Would you pay £25 per week for diy livery in somerset

meesha

meesha

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Just asking as am hoping to take on a yard and charge £25 per week - stable, mains electric, water troughs, tons of grazing all year round and grass schooling paddock in lovely area with good riding - 8 box yard with tack room and own storage area (part livery available at extra). Main selling point is the well draining ground and all year turnout.

Do you think I will get clients easily - have it all ready to go but just dithering on costs, not an ad as havent even signed on dotted line yet - dont want to be out of pocket agreeing to it and then not being able to fill stables relatively easily.


Sorry for yet another post on this subject - but still trying to get it all straight in my head.
 
It sounds lovely to me, although i wonder if people would prefer a proper surfaced menage, as a grass paddock may have limited use over the winter...

I currently pay £30.50 for DIY In leicestershire - stable, day or night grazing (no 24/7), large stables, menage (with lights) and as much haylage or hay as we want (within reason) -they supply shavings for £7 a bale if you want too. I'm not sure of costs in somerset so not sure if its a fair comparison...
 
I think £100 a month is fair, especially with the option of all year round grazing, it's something a lot of people will go for. I suppose it depends on where you are in Somerset...I know there's a big livery yard up for sale near me, if it gets turned into a private yard there'll be a lot of people looking for somewhere else. Good luck with it, it sounds exciting!
 
I'm in Devon and pay £20 per week for all you'd be offering, in addition to a x-country course, small sand school, show jumps, lessons on site. 24/7/365 grazing too. Doubt I'd be tempted to ay £25pw for somewhere without an all-weather surface, at the very least.
 
I'm just into the devon borders and I pay 20 a week for pretty much the same. But 25 a week is about average around here.
 
No, I'd pay nearer to £20 as you don't have the school or a floodlit area so seriously limits the amount of riding people who work full time can do in the winter.

(around my way DIY yards with good facilities are £30/week)
 
meesha said:
Just asking as am hoping to take on a yard and charge £25 per week - stable, mains electric, water troughs, tons of grazing all year round and grass schooling paddock in lovely area with good riding - 8 box yard with tack room and own storage area (part livery available at extra). Main selling point is the well draining ground and all year turnout.

Do you think I will get clients easily - have it all ready to go but just dithering on costs, not an ad as havent even signed on dotted line yet - dont want to be out of pocket agreeing to it and then not being able to fill stables relatively easily.


Sorry for yet another post on this subject - but still trying to get it all straight in my head.
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What would be included in that price?

I was previously paying £25 a week a stable with hay and straw. On a yard with limited turnout in the winter but 24 hour in the summer and a proper surfaced school which is flood-lit for winter use!

I'm now on a yard where I pay £30 a week this includes hay, my own stable 24/7 turnout all year round if I like. We also have use of a large flood-lit outdoor school and x-country course + I have an instructor on site. (Also have locked tack room, rug room, feed room and a washing machine!)

For what you're offering (if you aren't including hay or bedding) I'd only want to pay MAX £18 a week or preferably £15 a week. I'm in somerset too an a friend of mine pays £15 a week for a stable and year round turnout which is basically all you'd be providing.

I also have a very lucky sod of a friend in North Wilts who pays £40 a month for a stable, hay and bedding with ample grazing plus 3 large schooling fields with super jumps! (but this is silly cheap... just an example of what is available really!)

Sorry not what you want to hear... I think you'd get better value if you offer only part/ full livery as people are also paying for your time then...
 
Not for no proper arena - unless the hacking is absolutely amazing I suppose.

I'm in Somerset - pay £18 a week for 24/7 turn out in summer and out in the day and in at night during the winter. Indoor small school, and outdoor sand school. Fab hacking, YO is BHS instructor as well.
 
I pay £25 for 24/7 turnout from March to November and daytime turnout in between. I have use of a floodlit all weather menage and showjumps along with excellent hacking. I don't think I'd pay this much without a proper surface to school on though.
 
I pay £25pw for a 3acre field with stable and tack/feed shed. I can come and go as i please with my field being flat enough to ride in and in the very edge of dartmoor.
 
Thanks for all your responses - you are like my focus group - will rethink pricing probably just over the £20 per week mark - it may be dearer than some others but there is ample well drained land with natural shelter and really no need to bring them in (although would be stable each) so that and fact it is a small yard should go in its favour. I dont know how anyone makes money or breaks even on 15-18 per week unless they seriously overstock the land - I was paying that price near the yard I am looking at 12 years ago.

Any other thoughts welcome - I could probably write a book on the pros and cons by now but better safe than sorry !
 
That's a standard price for a yard round here (se Wales) however most have schools. I'd put yourself at £20 if you were round here. :)
 
thanks BoolavogueDC was hoping to do £20 but would barely break even ! ahhh

Gala - whereabouts is the place for sale ? (can you pm me if need be) just want to see if it is closeby !
 
meesha said:
Do you think I will get clients easily - have it all ready to go but just dithering on costs, not an ad as havent even signed on dotted line yet - dont want to be out of pocket agreeing to it and then not being able to fill stables relatively easily.
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Getting the clients but making a loss/minimal net profit won't be much help... Do you have access to the accounts so you know what the running costs would be (rates, insurance, maintenance etc) to give you an idea of how much you would have to charge - particularly if a box or two might be empty now and again?

Then see if people would be interested in that cost... DIY livery around here for a stable and turnout varies from a tenner to £30/pw... 'Extras' such as water, electricity, toilet, all weather exercise, security etc making a difference... At the end of the day - as a client, I'd want my livery as cheap as possible... But whether you can provide that and run a profitable/reputable business is totally different...

:)

Someone (not sure if it was Wagtail) did a thread itemising the costs involved in running a small yard... It was fairly interesting...

Found the thread

:)
 
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Thanks all ... Ladydragon - water, electric and rates are included - owner to do maintenance (no fencing all natural hedging). I drive past twice a day so no fuel costs and public liability costs accounted for.

Yard is near crooks peak/webbington side of hill in Somerset.

Really want to go ahead with it but just juggling figures at moment and waiting to see if the owner can do anything on price !.
 
meesha said:
Thanks all ... Ladydragon - water, electric and rates are included - owner to do maintenance (no fencing all natural hedging). I drive past twice a day so no fuel costs and public liability costs accounted for.

Yard is near crooks peak/webbington side of hill in Somerset.

Really want to go ahead with it but just juggling figures at moment and waiting to see if the owner can do anything on price !.
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That is a good area and the going price. I don't know anywhere DIY in north Somerset for less than £100 a month.
 
thanks China - keep hovering between prices must man up and make a decision - advert is ready to go, draft contract drawn up and list of places to advertise done. Just need a final price from owner and 8 clients !!!
 
meesha said:
Thanks all ... Ladydragon - water, electric and rates are included - owner to do maintenance (no fencing all natural hedging). I drive past twice a day so no fuel costs and public liability costs accounted for.
Click to expand...

Ah...so you're going to rent it as a whole and 'sublet' to individual liveries? I didn't realise... At least that gives you more of a ball park outlay figure to work with...

:)
 
Think that sounds fair...wouldn't drop below £20p/w - you need to make some profit! 24/7 turnout 365 is priceless as far as I'm concerned! Best of luck!
 
cheers me old muckers ! I am self employed so luckily have the time to do part or full livery monday to friday if required but most peeps near us seem to want diy. tbh the extra charge for part or full would be less than fuel costs I suspect !
 
We pay £90 per month for DIY livery which sounds very similar to what you would be offering...except we don't have a flat schooling paddock.
 
I have a DIY livery with 7 stables with a similar set up to what you suggest. I put in a state of the art arena and went up from charging £20 to £25. The hacking is also very good around my yard and there is a big equestrian community. I'm sure you'll realise very quickly that if you do run a place like that you will essentially be working for a bit of extra pocket money. Don't rely on the income what ever you do. Its so unpredictable and repairs and random bills can come out of the blue.
I get alot of pleasure out of keeping the yard to a really high standard and only have people on the yard I like etc. It's never ever about the money. It's really not worth it.
 
Happy with pocket money but need to make sure I am covering my costs, esp if not all stables filled. Already looking at tack room which has electric and have decided to add kettle, tea, biscuits (the important things in life) so liveries can sit and chat and get to know each other. It's a lovely yard and I think I would be v happy there if it were me which is why I am considering it. Just getting all my ducks in a row !
 
I currently pay £120 a month for DIY with:

-huge stable
-daily turnout with allocation of two individual paddocks to be rotated, horses are on lone turnout only unless owners have other arrangements
-outdoor arena with jumps etc
-jumping paddock
-small indoor school
-Shavings on side at £6 per bale

This doesn't include bedding or feed and I have had to buy my own matting to cover the unlevel concrete stable floor and electric fencing to improve on the allocated field (keeping my boy away from the nice but nippy houdini neighbour after the amount of cuts/bitemarks I found on him.)

The hacking isn't the best but further afield it gets better, and I pay an extra £25 a week to another livery to bring in/take out my horse depending on what shift I am on for five days of the week. This includes rugging up/off, picking of feet and giving him his pre-prepared feed.

£5 for 15minutes work lol, nearly what I'm on after 9 years in aircraft engineering. I'm in the wrong job.

I must add that the yard is lovely, with some lovely people, with facilities more like a competition yard. However; in my opinion it would benefit from having a manager that is more hands on to ensure things run smoothly as it sometimes feels like a kangaroo court! Maybe it's just me (being ex-military) but things run better with a clear heirarchy.
 
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IS there a possibility of putting a school in? That is the main point for most riders. A grass school with 8 liveries will turn into a mud bath pretty quickly regardless of how well drained :o. No school means you will only attract happy hackers.

If you have a decent school I think you'd have people biting your arm off to have ample grazing and good hacking!!! Round here you could easily charge 35pw for that. Without the school you'd be looking at 20pw max.
 
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