Working full time and running a diy yard - can it be done?!?

[thebear123]

Hi all - have posted this in new lounge but thought it might get a few more replies in here

I am thinking of taking on a DIY yard, but not giving up my full time job. It would be very much a DIY yard (with around 7 horses), but if people needed help turning out etc, i could do this. I was thinking that if the 'extras' got too much then i could hire in someone to help out.

Has anyone had any experience of doing this? Is it ok or is there loads of hidden work that i'm not thinking about?!

Also is £120 a month reasonable? There is a decent enough outdoor school, turn out, stables are ok, and hacking is good.

Any thoughts and opinions welcome

 

[CBAnglo]

It depends - is your job stressful/require you to work away? then no. If it is literally a 9-5 job and you have an understanding boss, then yes, but you will literally be working 7 days a week.

DIY yards barely break even unless you own the place so dont have to factor in rent/mortgage etc. The business rates, bills, maintenance and headaches really isnt worth the money. The only yards that can make any money are those that offer part/full and even then, they usually cut corners to make even a small profit.

Unless the rent is incredibly cheap or you have several horses so makes it cheaper than keeping them on livery, then I wouldnt bother. Of course having your own place is always the dream!

 

[K27]

Yes it's perfectly possible for you to be able to work full time and still have your own yard- I may be wrong but I would assume that you would be renting the boxes out to DIY liveries to enable you to pay the rent bill so that you are based at your own yard rather than at a livery yard yourself ie you wouldn't be in it to make extra money but rather to ensure that the monthly rent is covered.
If you go along the lines of it being strictly DIY only that would relieve the burden on you, and if in time you find that you/your liveries needed extra help with bringing in/turning out maybe you could get a good freelance groom in and pay for what is done rather than paying a grooms weekly wage.
The price sounds average for DIY as long as you are sure you are covering your rent plus any extras that have to be paid ie deposits /water, electricity, muckheap removal/insurances etc etc. My advice would be to be sure that you are happy with the horses/liveries that come to you so as to avoid any headaches! and get written contracts drawn up between yourself and your landlord and between yourself and any liveries.

Its certainly do-able if you have the right support/yard etc- good luck with it, hope it works out!

 

[eoe]

I do it, I have 27 boxes and 21 are rented to liveries, it is hardwork and time consuming but so long as you keep on top of the maintenance that is not too much of an issue, we ask for a deposit on arrival so if there is any damage or livery does a moonlight flit, you can normally negotiate the business rates if you can prove your property is not worth what they say it is. We also have written contracts with all liveries, which includes Health & Safety, Rules and Responsibilities, we also make sure that they put their own electric fencing up in front of our fencing so no damage can be done to our fencing.

If you have time and energy you can offer clipping services, turn out and bring in, mucking out if someone is away, just remember you time is money so you can't afford to be doing favours for people. Also if you are having blacksmith/vet/dentist and they want their horses done and don't want to take time off work, charge them £5 to hold their horses, install taps that you have to push to make work so that they can't leave the taps running, put meters on school floodlights so that they don't leave them on. Put the onus on the liveries to poo pick, ragwort pick and maintain the weeds in fields but you will have to fertalise and harrow.

One thing that we have found invaluable is that the owner put in a bore hole (water) it cost around £8,000 but it has saved us a fortune in water bills as we have our own supply so we have to pay very little to water authorities only for sewage.

If you want to know anything else PM me.

 

[soulfull]

yes but very hard work. You would need to be very good at planning and keeping to plans