What would you expect from DIY livery?

R2R

R2R

Well-Known Member
Joined
7 August 2009
Messages
1,455
Visit site
I have a small privately run DIY yard which has a fantastic location close to the motorway and just 30 mins drive from London in clear traffic.

We try to do the best for our liveries, including putting up temporary fencing in all that torrential rain the other day so the horses have somewhere to go out which isnt in danger of becoming a duck pond, helping out for free when people are on holiday etc...


What would you expect in terms of care etc, and how much would you expect to pay, from a DIY yard, close to London, with the following facilities;

Floodlit yard with secure parking
Floodlit woodchip school - not ideal but provides somewhere to ride in winter
Floodlit all weather bridlepath (takes about 20 mins to get up and back, but again good for winter)
All year turnout (post and rail/post and 2 strand electric)
Large storage barn
People 'on site' 24hrs
Landlord lives on premisis and is horsey
24 hour turnout weather permitting
Fantastic hacking (off road)
1/2 drive max from major show centres?

I just need to make sure I am not going mad at one of my liveries supposed comments at the weekend to another livery which I am taking with a pinch of salt but has miffed me a bit!!!
frown.gif
 
£27 to £35 is the going rate in watford for DIY livery taking it as it includes a stable.

Because of the school i would say the lower end, i find if you have a floodlit school with a good surface/indoor school you can usually charge a lot more - when i look for yards the two most important things are the size of the stable and the condition of the school. Grazing is quite important and all year round turnout (even if just during the day) is a massive bonus.

Do you offer extra services at a cost (eg turn out etc) to make it an assisted DIY if needed? As that always appeals to me also - whereabouts are you as i will need a yard near london as of june
smile.gif
 
Sounds fantastic - and what is offered from the DIY yard that I stable at. Exept we only have turnout in the day during the winter (24/7 in the summer). However, turnout is never restricted due to bad whether. The land is very well maintained, so grazing ultimately is never compromised.

We also have a livery service available (full, part, whatever....) when needed. Which is fantastic. It means my horse is brought in for me every evening, and I don't have to worry about being stuck in traffic etc.....

Can't comment on price, as I suspect your prices would be 2 or 3 times higher than I pay, because of location.
 
One of my liveries expects her horses to be fed every morning, which is fine , but apparently is moaning becasue I dont check their waters or tie up a haynet?!!!

The livery agreement states that the horses are 100% DIY and all loss, damage etc the responsibility of the owner, and everyone is responsible for keeping the yard/their area tidy and well swept.

She also commented to one of my (very helpful) liveries that "it wasnt her job to be sweeping up the leaves on the yard" and various other things, such as telling my mum we should have concreted in every single wooden electric post (there are over 400 we have bashed in by hand this summer) and calling me at work becasue the lightbulb had gone in her stable!!! Our floodlights tripped in the heavy rain recently and her boyfriend commented that "it was a tin pot job and should have been done by proper electricians not someone my dad got in..." to another livery - eeer it was done by 2 fully qualified working electricians, I paid for it out of my own pocket for the benefit of my liveries who ride at night, so not really sure where that came from.

I am a bit miffed and whilst I take everything with a pinch of salt, I am a little irritated that she is moaning to other liveries and never to my face!!! Unlike my other liveriy who is a nightmare at even coming to see her horse, this one always pays on time, worms on time etc and is generally very nice have around. I actually like her as a livery and a person but my other liveries are all moaning as she is moaning to them over the silliest things, such as giving her horses hay as they are door kickers (she wants it tied up in a net) and her horses not being done till 11am becasue she wont get up, and her knowing that another livery feeds her horses (said person is up before me and the horses both kick the door so badly until they are fed that the livery has ended up doing it Monday to Friday...without so much as a thank you...though she does get massive thank yous from me )

I am not sure whether to bite my tounge or ask her if there actually is an issue - this has turned into a bit of a rant but if you cant have a moan on here where can you have a moan
crazy.gif
laugh.gif
so I apoplgise.
 
Have no idea about london prices but personally for what you are offering i would say £30 per week minimum, with a london weighting on top if relevant.

Too many people want to pay £15 a week for diy and then complain that the fencing is crap or theres no grass. You get what you pay for! Theres a place near me that charges £10 a week, which is bl**dy ridiculous and of course attracts lots of people that really shouldnt have a horse because they cant afford it. You simply cannot provide a reasonable, well maintained facility for £10 per horse.
 
[ QUOTE ]
One of my liveries expects her horses to be fed every morning, which is fine , but apparently is moaning becasue I dont check their waters or tie up a haynet?!!!

[/ QUOTE ]

Ah, well if she wants 'extra's' then that will obviously cost her
wink.gif


1st on the yard feeds where I am. That does not include the YO.

As for their other concerns - well it's good manners to sweep the yard and everyone should play their part. And if they don't like other things about your place - they can always vote with their feet. Life's too short to put up with people who moan and winge for no good reason
wink.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
Have no idea about london prices but personally for what you are offering i would say £30 per week minimum, with a london weighting on top if relevant.

Too many people want to pay £15 a week for diy and then complain that the fencing is crap or theres no grass. You get what you pay for! Theres a place near me that charges £10 a week, which is bl**dy ridiculous and of course attracts lots of people that really shouldnt have a horse because they cant afford it. You simply cannot provide a reasonable, well maintained facility for £10 per horse.

[/ QUOTE ]

Pay peanuts get monkeys lol!

We have our fields topped, ask liveries to skip but also harrow and rest all fields twice a year in rotation, etc.

Having had experience of DIY yards, we really try to make it the best it can be.

I am SO tempted to tell her to go and find it better and cheaper elsewhere, I know for a fact she wont be tolerated if she moans as much nor find it cheaper elsewhere!

My mum wants her to go as she winds my mum up with her moaning - I just wish I heard it becasue I would give her what for and ask her what the issue was.
 
2 years ago I was paying £130 a month (I think) for similar, though we had a huge outdoor sand and rubber floodlit school and a small indoor sand school. So maybe £120 a month max for yours, more if the school was bigger, and much more if you had an indoor school and walker.

I'd also expect, as a livery client, to pay for services whilst I was on holiday. I'd never expect my YO to be turning out, bringing in etc if I was away unless I was paying for it. Think I used to pay about £15 a day for "part livery" when I was down there, as I was usually a DIY.
 
I would speak to her face to face, this usually stops moaning, tell her she needs to pay for her feed & hay to be put in (£1) a day & stop the moaning or find somewhere else, if she doesn't like it she will leave.

Confront her, don't leave it, why should you be wound up because of her, it's your yard - your rules!
 
[ QUOTE ]
So you would say £108 a month is a fair price then!!!!

I told you we were cheap!

[/ QUOTE ]


Yes, it's only a fraction more than I pay. Haylage obviously is on top.
 
i know how you feel! we have a couple of liveries on my yard who apparently moan to all of the other liveries about nothing to be honest - yet they never moan to our faces! As a YO, if they have a genuine moan, they should come direct to me!
it sounds TBH as if you need to get rid, it could be a long winter and if her and her BF are moaning about every single little thing, and annoying other liveries with it etc, ask her to go.
good luck with it!
 
£108 sounds very good value for what you offer. I think this livery should go elsewhere, she obviously thinks she can get part livery type services for very little money and is basically taking the p*ss out of you. If she can't get over herself you should ask her to leave, it's not fair on anyone to have someone with that attitude around. You sound like a genuinely caring yard owner and I know a lot of people would charge more for the services you are offering.
 
I'm on part livery but there are DIYs on our yard. The DIYs have to do everything themselves, even down to poo picking their field daily. They also have to turn out and bring in their horse at specific times along with all the horses, so that no horse is left out creating havoc alone, and so the whole yard is fed at the same time. If they are late the yard does it and they are charged. Every single extra is charged for at our yard.
I think it's good. All the horses are happy with a solid routine and everyone knows where they stand.
 
I am DIY in Hertforshire and the price is about right. Everything we do for the horses is down to us but first one there (which is the same girl every day) feeds all the horses breakfast. No hay or water in with that (unless you ask for a one off) but they are fed, down to you to turn out etc etc.
All the fields are post and rail and rotated and all the care is done by the owners, we don't poo pick. We have an arena with lights but it's not great but good enough and a walker and a jumping paddock in the summer. We can pay extra for extra services if we need them.
We also buy our hay, straw and shavings off them but it's not compulsary.
 
Blimey she sounds like she wants an awful lot for nothing, I currently pay £180pcm DIY yes yard has great facilities but I'm not able to use them however I also pay extra £20mth for ad lib hay supplied from yard but thats it, what your offering is a fantastic price wish I was closer as your place sounds lovely, my new place has become somewhat of a nightmare for me, so am looking to movge elsewhere even though I truely dont want another move but I am having to at some point, where abouts is your yard?

Personally I'd get rid, one bad apple turns the whole basket sour
 
More than fair. I'd expect to pay more if you were doing extras for your clients (not inc the holiday stuff). For comparison, I'm in Shropshire and pay £130 a month for DIY. Yard has a massive outdoor sand and rubber school, full set of SJ, full set of WH type jumps, access to grass gallops, walker, and in that £130 I get either a BI or TO every week day. It's one of the more expensive DIY yards in the area but facilities are good - I'd expect to pay more for that in the London area. But for what you are offering, which doesn't include any services, maybe £120 in your area. More if you're offering services.
 
You need to tackle her and put a stop to the winging. Its you yard not hers and why on earth should you feel like this.

Tell her either like it or lump it. I'm sure there are plenty of other nice people who would be happy to be at your yard.
 
i pay £150 a month. Horse gets fed his brekky and dinner if i leave it out if im going early. I pay £2 a day for his rug to be changed and turned out. Yard has good facilities apart from fields are a bit rubbish!! (BOG!!) You can pay extra for whatever else you want though, and they are very helpful. £108 is a bargain!!
 
Sounds like you are more than generous with the services you offer and due to where you are located, I'd say you are rather cheap too! I'd be charging at least £130pcm with services on top!
 
DIY livery?

I would expect a stable and turnout, that's it. Anything else is a bonus, or a paid for extra.

You get what you pay for, so for an arena, hay/bedding on site I would expect the rates to be higher. I am well out of touch with current UK prices so couldn't even guess at the going rates.
 
I would def speak to a livery who was causing an atmosphere on the yard and rather than confront them I would be diplomatic about it, something like "I hear that you are not happy about some aspects of the yard. Would you like to discuss them?" Then reasonably refute anything that is unreasonable and stress that a happy atmosphere on the yard is of prime importance. She'll get the message that you've got her number and either keep quiet or leave.

I must be a very kind YO as I feed and hang a haynet to all the horses on the yard, DIY and all, 6 days out of 7 on average free of charge. But then we charge £24/week for a large stable, floodlit rubber arena with jumps, unlimited grazing 24/7 in well maintained fields, free trailer/lorry storage and enough storage for each client to have at least 2 tonnes of hay or straw in for the winter. Oh, and a free night check as well!
smile.gif
 
We pay £145 per month and have a full sized floodlit rubber and sand outdoor and a mirrored gel track indoor. All year turnout and hay and straw included. Pay for extra services (turnout, bring in, etc), and extra for lorry parking.
 
[ QUOTE ]
One of my liveries expects her horses to be fed every morning, which is fine , but apparently is moaning becasue I dont check their waters or tie up a haynet?!!!

[/ QUOTE ]

Put up a list of extra livery charges. Water filling, £1, haynet giving (if made in advance and left for you) 50p, if you fill it, £1, rug changes, turnout/bring in... the whole kaboodle.

I am in two minds about the feeding thing since you have started it, so you could maybe tell your liveries you will feed breakfast unless you are away or ill, in which case they will get X pd notice that you are unable to do it and that they should make alternative arrangements.

[ QUOTE ]
...telling my mum we should have concreted in every single wooden electric post (there are over 400 we have bashed in by hand this summer) and calling me at work becasue the lightbulb had gone in her stable!!! Our floodlights tripped in the heavy rain recently and her boyfriend commented that "it was a tin pot job and should have been done by proper electricians not someone my dad got in..."

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm afraid she'd have got short shrift from me if she rang me at work to tell me her bulb had gone like it was an emergency. Have you got a whiteboard or diary that liveries can leave you a non-urgent message on?

[ QUOTE ]
I am not sure whether to bite my tounge or ask her if there actually is an issue - this has turned into a bit of a rant but if you cant have a moan on here where can you have a moan
crazy.gif
laugh.gif
so I apoplgise.

[/ QUOTE ]

You do need to remember that you have heard a lot of this second hand, so who knows what context they were meant in, or if it had been said with a pinch of salt, or if the livery who told you was on a mission to wind you up/ place blame on the other livery for negative thoughts that they themselves had been thinking and she had agreed with, for example.

Next time you hear something second hand, let the teller know you are going to ask her directly about it, if they object then reassure them they won't be in any trouble. I would speak to her quietly, and tell them you have heard they were unhappy about X (fencing, floodlights...) and just ask in a normal friendly way what it was about X that she was unhappy about. Listen to her, reason it out, and ask that you hope that she doesn't feel too intimidated to let you know directly if she has any more concerns in the future. That way she feels a bit silly for b1tching behind your back, and hopefully will keep her trap shut, and if the other person is just stirring they will be less inclined to do so in future because they will have been found out
smile.gif
 
I'm on DIY but pay my YO for certain services like turnout and bring in mon-fri in winter. As part of my DIY livery my horse is fed at 6am if I leave her feedbucket outside her stable. If I want a haynet filling and tied up its £1 or if I leave it outside to be tied up its 50p or if I put hay in a tubtrug then they push that in for free I think. Automatic drinkers so they dont check them. I wouldnt expect my YO to do anything other than feed in the morning unless I requested in the services diary other things to be done.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top