Why do liveries advertise as £ per week? Thoughts?

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xch4r

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So I have my own livery yard that we bought as a new venture, we've only been open about 5 months so I might be being a bit harsh on myself but we're not very busy... (We've had more liveries earlier but they left due to living an hours+ drive away and one's mum bought her 5 acres, so who can blame them really!)

So I've been looking at adverts of other yards in the area Nd they all advertise as £x per week, whereas I advertise as £x per calendar month. I do this as I find it easier to for payment reasons- my liveries pay on the 1st of the month. But was wondering why other liveries seem to advertise as per week and if they do how do they bill their customers... £x x4 for the month or £x x52 then divide by 12 to get the monthly amount? Do you think me advertising as per month is putting people off?
Do you have any other advise for me?

Thanks in advance x
 
per month reminds us what we are really paying, per week we can forget the reality.................................;0

advertise per week charge per month
 
It's easier to compare costs if you quote in the same format as the others. It's pretty standard practice to price/week.

Last place I was at, charged £25/week and I paid 4/weekly. Different date every month obviously, but easy to work out. at £25 x 4

Place prior to that, priced the bill weekly but we paid 1st of the month, so that every bill was different. Say it was £25/week (as a nice round figure!), it was worked out at £100 for the 28 days, then plus £3.57 for each day extra of the month so a 31 day month would have been £110.70. (£3.57 is £25 divided by 7)

It would appear at 1st glance. that the second yard is more expensive - if you quoted a monthly rate of £110 pcm, you would "seem" more expensive than £100 a month. I know it isn't as the 1st yard has yet to charge you for the extra 3 days - it all works out over the year obviously, but it's all perception!

You also have to look at what facilities and services you are offering, compared to the competition
 
The yard I'm at quote and charge £23.50 per week for DIY Livery. We are billed monthly up to the last Sunday of the month. Therefore bills are for 4 or 5 weeks. I've just paid a four week bill dated July 26th so I expect the next bill we be dated 30th August for 5 weeks.

In addition to livery hay and straw is charged per bale based on what you order (delivered to cubicle weekly). I also pay £15 per month for trailer parking.

I don't like 5 week months :(
 
it might be the area as well. Most yards by me do per month. I prefer per month as it is a set amount so you don't end up paying extra if it is a 5 week month.
 
Mine does price per week, but we are billed monthly on the same date, so some months are 4 weeks long (yay!) and some are 5 weeks long (boooooo).
 
We pay our livery bill on the 1st of the month but the cost was given to us as £? per week. It doesn't make any difference we still pay the same amount. You could advertise both the weekly cost & calender month cost, it matters little. :)
 
Thanks guys, I had thought it was easier just charging monthly as it wouldn't change each month, but I guess that people just divide £110 (my livery charge) by 4 instead of multiplying by 12 then dividing by 52 to get the weekly rate and therefore it *seems* to work out more expensive...

In terms of facilities our stables are all rubber matted, with auto waterers, floodlit arena (use of lights inc in price) 24/7 turnout June-oct and late night check at 10pm as I live on site and we have a wash bay with hot water coming soon, secure tack room with cctv, rug room and feed room, as well as storage for hay in the barn so I think we're pretty competitive. I also sell feed from the yard as well.

I just built a website with weebly for free so hoping that will get us some custom as well x
 
I prefer paying monthly, as I have to write on the calendar when every 4 weeks is, and would tend to forget and panic. The first of the month is much easier.

If you are £110 per month, I would write that on the website and advertise it like - £110 per month (£25.30 per week, due 1st of each month)
 
Advertise per week and bill monthly if that is what others in the area do. My livery yard bills the same way you do by x 12 divide by 52 so its the same monthly amount whether its 4 or 5 week month.

Sounds like a nice place. You shouldnt have trouble getting clients if your rates are competitive.
 
All but 2 of our clients pay by direct debit so it's pcm obviously, but I have never advertised pcm always weekly and I think as others have said, it's coz it doesn't sound like a lot, but the pcm figure looks so much more. I mean let's face it, most of us with horses are in denial about how much we spend on them! We don't need yet another reminder lol! On my price list I also put in brackets after the weekly amount, the daily amount. I think it makes people realise just how cheap it is (£3.71per day at our yard) to keep a horse at livery. It's everything else that costs an arm and a leg! All you can do is try advertising the weekly rate and see what happens? Good luck!
 
First of all it looks a small amount, like £9.99. Also if you are charging weekly and not per calendar month you are getting slightly more money as most months have more than 28days.

I would look at adding value that doesn't cost you anything, ie trailer storage, buying base feeds and selling them on is good but do people know.
What most horse people are rubbish at is organisation, they have always run out of feed, bedding, hay etc, so if you can make things simple for them that's attractive. They also seem quite happy to spend money on 'Stuff' but hate spending on basics.
Its a really tough market and by the sounds of it your top end do not under sell yourself, if you are not making money stop doing it do not subsidise someone else.
 
Thank you, so I'll advertise as £25.30 per week and then bill them PCM. I bill everyone individually as some people order hay/shavings etc from me. So for example they come on the 1st June- pay £110 up front then on 1st July pay £110 + any fees/services etc they had during the month of June...
 
honetpot said:
First of all it looks a small amount, like £9.99. Also if you are charging weekly and not per calendar month you are getting slightly more money as most months have more than 28days.

I would look at adding value that doesn't cost you anything, ie trailer storage, buying base feeds and selling them on is good but do people know.
What most horse people are rubbish at is organisation, they have always run out of feed, bedding, hay etc, so if you can make things simple for them that's attractive. They also seem quite happy to spend money on 'Stuff' but hate spending on basics.
Its a really tough market and by the sounds of it your top end do not under sell yourself, if you are not making money stop doing it do not subsidise someone else.
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I will offer trailer storage as well but no one here has one! How much do people usually charge for that service?
We sell Thunderbrook feeds as well as some basic chaff, Alfa a, nuts etc and lotions and potions, so far the treats and licks have been the most popular, go figure lol. X
 
It's not hard standing as in concrete its road planings/gravel. Yup have cttv'd the place to the eyeballs! X
 
Previous yard didn't charge for trailer / lorry storage but current yard charges £10 per month (the basic livery is relatively cheap though at £89/mth)
And yes, our yard advertises monthly rates which I prefer.
 
xch4r said:
Thanks guys, I had thought it was easier just charging monthly as it wouldn't change each month, but I guess that people just divide £110 (my livery charge) by 4 instead of multiplying by 12 then dividing by 52 to get the weekly rate and therefore it *seems* to work out more expensive...

In terms of facilities our stables are all rubber matted, with auto waterers, floodlit arena (use of lights inc in price) 24/7 turnout June-oct and late night check at 10pm as I live on site and we have a wash bay with hot water coming soon, secure tack room with cctv, rug room and feed room, as well as storage for hay in the barn so I think we're pretty competitive. I also sell feed from the yard as well.

I just built a website with weebly for free so hoping that will get us some custom as well x
Click to expand...
Wow sounds fantastic. If you moved around here you could charge 1.5 times what you do currently
 
webble said:
Wow sounds fantastic. If you moved around here you could charge 1.5 times what you do currently
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Haha unfortunately people in lincolnshire don't seem to want to pay much more than I charge. I used to be in windsor so a bit of a change!
 
We get billed fortnightly and pay £32 per week for livery including hay/straw + an extra £1 per week for trailer storage. We have 24/7 turnout from May-Oct (can fluctuate slightly depending on ground conditions) with individual paddocks or grouped by owner. When it comes to worming the yard owner sources it and adds the cost to the next bill, this means that we are all on the same programme and the costs are kept down.

We have floodlit ménage no charge for lights and plus a grass jumping paddock in the summer.

Our yard owner and his wife are brilliant and if something needs doing you just have to ask and he will sort it and we all socialise together and apart from the odd little grumble about other liveries (where you have a man up and get on with it attitude) we are one very happy yard.
 
We pay four weekly so the payment date changes. YO won't take BACS or standing orders so I have to remember to give a her a cheque. I'm not great at it but she's pretty good if I'm a few days late.
I'd much rather a monthly standing order or even a four weekly one (you can set these up, I checked) but as we pay for hay in winter and not in summer she can't get her head round how we change it so won't do it!

I think it takes a lot to build up a livery business unless you have a gimic to attract people. One round my way opened up at an old racing yard so had a gallops which they really advertised and were promising a huge 80x40 arena and an XC paddock. People flocked there. A year later about 70% have left, the arena hasn't materialised, the XC is very poor, turnout even worse and gallops only go so far. Building slowly on word of mouth is by far the best way to have a sustainable business - although I appreciate that doesn't help you now.

Your yard sounds lovely by the way! Do you want to share your website for any tips on it?
 
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xch4r said:
Thanks guys, I had thought it was easier just charging monthly as it wouldn't change each month
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Oh gosh yes! I couldn't be on a yard where the rent was different each month! It would do my head in. How do the standing orders work?! Maybe, as someone has suggested, list as £110/month (equivalent to £25.38/week) so people can compare yards easily but equally helps those like me, that like the security of knowing exactly how much they'll need to have 'free' each month.

xch4r said:
In terms of facilities our stables are all rubber matted, with auto waterers, floodlit arena (use of lights inc in price) 24/7 turnout June-oct and late night check at 10pm as I live on site and we have a wash bay with hot water coming soon, secure tack room with cctv, rug room and feed room, as well as storage for hay in the barn so I think we're pretty competitive. I also sell feed from the yard as well.
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AMAZING facilities! I do wish you were down south. Sounds great - wishing you the best of luck!

Are you also on all the local FB livery/equine groups? Google your yard name and ensure your website/FB pages come up on the first page - if not, rebrand with a different name.
 
my yard charges per week and originally yo said to do monthly but I asked if I could pay 4 weekly and she agreed... I am trusted to pay for any hay I use(I mark on a board each time I take a bale and this is in the barn so yo can see) I work out what I owe and give to her on the due date..once I have paid I scroll forward 4 weeks in my diary and make a note...easy peasy!!!!!!
 
They do it to make it sound cheaper.
I Always times weekly cost x4.333 to get approx monthly cost.

Just to add I pay per calendar month... Much easier to get my head around!!!!
 
Interested in this as looking at a yard that advertises as xx per cal month. So am I right that I will just pay the same each and every month

Am currently on a weekly charge.
 
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