington based firm who do only maneges, at £19k ex VAT. The planning fee was about £350 and I did the application myself, although if you paid someone to do it for you that would probably be £300-500 I would have thought.

I have a friend who built one last year herself, and when I say herself, I mean that literally! She used her farm machinery and with the help of her gardener dug out the whole thing herself, bashed the aggregate, laid the membrane, levelled the sand, bashed in the fence posts. She bought a lorry load of free shredded carpet which cost only the haulage and didn't put in any drainage as it is located on an old farm yard and she was confident it drained well enough. It cost her about £10k all in. I don't have access to the machinery and I can't put in the several weeks work to do this, so it would cost me a lot more with hiring labour and machines, so I have decided that the Landtech quote is pretty fair. The one big advantage of doing it all yourself is that you can avoid VAT on lots of it if you hire a local man + digger who isn't VATable, and source the aggregates from non-VATable places. That would save you a good £3k ish.