what my job costs me.......

[VictoriaEDT]

After a couple on cancellations recently due to "being able to find someone cheaper" I thought I would take some time to expalin to you guys what my expenses are to justify why I simply cannot charge the £25 that the local tooth fiddler charges.
This is nothing that had been mentioned on here but im sure that some people think that doing my job is easy money in the back of their mind!

So here goes:
-Medical Malpractice/Public Liability Insurance: £600 per year (prior to qualification it was about £1500)
-Income protection insurance: £500 per year (necessity with a dangerous job like this)
-Training costs to date: £21,500
-Membership to the BAEDT: £160 per year
-Car: £700-£800 per month inc fuel
-Car Insurance: £450 per year
-Instrumentation: £11,000 so far
-Cost to me in blades per horse: £7-8
-Power instrument maintenance: approx £200 per month
-Advertising: £50 per month minimum
-Printing £50 per month minimum
-Website: £500
-Misc: £50 per month (mouthwash, discinfectant etc)

Regarding call outs: I charge whatever the cost is to me to put the fuel in but this may have to change!

I charge £45 per horse and that is the going rate round here for BEVA qualified EDTs and considering that horses only need their teeth doing twice a year, in retrospect, i dont think that is particularly high.

Perhaps, I am just venting anger here (very unlike me!) but when people ring to say that they found someone £10 cheaper (implying that I am expensive!) and this someone is not even qualified/highly trained then I think i am justified! Yes/no?!

Anyway, I hope the above is helpful and answers any questions that you "ever wondered"

 

[marmalade76]

Our EqDT only charges £25 per horse and I only have my horse done once a year.
We could say the same as you about hay. It takes a lot of money and hard work to make, fuel, insurance, machinery maintainance, man hours, but people still want the best hay for next to nothing.

 

[Llwyncwn]

If you find a good farrier, vet, physio/chiro, saddler and EDT you hang on to them as they are part of a team who keep my horses in good health. I would never profess to know if a saddle fits 100% as I am not a master saddle fitter, nor would I want my vets to do my horses teeth as they dont do it day in-day out. You are the experts, you have done the years of training and hard slog and deserve a reasonable income for your expertise and knowledge, this is surely why we come to you?

I do know of a registered EDT who is undercutting everyone in this area for £25 a time. Last year he took out two wolf teeth from a horse but left fragments in place and the skin grew over, causing behavioural problems.

I have had my EDT for nearly 14 years and wouldnt swap him for the world. I value him as part of my horses annual MoT. I would never have an unqualified EDT, farrier, vet, physio, chiro or saddler near my horses.

A good post, well said Victoria.

 

[sherbet]

I hope you find that once people have had the cheaper option they come back to you. You pay for what you get. But there is only one way people find this out and normal its after the event and once the horse is not quiet right in the mouth.

 

[dieseldog]

Why do you say they need doing twice a year? I thought it was once. Genuine question. I think I pay £40 for my non BAEDT. I wouldn't worry about £10 if the dentist was good, I've used too many rubbish ones.

As an accountant, your figures aren't quite the right ones to be used in a costing. You need to do roughly 30 horses a month to break even - are you getting that many?

 

[Colline]

Hey i know where you are coming from - I had a livery who was amazed that i was prepared to pay between £40 - £60 for an EDT. Oddly enough mine is back today to do my four - one of which is being sedated to have a wolf tooth fragment removed. I fully expect it to cost me in the region of £250 today plus the vet visit and anaesthetic. I don't have a problem i trust my EDT and wouldn't want someone cheaper who isn't necessarily qualified.

 

[natalia]

ours costs £30 per visit per horse, HOWEVER we book him out twice/three times a year and he does about 20 horses each time, sometimes more. This also means that he does my horses for free as we give him so much custom. He's very very good, and I wouldn't have anyone else as he handles the horses so well, I have never met a vet or dentist thats as good with them as he is and out of 80 ish horses each year i would say only one needs sedating to be done by him.

 

[Pillow]

I paid £45 horse an EDT to do my horse. Horse still was unhappy (even more so) when the EDT had been and gone.

In the end I had to call out another EDT who showed me what damage previous EDT had done. Mouth cuts to bits where teeth were made so sharp.....My poor horse.

New EDT charges £35.

 

[Rollin]

I pay 55 eurose per horse in France. I think good dentistry is important. I have purchased two young horses with teeth problems. One was a difficult ride owing to pain in her mouth the other got choke a couple of weeks after arriving here. His vetting identified a tooth problem I just could not get the dentist her quickly enough. The vet bill was twice as much as that of the dentist.

Compare this to my 30 year old horse who has had regular dental treatment. When the French dentist treated him last summer for the first time she was amazed - his teeth are in very good condition.

 

[Hippona]

I pay £30 per horse for my EDT - she is qualified and very good with young/nervous horses. However, we tend to block book her for about 8 horses at a time, so perhaps this reduces her prices. If she were to raise her prices, I would still use her as she is very good, and as you say- good vet/farrier/EDT etc are worth their weight in gold.

 

[Christmas Crumpet]

I always pay £45 for my horse to have his teeth done. The man who does them is brilliant with him and horse is more than happy to have them done.

To use an example - when I got the horse I used the local saddler because she was local and cheap. We then had huge problems with the saddle etc and horse got massive white patches beneath his withers. I then went to expensive and not local saddler and problem is sorted and white patches have gone. You get what you pay for and if you want the best for your horse, you go for the most qualified and best at their job person.

 

[Thistle]

My EDT is either £40 or £45, can't remember which. He is excellent.

I get him free however as he doesn't live round here so stays in our 'granny flat' when working in this area.

 

[Cliqmo]

Thanks for the info Victoria, it is really interesting to see it broken down like that!
Out of interest what on earth do you drive that costs you £800 a month not including insurance??

I think some people charge less because they work on the "loss leader" business strategy- they would rather be doing twice the number of horses (and so have some job security) albeit at a price that only just/might not even cover their costs because they know that the customer will go on to provide free advertising and they will gain more business.

 

[Ludi-doodi]

QR
Might be an idea to inclue some of that information in your adverts posing the question to readers "did you know... " and "this is why a qualified person is more expensive". The ad would need to be carefully worded so as not to put people off though!

 

[MrsMozart]

An interersting post, thank you VictoriaEDT.

I now pay £40 per horse. If there is no work to be done, then the dentist doesn't charge, which I think is barking mad - I'd happily pay either the full amount, or at least half because they have spent time and money coming out to me! I'm a consultant and if I get booked out for the day, the company gets the full day rate charge even if I'm sat on m'butt twiddling m'thumbs - I'll do (within reason

) anything they want, so if they choose to leave me kicking my heels that's entirely up to them, it's still gonna cost £x amount per day of it

.

I used to pay £20 per horse - one dentist at that price was good, another one not so good. The one I have now can do the power tool work if it's needed, which means continuity of care, which makes me happy and confident in their work. It's also the dentist the local equine vets use.

Given the current economic climate, and given that people may not notice the effects of a lesser dentit's work so the time scales are going to extend before they see the light and come back to you, is there anything you can do to add unique selling points to your repetoire?

 

[VictoriaEDT]

Diesel Dog:
It does entirely depend on the individual horse as to whether they need doing once or twice a year but as a general of thumb youngsters 2-9 and oldies 20+ need to be seen twice over the year. Also, depends on their management. Racehorses chew minimally due to hardly any food given so get extremely sharp in 5-6months whereas, herd horses kept in their natural environment, grazing 16hours a day can be ok for 2 years.

Re numbers, it is not a problem as I do work quite hard doing 6-10 a day.

Re discounts, I due discount heavily to around £30-£35 per horse when I am at a yard that has 15 or more horses on. Beneficial to me not to have to travel and can get more done in a day.

Re Car, I drive a nissan navara and put about £350-£400 worth of fuel in (that is what i was costing). The car is two years old and is going in for a service tomorr for £450!!! ouch!

 

[VictoriaEDT]

I forgot accountancy and thats a lot...........DD you guys are expensive!

 

[ester]

Victoria, If you wouldn't mind would you PM me the name of said 'local tooth fiddler' having looked at the official list I can see at least one name that I might have expected to have been on it (not who I currently use, he is there!)

 

[Wigglypigs]

Id happily pay £45 for my horses teeth to be done however my last horse had had an extraction so needed doing 3 tiems a year at least and after allowing my vet to do it once (an never again) ill happily pay my EDT to do it for £45

 

[scotsmare]

I have my EDT's price list in front of me just now.

Consultation and performance float is £40, anything additional to this is extra (between £10 & £25) so max cost £65. Well worth it I think!

(Obviously, if you need a vet to sedate then this will be extra still).

 

[Vicki_Krystal]

im lucky!

i get mates rates at £20 per horse! (he does do 6 at a time though!)

my dentist is beva reg and certified as he trained in America also.
He is fully insured and does dentistry at vet colleges when needed.
He is fab with any youngsters i have in and patient as anything!
He charges £35 to a normal client and i wouldnt describe him as a "tooth fiddler" tbh

 

[marmalade76]

Thanks, I can cut my horse's dentals down to once every two years then!

Why do so many people think that just because an EDT is cheap they arn't good at their job? Ours is fairly local and does min 4 horses at our yard and my well do other horses in our area on the same day. The most exspensive tooth job I have had was done by a vet who took one look at my horse and asked when he was last doped. Vets are never as thourough as EDTs but I have never paid more than £25 for an EDT and never had any tooth/mouth problems.

 

[miss_c]

Thankyou Victoria for this extremely interesting post!

When it comes to my horse's care I refuse to make any compromises, so always have a specialist EDT. Fortunately for years she was a vet before going fulltime as an EDT, so when Genie had her wolf teeth out she was able to sedate her as well. Price with her tends to vary from about £40 for the basics, to a bit more for wolf teeth and sedation - I forget how much but it was nowhere near as much as I had expected!

 

[Rana]

Thanks for posting this Victoria

I hadn't realised some things were so expensive!

As one of your clients, I can honestly say that I don't think you're that expensive! Yes, there are cheaper EDT's more local to me, but I don't think they do a good job - hence why I don't use them (and I have done in the past). For a saving of £10-15 every 6 months, I honestly don't think it's worth it, and I'm surprised at the amount of people who think it is worth saving that - at the expense of their horses mouths.

 

[Vicki_Krystal]

[ QUOTE ]
Thanks for posting this Victoria

I hadn't realised some things were so expensive!

As one of your clients, I can honestly say that I don't think you're that expensive! Yes, there are cheaper EDT's more local to me, but I don't think they do a good job - hence why I don't use them (and I have done in the past). For a saving of £10-15 every 6 months, I honestly don't think it's worth it, and I'm surprised at the amount of people who think it is worth saving that - at the expense of their horses mouths.

[/ QUOTE ]

Lol - so by that token, because my dentist is cheaper im not looking after my horses mouths??
My dentist has done my horses and ponies since i was 8 - im now 24 - so i would say he is more than experienced.

Also we are in a credit crunch - i dont find it at all surprising that people are looking for cheaper alternatives? at least they are still having them done!
Its happening in my area with farriers - people eeking shoes out for 8 - 9 weeks instead of the usual 6.

I really wouldnt take it so personally Victoria Edt, for most people its simply a case of budgeting where they can.

 

[VictoriaEDT]

Thanks K,

VK I dont take it personally, it was just the way she said it when she cancelled got me thinking/wondering whether thats what others think? It was more of me wanting to let you guys know that it is not just buy £300 worth of rasps and away we go!

I dont think Rana meant that the more you pay the better the service, this is just her personal experience.

On the same token, I am not saying that just because this person is £10 cheaper that means that everyone who is £10 is rubbish!

 

[Rana]

[ QUOTE ]
Lol - so by that token, because my dentist is cheaper im not looking after my horses mouths??

[/ QUOTE ]

Not at all, I was speaking purely about the area which I live in - where there is a dentist operating cheaply and who is notorious for not doing a good job (and being rough with horses and rude to clients). Yet people still use him. That's all I was referring to, not saying that all cheaper EDT's are bad. Perhaps I should have been more specific

 

[Vicki_Krystal]

I know how much its costs as i was trained also!

I didnt mean to be sharp, its just i trust my dentist completly and have never had a tooth / mouth problem since using him.

Basically what im saying is, not every EDT that is cheaper than say £40 is crap!

 

[Pidgeon]

TBH I now have a trusted and very good team of professionals who check the horses back, teeth, saddle etc and because they are good and I trust them I do not mind paying what they charge. As the saying goes you get what you pay for! I expect a lot from Pidge riding wise so it is only fair IMO that I look after him to the best of my abilities

 

[RachelB]

[ QUOTE ]
If you find a good farrier, vet, physio/chiro, saddler and EDT you hang on to them as they are part of a team who keep my horses in good health. I would never profess to know if a saddle fits 100% as I am not a master saddle fitter, nor would I want my vets to do my horses teeth as they dont do it day in-day out. You are the experts, you have done the years of training and hard slog and deserve a reasonable income for your expertise and knowledge, this is surely why we come to you?

I do know of a registered EDT who is undercutting everyone in this area for £25 a time. Last year he took out two wolf teeth from a horse but left fragments in place and the skin grew over, causing behavioural problems.

I have had my EDT for nearly 14 years and wouldnt swap him for the world. I value him as part of my horses annual MoT. I would never have an unqualified EDT, farrier, vet, physio, chiro or saddler near my horses.

A good post, well said Victoria.

[/ QUOTE ]
I totally agree. My horse (happy hack!) has a little "team" of experts including her vet, EDT, farrier, saddler, chiro, physio etc. who I wouldn't change. It takes a while to find someone who works well with the horses but when I find that someone I don't let them go!
I pay £50 for yearly visits from my EDT. I actually thought/think he is cheap! He is FAB (has been mentioned and even photos posted on here before) and I would be more than happy to pay the "going rate" for someone of his expertise and quiet/calm nature around horses. He is invaluable!