Starting a livery business

[CobsCan123]

Hi this is just a curiosity question rather than an advice question. I am not planning on doing this myself anytime soon, but always wondered what you would need to do if you wanted to start your own livery business. Do you have to buy the property/land outright or can you rent somewhere? I know you have to have permission and proper insurance and all that, but also do you need a certain number of stables/facilities etc to be successful.

 

[sport horse]

A phsychiatrist on call 24/7/365!!

 

[teapot]

The resilience of someone trained in all aspects of torture...

To be successful? The very very hard balance and understanding of people (staff and livery owners), facilities, horses, ethos, grazing, management, and costs. It's not easy. You can rent four boxes and a 20 by 20 school and still be an excellent yard, or have all the facilities in the world and never keep anyone longer than six weeks...

Profit? Not a chance.

 

[ihatework]

A phsychiatrist on call 24/7/365!!

????

OP - if you need to rent a yard (which some do) the margins are so small you end up working virtually for free. Much easier ways to earn a living out there!

 

[PurBee]

A phsychiatrist on call 24/7/365!!

The mental resilience of someone trained in all aspects of torture

??

Many true word said in jest, they say!

I remember as a kid the family that run the ever-expanding riding school, in the early 90’s. The mum, organiser, always strode around quickly, head to the floor, furrowed brow, lists in hand, looked perpetually stressed and busy. I never saw her smile….always felt sorry for her as she was a lovely natured woman, but it was evidently a stressful life. Miraculous really it didnt make her b*tchy at all, she retained her albeit rushed, yet pleasant attitude when you dealt with her.

A good team, with the same horse management methods/views is the only way a successful livery business can work, without too much conflict…but finding that is the hard part i imagine.

 

[spacefaer]

It's very very tough if you have to pay rent. Much more likely to make a (small) profit if you own your property outright and mortgage free!

 

[Rowreach]

Just ...... don't.

 

[EventingMum]

Very hard, I don't do any DIY livery, I couldn't stand all the comings and goings at different times and different views on what constituted good management. The margins on DIY are very slim and tbh, not much better on other forms of livery by the time you take into consideration all the overheads. Ongoing maintenance of a yard is huge, even just regular painting and wear and tear on stables, field maintenance - fencing, topping, rolling, harrowing etc all require either a contractor or a tractor/quad and implements and time (Mr EM and our son do much of mine in their time off from their real jobs). Then there's utilities - many liveries don't think about leaving lights on or a hose running both of which add to costs. Arena maintenance is a priority too, there's nothing worse than an arena that isn't looked after. Depending on the size of the yard there could be business rates to pay.There's also a lot of paperwork - business book keeping obviously but also all the health and safety requirements, horse health records, employee-related paperwork etc.

I own the property outright but even so I don't think it could provide a good living, it, along with the riding school provide us with a country place to live but our lifestyle is provided by Mr EM's unrelated business.

 

[Sossigpoker]

Lots of people say you can make money out of DIY so if it was me i wouldn't do pure DIY.
Difficult to make money if you rent the place and you'll never (IME as a client) have enough turn out.
Set up clear rules with liveries from day one , ideally get them to sign a contract and ask for a reference. So many non payers out there !