Having DIY liveries

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Merlod

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I recently have been lucky enough to buy a small livery yard, it’s DIY only but I’m not 100% on what the price should be. Ideally I’d like is for it to pay for itself (mortgage and insurance) which means the rent needs a slight increase but I don’t want to appear like a money grabbing YO!

Herd turnout (geldings) rotated over 2 hilly fields, 24/7, all year round. Well fenced.
Water and Elec.
American barn, liveries get one stable for their horse plus the stable opposite for their hay and belongings.
Rubber matted, haybars and hoping to put drinkers in soon.
Very private, off the road in a nice village area yet only 20mins from city centre.
Quiet village hacking and plenty of offroad and woodlands hacking, beacon and open grassland etc.
No school but one to hire within hacking distance.

What would you pay for this in your area?
Thanks! :)
 
£25/£30 pw around here. Sounds very similar to what we have, except we have our own paddock but not our own stable for storage, swings and roundabouts :)
 
I pay £25 a week for similar + school, just outside Cardiff so depending on area (I assume from your username you're in Wales?) I'd say £20 a week. Lack of school wouldn't really put me off as long as the one in hacking distance could be reached in the dark i.e. a short hack with very little roadwork.
 
DIY near where I am is £80 pw but that's with a school. I'm not sure how much you should knock off for without a school. As I'm sure you'll see, prices vary all over the place. I'm in the heart of silly-prices East Cheshire.
 
Thanks all! All prices mentioned so far are well above the current price. I am actually in Gloucester (but a welsh pony and cob fan hence username!)

Lol I dream about putting in a school .. oneday perhaps, but are the any other little touches that liveries may appreciate?
 
Decent lighting inside and outside the stables as most will be there in the dark either before or after work. The one thing I'd love is hot running water, but appreciate it's difficult!
 
would be £20/25 PW round here(Midlands), and with a good floodlit school anything from £35-£50 pw.

the storage sounds great so that will draw people in i think, patio heaters over wash box? (if there is a wash box), free trailer storage if you have the room,.

there are quite a few threads on here about basic schools that dont coast the earth. even if its not useable in the pit of winter something surfaced people can use most of the year will be appreciated. I personally couldnt livery anywhere without a big,floodlit,truly all weather arena.
 
LHIS said:
DIY near where I am is £80 pw but that's with a school. I'm not sure how much you should knock off for without a school. As I'm sure you'll see, prices vary all over the place. I'm in the heart of silly-prices East Cheshire.
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£80pw for DIY.??? I bet they pay less than that in central London!

I think mine was £25pw on the edge of Cheshire/Manchester - I only paid £20 though as my horse was retired and never set foot in the school.
 
fatpiggy said:
£80pw for DIY.??? I bet they pay less than that in central London!

I think mine was £25pw on the edge of Cheshire/Manchester - I only paid £20 though as my horse was retired and never set foot in the school.
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Yep. And that is without hay or bedding. It's not a plush yard either (of which there are options for that if you so wish), just a farm with lots of stables essentially.
 
I'm Cheltenham so not a million miles from you. I paid £130 a month with hay & straw included (no school). Generally, I'd expect your yard to charge around £100 a month.

I now pay £180 a month for a yard with a school (including hay and straw).
 
I pay £35 a week for stable, paired turnout, floodlit school, 200 acres of farmland for hacking, as well as quiet country lanes. We also have unlimited hay and straw included in that price. For what you are offering, I would be willing to pay about £20 a week in this area (Cornwall), depending on what the hacking etc. is like. However, I get the impression that Cornwall is very cheap for livery, so it would depend on where in the country you are.
 
If you want the yard to pay for itself it's not just the mortgage you need to think about. There's rates, electricity, water, muck heap removal and maintenance - not to be underestimated! Sorry be be an Eeyore but DIY is rarely worth it for the YO, especially if you have a mortgage.
 
I'm Gloucestershire/Herefordshire borders. DIY where I was in the forest was £110 a month but that included a floodlit school and tea room with washing machine/fridge /microwave and lovely seating area for an after ride cup of tea. I'm currently near Ledbury and pay £50 which includes a 50x30 arena and all my hay and straw ad lib in huge stables in an American barn. Round here you'd be looking to charge £20 a week without a school.
 
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Just shows areas can be so different central Scotland well edinburgh its £25 a week for grazeing ether shared or heard or single 3 schools 2 that have lights shared tack ,feed , hay store or £35 if you have a stable buy in own hay and straw and loads of hacking on roads or a country park off road plus hacking on yard that includes toilet\ shower plus tea room with kettle fridge micro altho all livery put in £1\£2 a week towards tea room supplies
 
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£35 to £45 pw no school but great off road riding.

I would work it out commercially too i.e. what you would want as a return on your investment. Then compare. If you do not want to lose your liveries overnight I suggest you put it up slowly. A yard I was at did it by adding a £1 a week every 6 months and only slowed down when they started losing more people than they could replace. It was surprising how high they got it. I left when they started restricting grazing rather than price.

I would pay a lot more for 24/7 turnout with proper shelter and good off road riding than for stabling with facilities but no hacking.
 
Wow so much variation, very interesting! I know there are other costs to consider but if the bulk of it could pay for itself I don't mind paying out for the muck heap removal or field rolling etc. Luckily I have a very handy OH for maintainence.

Currently it is £18 per saturday so it's £72 or £90 depending if there are four or five saturdays in the month. I'd prefer to do to do a flat monthly cost. I was thinking £85 for current liveries but anyone new to pay £90 and then it will only go up after that if I get a school :)
 
Merlod said:
Thanks all! All prices mentioned so far are well above the current price. I am actually in Gloucester (but a welsh pony and cob fan hence username!)

Lol I dream about putting in a school .. oneday perhaps, but are the any other little touches that liveries may appreciate?
Click to expand...

I am in Gloucestershire and on a DIY yard in a small village. American barn style stables, individual paddocks, storage space in barn and tack room, small indoor school (approx 25 x15 meters). We manage our own paddocks so 24/7 turnout if wanted. I pay £100 per month not including hay or bedding.
 
OP, i had 2 summer grass liveries this summer, arrived 3rd week in May and left 5 months later on the same date.
They cost me extra in that period (over what normal costs are at that time of year):
£37 in water usage as kept scrubbing out tank weekly
£70 for extra muck pile to be cleared
£24 for 2 x fence rails and 1 x post
? For a broken cattle hurdle as cannot be repaired or replaced
2 x large batteries which were 1big 4 month old leisure which was borrowed without permission and then 'lost' and the other v good car battery - completely stuffed by being drained as light switch left on whilst I was on holiday, cost to replace around £100 and approx £20 respectively
Cost me hard cash of: £251 for 5 months of having others around, and that's without the parking aggro, trailer parked in 'attractive '' angles, paying for 1 x paddock to be rolled and both harrowed....
Just a few figures as to why DIY livery does not make money, even when they have rules.

Oh, i forgot the 7 electric fence posts.....
 
The Fuzzy Furry said:
OP, i had 2 summer grass liveries this summer, arrived 3rd week in May and left 5 months later on the same date.
They cost me extra in that period (over what normal costs are at that time of year):
£37 in water usage as kept scrubbing out tank weekly
£70 for extra muck pile to be cleared
£24 for 2 x fence rails and 1 x post
? For a broken cattle hurdle as cannot be repaired or replaced
2 x large batteries which were 1big 4 month old leisure which was borrowed without permission and then 'lost' and the other v good car battery - completely stuffed by being drained as light switch left on whilst I was on holiday, cost to replace around £100 and approx £20 respectively
Cost me hard cash of: £251 for 5 months of having others around, and that's without the parking aggro, trailer parked in 'attractive '' angles, paying for 1 x paddock to be rolled and both harrowed....
Just a few figures as to why DIY livery does not make money, even when they have rules.

Oh, i forgot the 7 electric fence posts.....
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Indeed. OP you say your OH is handy with maintenance but there's a cost for his time and materials. The cost of muck heap removal can be very high. Fertiliser and spraying are also costs to factor in.

Why was the livery yard for sale I wonder? Sorry to be so negative but there are so many hidden costs to DIY livery. Who does the poo picking if your liveries don't for example. Wear and tear on all your equipment. I'm just saying, please don't underestimate your costs.
 
I pay £30 a week for stable and storage, good sized outdoor school, small indoor, all year turnout, good hacking. Last yard had crap turnout, no school and same hacking with storage and was £20 a week - I am in Central Scotland
 
If you have 24/7 turnout but no school you could market it as suitable for young-stock or retired horses.

I would say £100-120 a month is about right without a school. How far away is the school you can hire and how much would that costs as liveries may have to factor that into their costs. I presume it is also a geldings only yard so that limits your potential customers too.
 
Just to give you an idea on costs, I spend £1500 a year on field maintenance for 16 acres - top, roll, Harrow, week kill, reseed. It would be more if I fertilised.. I dread to think what I spend on fencing :(
 
Do you have room for more liveries? I ask because a whole stable is an awful lot of storage, even if you keep all your tack, feed rugs you ever bought there it's going to be a lot of junk for most people to fill a stable. If you can pop more on without affecting the grazing (can't tell as no idea how much land/how many liveries) can you go down to half a stable storage and a few extra liveries to pay for the extra you need?
 
The Fuzzy Furry said:
OP, i had 2 summer grass liveries this summer, arrived 3rd week in May and left 5 months later on the same date.
They cost me extra in that period (over what normal costs are at that time of year):
£37 in water usage as kept scrubbing out tank weekly
£70 for extra muck pile to be cleared
£24 for 2 x fence rails and 1 x post
? For a broken cattle hurdle as cannot be repaired or replaced
2 x large batteries which were 1big 4 month old leisure which was borrowed without permission and then 'lost' and the other v good car battery - completely stuffed by being drained as light switch left on whilst I was on holiday, cost to replace around £100 and approx £20 respectively
Cost me hard cash of: £251 for 5 months of having others around, and that's without the parking aggro, trailer parked in 'attractive '' angles, paying for 1 x paddock to be rolled and both harrowed....
Just a few figures as to why DIY livery does not make money, even when they have rules.

Oh, i forgot the 7 electric fence posts.....
Click to expand...

And that if they pay. I only had one but I ended up paying her debt, and for all the hay and bedding she used, so I was about £400 down and that's without removing all the s*** the field that she left behind. I now no liveries and am perfectly happy.
Remember if you are borrowing money if its not attached to a house the loan may be at commercial rates.
 
The Fuzzy Furry said:
OP, i had 2 summer grass liveries this summer, arrived 3rd week in May and left 5 months later on the same date.
They cost me extra in that period (over what normal costs are at that time of year):
£37 in water usage as kept scrubbing out tank weekly
£70 for extra muck pile to be cleared
£24 for 2 x fence rails and 1 x post
? For a broken cattle hurdle as cannot be repaired or replaced
2 x large batteries which were 1big 4 month old leisure which was borrowed without permission and then 'lost' and the other v good car battery - completely stuffed by being drained as light switch left on whilst I was on holiday, cost to replace around £100 and approx £20 respectively
Cost me hard cash of: £251 for 5 months of having others around, and that's without the parking aggro, trailer parked in 'attractive '' angles, paying for 1 x paddock to be rolled and both harrowed....
Just a few figures as to why DIY livery does not make money, even when they have rules.

Oh, i forgot the 7 electric fence posts.....
Click to expand...

This. I think we are lucky not to Have to pay to keep liveries away lol
 
Wow, a lot of DIY livery hate lol. I am kind of on the middle of the fence because I was always a DIY’er before this opportunity, we’re not all bad eggs, and the liveries I have are fantastic. Again, I am not looking to make money on this, to break mostly even would be nice but even paying I am happy because my horses have a guaranteed home where they are happy. It also isn’t classed as a business because it doesn’t make enough money, it’s classed as a hobby and I also get a small business rates relief.

I have actually been a livery on this yard for 6 years, the previous Y/O’s weren’t horsey so I unofficially ran the yard and reported to them, which is why I think they offered it me to buy when they decided to sell due to retirement (75!) they ran it a livery for 15 years and have owned it for 50 in total – they used to keep sheep. We have 12 stables, three are my own horses and one a friends pony I am looking after, four are liveries and the other four are their tackrooms  I think it’s best to keep their stuff separate, I have been on other yards where shared spaces result in things going missing and bad feeling, plus they do have to store hay and bedding in there too... I could squeeze some more in but wouldn’t be happy too – as we are the horses to ground ratio is good enough that they can graze 24/7 all year without compromising the grazing.

Anyway, I have made a decision, £85pcm for my long stay liveries. If they leave anyone new pays £90.
 
Our liveries pay £20 per week for stable, paddock, free trailer parking, tack room, individual stores for tack, hay, feed etc if required. We also have a school that was once a proper sand school, but is now grass. We will re-instate it at some point, but people still use it and say it is fine.

Everyone has their own paddock to manage as they see fit. If they leave their horses to trash it during winter, then they will pay the price during spring and summer. Everyone has more than one horse, and are all in the their 40's upwards. Still get the odd falling out though!

You need to bear in mind electricity and water costs, I have threatened to put the prices up if people don't remember to turn off lights and hosepipes when they go home.
 
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