Made my manege disaster into a website!

Cowboys - £12k
Northants Drainage - £15-£16k (Quoted; had absolutely nothing to do with the mess I've ended up in)
CB - £18-£20k.

At the time, it seemed a lot of extra money. Now it doesn't!

T x
 
What a horror story. Food for thought as I'm planning a small arena on our land this year. 99p towards renovation coming to you via Amazon.................

....and hat off to you for sharing.
 
Brave of you to share..I would also make a FB page and (perhaps this is a little cheeky) but would have a proper conversation with CB about the costs of making your ménage safe and useable. The first thing everyone will ask on seeing your link and hearing your story is to ask for your recommendations. You are promoting CB and that sort of PR is priceless! I wouldn't give up on rogue traders either but perhaps take a slightly different slant. Someone who has a school put in that is unsafe is not a PR story. Someone who points out to companies who make it a business practise to defraud people, change their name and run is.

But end of the day, horrible for you. You achieved your dream and it is awful that you have been subjected to this.
 
Ace website!
I kind of have the converse story - other than groundworks, which we needed because my field does have a fair slope, we built the arena ourselves. I don't think it would be difficult for most people to do what we did - although we have a tractor available, which brought the cost down a little (or maybe not, we do have to pay for the tractor anyway!), we hired a roller for a couple of days which didn't cost all that much. If anyone is interested, I can give a detailed guide to what we did! I love my arena now - drains very well and needs little surface maintenance.
 
catembi said:
Cowboys - £12k
Northants Drainage - £15-£16k (Quoted; had absolutely nothing to do with the mess I've ended up in)
CB - £18-£20k.

At the time, it seemed a lot of extra money. Now it doesn't!

T x
Click to expand...

To be fair Cat in think most people would be tempted to go with a quote that much cheaper which is why it's so good of you to share your experiences :)
 
Can I have the link please too?

We are hopefully going to be doing this this year, and I think we might be able to get a digger driver and digger for next to nothing through the OH, and they should be able to sort the drainage and base no bother as thats what they do in their work to a certain extent, but putting on the menbrane/surface I think we will need to help in with
 
In case anyone is interested, here are some photos showing the CB guys heat sealing the top membrane layer in my arena build.

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Apparently not all membranes are suitable for heat welding, some have to be glued instead.

The guys had just spent a great deal of time levelling out the drainage stone layer before rolling out the membrane. The drainage stone is comprised of non dusty, clean and evenly sized stones. Sorry, OP, if it appears I am rubbing it in, (I don't mean to), but this gives an idea of how your job could have been done better.
 
Oh nooooooo...!! I am so jealous!! :-((((

But seriously, peoples - compare our two schools & decide whether you think the difference is worth £6k. YES IT IS, a million times over!

T x
 
The yard where I was put in one 12 months or so before I left (never rode on it as oss was retired, but taught on it a few times) and I watched the men doing the work which seemed well organized and thorough. They told me that they didn't advertise anywhere at all, just got the next job by recommendation. When I was choosing a builder for my kitchen extension, all but one quote came from recommended people. The one I chose was actually the highest quote but when someone tells you they wouldn't dream of using anyone else, and hadn't in over 20 years!.. The final bill was to the penny of the quote despite him doing a few extra bits and bobs for me and interestingly, he doesn't advertise either, its all word of mouth. He doesn't even have his name and number on his van. I think that says alot. Sorry to hear your sad story OP, I've ridden on arenas with broken down surfaces, rising stones and membrane, and its just horrible.
 
Sorry, Vicky1221, you don't appear to be set up to be able to get PMs. However, someone has posted the actual link on here a page back, so you should be able to find it.

T x
 
catembi said:
Wow, lots of interest!

I also sent an email to all the manege suppliers in the back of a H&H mag that I had to hand, & one has replied so far & wants to do a link to my site, so hopefully it will save more people from ending up with the heartache of saving spent lots of money on something not fit for purpose.

T x
Click to expand...

This one made me smile. The company I know is an advertiser in Horse and Hound, to read the advert they are the top dog manege supplier. The job was not cheap, £27,000. The quote looked great. The stones were great. The membrane was great. I saw it all go down. It was a component of the surface that let it down. Funnily enough the type of surface was also branded and well known, but the installer added his own sand to it, that was "wrong".

When it blocked the drains, the surface branded supplier said it was not his goods, the arena supplier went bust, and still the adverts appear in Horse and Hound. I can see the difference, the name subtlety changed, but most people would have thought it were a long established and respected company.

That is why I like your web site so much. If people follow your advice they will check associated companies with companies house, and find more than one with a similar name. That would ring alarm bells for me now!
 
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