Livery rates. YOs, how did you come up with a figure?

Enfys

Enfys

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I had this conversation with someone yesterday, she was saying she thought charges were high (for full Grass Board) We sat down and costed everything up, including minimum wage, it came to a lot more than anyone I know charges.

How do you decide how much to charge?

Do you look around at similar establishments in the area and take account of their facilities and rates?

Do you cost everything up? (Talking Full/part livery in this case)

Do you charge for labour?
 
Hi
I have a small private yard with 6 livery horses plus 3 of my own, I sat down one weekend and priced everything up and realised what other liveries were charging when I was in livery with my horses was actually very fair, you will be amazed how much it cost to set up a yard. I put in a stable block with 7 stables 1 feed rm, 1 tack rm, I post & railed 10 acres and put in a 20m x 40m arena with a decent surface, the Arena was constructed by my husband and father to keep cost down but the fencing and stables were done for us, all this cost £57,000!!!!! I have a £700 liability insurance policy to pay every year, the farmer that empties my muck trailer is £25 per wk, not to mention the business rates the council slaps on the yard £4.5k per year so as you can see it is impossible to run a yard with cheap livery rates. I charge £25 DIY which is a long way from paying back £57,000 of our very hard earned life savings all because I have a passion for horses!!
 
We only offer full/foaling/holiday or recuperation livery and to work out our charges, we phoned around the area to find out how much DIY was. Most of the yards are paying £30+ per week and then on top of this there is a daily charge for additional things you then asked the yard owner to do, i.e. one charge for putting your horse out, one for putting a feed in, one for changing rugs, and the list went on and on. We worked out how much in total this would all come to, adding up all the various bits and were shocked that someone on DIY who asked the YO to do these bits and pieces for a week, was nearly as expensive as what we had planned to ask for our livery charges. By the time the DIY then paid out for bedding, feed and hay, it came to more than what we actually charge for full livery. We found that when people ask us how much we charge and we tell them, they are shocked and think it very expensive, so we sit down with them and work it out like above, and by the time they've added on their petrol money to go back and forth to the yard, they then realise our full livery is cheaper than them being on DIY. If like us, you are a legal yard, then you would also have to pay business rates, land drainage (for the surrounding ditches), water and electricity, yard insurances, muck being taken away (£100 per month), paying farmer to maintain our exercise track, and then you start to realise you're actually making a very minute profit - a lot less than minimum wage per hour. We use to be DIY'ers many many years ago and never realised just how much the yard owner had to pay out for things we didn't know about. Even working out our charges, we didn't include things like broken fences, cost of wood and nails to re-do, broken water troughs and pipes, maintaining paddocks, fertilising, etc. etc. Like others who run livery yards (and we are basically a stud), there isn't much profit to make but we do it purely because we want to be near our horses as much as we can.
 
I only want to rent out one stable and I am prepared to change rugs and turnout in the morning.Have 6 acres of turnout and a school. I do sometimes have to ask my livery to put mine in at night [about once a week]I charge £20 a week, I have no electric and I can't find anyone.
I think it would be easier if I had a larger yard ,I decided on the price by what others are asking around me but people are more willing to pay more for slightly more facilities.
Someone perfect will turn up one day.
 
When our new yard is built I plan to ring round some other yards in the area as well as ask on forums to find out what the going rate for full livery in our area is...

I'm told we're cheap at the moment for DIY but we have a lovely bunch of people which means a lot as it reduces our stress levels!
 
I have one livery. She is on part livery, ie I do all the mucking out turn out etc but I don't ride the horse. I also supply hard feed, haylage and bedding

I worked out my rate by breaking it down.

basic DIY livery in our area is approx £30/£35 pw I fugure this is what I charge then for the use of stable, 20x60m arena, all year t/o. I also have running hot water and a solarium she can use.

Cost of hard feed, hay and bedding pw is approx £25

So we're already at £60 per week. I then worked out time spent mucking out, changing rugs, walking up and down to the field.

So I charge her £100 per week. I was also quite clear that I don't do grooming, clipping or tack cleaning.

I think I have been quite fair, especially as the horse is actually my horse on loan and she has the use of 2 saddles, all his rugs, bridles, numnahs, boots etc and she gets an up and running competition horse.

I think if you offer quality then people tend to be more willing to pay for it.
 
we charge £55 a month,dads use to run it from the 60s for the last 10 years we took over,so nothings really changed,this is for 12x12 stables in enclosed yard,seperate fields mares and geldings,paddock for riding but not a school,hay and straw brought from us separate but never ending supply,a lovely big river to wash thier feet off and in the summer we all ride in and swim through it,great fun,free parking for trailers ect, nice kitted out tackroom etc,its a big happy yard
smile.gif
 
mum has just done a business plan and costings for a rather large livery yard. and i think in this case the livery yard owner makes more profit the bigger the yard.
the yard in question has 60 liveries, all year tornout, stables are in 2 big barns, 2 small barns, 3 loose boxes and 10 pony stables, indoor and outdoor school and horse wash and solarium.
It is makeing a steady profit, not a huge one but steady.
they charge £30 per week for DIY. but you have to pay extra for the horse wash and solarium and whilst you can ride in the school at anytime, if you want sole use of it (for example a lesson or turning out a horse in if they cant go on grass) then is is £10 an hou extra
 
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