Does anyone have a rough idea of what I could expect to pay to have a contractor finish putting in horse stalls? My parents need to have about five horse stalls rebuilt (the old stalls are torn out) The contractor would just need to build the sides, stall fronts/gates, and put in support posts for the gate/half wall. My husband could do it, but we live in different states, so before I call a contractor in their area I would like to get a rough idea of the labor cost. I talked to guy in our area when he was building our garage and he said he would charge $300 a stall for labor. I don’t know if this is average or not. And I know prices will vary, I’m just trying to determine if it would make more sense for us to take time off and take a trip to visit them and do it ourselves, or hire it done. If anyone can provide any input I would greatly appreciate it.
You have considered portable stalls?
Depending on the structure, portable stalls would be considered “furniture” and not be taxed as improvements.
That here can be a considerably difference in how the barn is taxed.
$300.- per stall to put them up when there is carpentry type work to do, seems very reasonable, but the bid should include what else you will be paying for, the materials also itemized, or they can overcharge there, or get a builder’s discount from the mill they are not passing to you?
You need a bid that includes all you will have to pay, no surprises to come.
We put rough-cut lumber planks inside the stalls. Saved money getting the lumber from a local sawmill, not having smooth faces on the planks. Boards are also thicker than smooth boards, so you have a bit of a strength advantage in leaving them rough-cut. They are Oak, so you want to put them in as green wood, use galvanized nails to prevent rusting nails off in time. Boards will shrink some as they dry, so even tight fitting when installed, will not prevent some board separation over time.
We have all double walls in the stalls, for keeping drafts out and strength. I have seen too many injured horses that kick the single wall stalls, stall panels, going thru the boards at times. They also used pine, which is not nearly as strong as other wood can be.
I guess you would need to find cost of lumber, whatever you choose to install, then figure hours to put in stalls, for a final figure. Plan some delays, carpenter work always runs over a bit in time or needing more lumber when putting things together.
Forgot to add, our stalls are 12’ x 12’, with 12’ high, solid plank walls on 3 sides, barred front window with solid sliding doors. Location can affect how your stalls are built, we are cold up here, so drafts, are a consideration in our solid walls between horses. We have larger breed horses, need the height of walls. Barn has good air exchange, cold is fine, just not drafty on the animals. Our sliding doors are one solid sheet (4’ x8’, one inch thick) of Marine plywood, with board edging on the outside to hold the plywood flat when hung up. It makes a good solid door that takes a kick with no problems, nice looking on the aisle side.
My husband built our stalls, but it was so long ago I don’t think the prices would be at all similar with a wood purchase done now.
Yup, we just priced this out.
We were looking to build two more of these:
http://s155.photobucket.com/user/simkie/media/House/House29_zps6ae265b1.jpg.html?sort=3&o=60
And talked to the guy who put them in originally.
Four grand all in. NOT inclusive of the metal stall doors or the tongue and groove on the walls of the barn. So a grand a “side.”
The guy was incredibly hard to reach, never sent us an actual paper bid and then dropped off the face of the earth, so we went with Prieferts instead–$2500 bought two complete stalls, with wood, used off of Craigslist. That’s two fronts, one solid side and four sides with bars. We put up wood on the walls of the barn for ~$1500 and then the stalls, and we still have three side pieces left:
Seriously could not be happier with it, and we are SO GLAD the carpenter guy was such a flake.
I’d really look into modular stall pieces. :yes:
Perhaps this would just be too redneck. But if they are covered in a barn why not pipe corrals? They’d probably like interacting with their neighbors- unless they don’t like their neighbors. Plus from what has been said on this forum- I think the best resale of a barn is as an open structure that could have other uses and pipe corrals would certainly fill the bill there. Best of luck to you whatever you decide.
I think Bluey’s suggestion is a perfect economical solution. Search “used portable horse stalls for sale” and you will be amazed to see how many quality units are available and how easily you can install them in your facility. You might be able to get multiple units for the cost of a constructed one and be just as or more pleased. These stall have to be sturdy as they are used by auctions, shows, and partcularly at fairground horseracing.
Here is a link that may give you an idea about construction cost in general. It’s a company in WA but probably consistent with the norm.
http://www.stablesystemsinc.com/pdffiles/Stable%20Systems%20Estimate%20Worksheet.pdf
If construction is your preference, this link might be generally helpful.
https://www.extension.org/mediawiki/files/5/5c/horse_stalls.pdf
Good luck.
And forgot to add that “stall kits” are available through various sources. The link below is an example of what is available.
$300 labor seems rational, since it would take 2 people a couple hours to build each stall. When ballparking a project cost that may need outside labor, I often use a generic $75/hour estimate. It’s rare that a tradesperson worth his/her salt would come out for a one-off job for less than that.
Mr HH and I built our stalls ourselves using kits from ARC Systems Inc. Love the stalls and we had the time to spare, but it wasn’t a quick project. Not something we could just knock out in a weekend.
We just had three stalls put in a new barn. Stalls from Ramm cost $4000, no support post needed. T&G white pine 8’ up the barn walls and then below the grills. Labor was about $3000, I think. They also put in the arena kick wall and I didn’t see the invoice.
$300 for labor seems low to me.
Can give you a price on custom stalls, stained T&G wood thru out, heavy duty powder coated grill fronts and between stalls, feed window on each stall; cost with installation was just under $14,000. They are beautiful but definitely expensive. If the stalls are standard sizes that are readily available then you could hire local and have some install them, T&G is not that expensive, staining is labor intensive but doable, kits are cheap enough and if in a good area could be bought local, quality will be dependent on how much they are willing to pay. For me custom was worth what I had to pay. The stalls are not standard size so everything had to be measured and custom cut. We did put in support posts on the front to allow for a place to put electric outlets and to mount fans.
Daughters and I built five in our barn over a few months time. We used nothing prefab, but built our own grates and doors. $300 seems reasonable to me. We were about $200/stall in materials --the track for the door was our biggest expense ($100). The rest was rebar (what we used for the separation grill panels) and 2x6 plank. Came out nice and has held up for 30 years. One trick I was shown was to drill the top of the bar-holes deep --that way if you have a stuck hoof, you can just lift the re bar metal pole up into the hole, and free the hoof.
Foxglove
Just 7 built stalls in existing barn with concrete floor. We paid 750 per stall to install posts to concrete , frame and build stall, hang sliding doors( I had doors and tracksfrom previous barn). Custom mesh stall grills were 1000 each. 300 sounds low depending on what is involved.
Goodhors-do you have any pics of your stalls? I’m in the final stages of planning with my builder and could use ideas of non-modular stalls.
