I have rented farmettes before, so I know that having the horses at home is a lifestyle that I enjoy.
Hubby and I are currently building a home on 15 acres. it is all flat, but wooded. After the house is complete, I would love to clear an additional 5 acres, fence 4 of them with either centaur fencing or 3 board oak(making 4, one-acre fields), and put in a decent size outdoor with decent footing, and a 4 stall center aisle barn with a washrack and tackroom (no bathroom necessary). Eventually i’d like to put a smallish indoor in, but that’s probably 5-10 years down the road.
We’d only keep 2-3 horses max. We’d need to run electric maybe .25 mile from the house, and since we already have 2 wells for the house, could just run water off of one of those. I want everything to be nice, but not top-of-the-line. Decently attractive, but functional, is my goal.
It is easy to price the auxiliary equipment (tractors, etc) but hard to price barns and fencing without going out for actual quotes, so i’m wondering, for those who’ve done this before, what is a realistic budget to start getting together for this project?
I am in the mid-atlantic region, because i know that matters.
Anyone out there who’s done this willing to throw out some ballparks?
5K per acre + two years before it’s settled and truly pasture for horses X 5 acres = 25K
Barn? 30-40K if it’s pretty simple.
Outdoor? Assuming level well draining ground, no lights, no fence around it- 100x150 = 10K
fencing? That’s a lot of fencing to hire out.
from 2011 on COTH:
—We just had a local fencing company out to give me a quote on putting fencing (the centaur type) for one acre, with 1 gate.
Quote was $4600 (and I provided Gate as I have one already).
—I have Ramm fence (similar to Centaur) and had my fencing redone last year…
I had all materials. All posts, brackets, insulators, coated wire, Flex fence, ground rods, charger…even all nails, screws and bags of quik-crete. They only had to bring the manpower and machinery, that’s it. Had 680 linear fence done, 4 gates. (had all gates too) Top rail flex fence, 4 rails coated wire, one line electrobraid.
Cost was $5k for installation only
so I’m thinking at least 20K in fencing.
So adding in power, water, permits, BS, mistakes and add ons…100K
I am looking at acreage myself here and am currently shopping for a property. From the extensive research I’ve done the past few months, the estimate of 5k per acre sounds about right.
The other thing to consider is the soil - from what I’ve read, having been wooded for so long it takes quite a bit of $$ and treatment to change the ph of the soil to be optimal for pasture. How much $$ and treatment I am not sure - after I almost fell over at the 5K per acre estimate I decided that wooded acreage was a dealbreaker for me.
Yeah wooded -> non-wooded is spendy.
I had a quote in your area for 100x200 outdoor ring - 25k.
My current 6 stall barn with wash stall and grooming stall -(you’ve seen photos) - 80k here so could be more in your area. A shed row might be nice where you are.
I spent close to 20k last year replacing our fencing - 8 ++acres I think.
Running electric .25 miles will be pricey.
Id start calling a few contractors and start getting actual quotes. You could always start out with run in sheds then build a barn later.
Get that land cleared asap so you can start planting grass.
I think PBPony’s arena and barn estimates are way low. This is why I’m not buying a farmette (even with house already there). The house + land is too expensive in my area to even begin to budget for the other parts, and there are no trees to clear.
For an outdoor arena - it’s all about the drainage and soil type. I’ve posted this before but I used to ride at a barn that literally just threw down some sand and rode on it for years. It wasn’t perfectly level, but the footing was not bad. In contrast, we put in an 80x100 arena and the drainage work was huge…total cost was about $18K (without fence) because we have super heavy clay. (In comparison to most, however, we could build a pond just by digging a hole. 
Too bad I didn’t take up fishing instead.)
So…it’s really hard to estimate your arena costs without knowing more details but I would plan for quite a bit more than $10K for 100x150 just in case it’s not the easy well draining soil.
As for fencing - we paid $9/linear foot of 2x4 non-climb mesh with pounded locust posts and an oak top rail. Gates were the same price as the linear fencing. I believe the 3 board oak was similar pricing but since oak can warp it had a much higher replacement/repair cost over time than the non-climb…so that is something to consider. The non-climb portion + the pounded posts had a 25-30 year life expectancy but the oak boards were something like 15 years max.
We have a quote for material only on a 36’ x 36’ pole barn with two OH doors, which is just under $10,000. The quotes for having the same 36’ x 36’ shell constructed on our site (does not include site work, concrete, electrical, or any interior finishing) is approximately $20,000. Material can vary based on your location, and obviously concrete, electrical, stalls, etc will add quite a bit to the quote.
Good luck!
I think 5k to clear an acre is low for your area. I’m in MA, and pay $1600/acre to just have trees cut down, chipped and removed – it’s closer to 8k if I want the stumps out. I have a mix of 30 year old pines, hardwoods, and brush.
In my experience, contractors were happy to quote work that I was planning for 1-2 years down the road. I got much better info by doing that – they told me when they could give me a better rate, when they were booked solid, and gave me more options. In a few cases, I did the work sooner because it was cheaper than expected, or, because talking to them helped me rearrange my priorities. You’re the architect/designer/general contractor, and it’s a lot to chew! The more info you have sooner, the easier the pieces fall into place. Good luck!
In our area - barn with water, elec. and cement aisle - 4 stall, $50-$70k. Clearing the acreage is going to be pricey.
For running your electric - .25 mile is pretty far - contact your electric co and ask THEM what they charge to run line. In our case it was way cheaper for Dominion to do it as a separate service/bill. They ran ours about 1000 ft, trenched, put in new service in our barn - separate bill. They cost average the labor and charges over 5 years. It ran us $1000 mostly because of trenching under our driveway. Having our electrician run it from our home’s electric was $3-4k alone not counting the electrical work IN the barn. So call your local elec. company and have them quote it. We fenced about 6 acres with 3 board, 2 large paddocks, and an alley in the middle , and paddock around barn - about 4 walk-thru/pass thru thingies, about8 gates total and SOME clearing around perimeter. $18k total NOT painted.
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I think PBPony’s arena and barn estimates are way low. This is why I’m not buying a farmette (even with house already there). The house + land is too expensive in my area to even begin to budget for the other parts, and there are no trees to clear.[/QUOTE]
So much depends on what you’re starting with and what you put in. I don’t think I have more than $40k in my barn - 36x36 4 stall wash stall tack room center aisle basic A frame pole barn with outlets and lights. Now - we did put up the interior walls and finish the tack room ourselves, so maybe it would have been another $10k to have someone else do that. A pole barn is definitely cheaper than a poured foundation.
My 100x180 ring was less than $10k, partly because it’s on really heavy red clay soil that packs like a rock, no rocks to remove in the process, even though about 6’ was dug from one end and moved to the other. It has a compacted base of sandrock, and the stone dust/screenings/bluestone on top. It was made against a perimeter fence, so fencing it in was just about 3 sides. I used a professional road grader who also had experience doing rings, as opposed to a professional ring builder, if that makes any difference. He did the work on his free time.
Definitely get to the clearing and planting asap. It’s pretty late to plant unless you’re going with Bermuda or the like. It’s going to take at least a year to be horse ready.
You could start with run-ins yes, you could start with just the shell of the barn and use boards to make temporary “stalls” if necessary. Or, you can build the run-ins such that they can convert into the barn later, if the setup is right.
Really, really expensive. We bought a 5 acre place last year, which fortunately was already cleared and partially fenced, with a small barn on it. Prior to picking this one we priced out clearing, barn building, and fencing costs, and decided the extra money to buy a ready to go place was worth it. For clearing forested land, we were looking at about $5K/acre, and the number of acres you could clear was limited. In some areas you couldn’t get a permit for more than 1 acre. We don’t have horses out here yet, but probably some time next year.
Barns aren’t always that bad. Ours was built by the previous owner (2 run in stalls + 8x12 tack/feed room and an 8x12 workshop), and it’s functional but will need to be replaced in about 5 years. We’ve been pricing out the replacement, and just in materials a similar one will cost about $8K. We’re debating instead going with a 3-bay 12x36 shed, with 2 run-in stalls and enclose the 3rd bay for tack/feed. We could do that for around $5K and build it ourselves. We aren’t worried too much about looks though, we just want simple and functional. A nicer “real” barn would be more like $45K.
Right now the fencing is field fence on a combination of t-posts and wood posts. We fenced the bottom field (1.5 acres) for the goats and dog using 4 strand electric on t-posts. That was a nice inexpensive solution, but it still cost about $500. Fortunately there are good natural barriers there too in the form of 6 foot tall brush piles overgrown with massive blackberry vines. It would have been more but the previous owners left a number of t-posts, bags of insulators, rolls of wire, etc. For the fencing I want in all the areas I want it (no climb on wood posts with a wood top rail), we’re looking at about $10-$12K just in materials. We plan to do the installation ourselves, but we’ll rent a heavy-duty auger, which is about $150/day.
Look folks, she asked a question- I hazarded ballparks. Of course ‘it depends’ but as you can see - my total is padded by 20K or so-
An arena is Oklahoma is likely to be easier and cheaper to install than one in Oregon. Anything in California is going to cost 5 times as much as anything in Arkansas
Ballparks, people- ballparks.
I am in the process of having two wooded acres cleared and outdoor dressage arena built right now (20X60m) right now. The original quotes for the land clearing alone was $8k/ acre. I got that price down a bit by having them do the arena and land clearing at the same time as the equipment was already here. It is costing me $40K to have both done. I had a fair amount of grading work for the arena though as I am on a gentle roll of land. The price includes stumping, burning and hauling of trees for the land clearing and the arena up to the base with railroad tie edges. Arena footing is extra as well as a fence if I put one up.
Better to buy already built and make improvements.
But that said…I have done what you did. 4K an acre for develop the land for pasture. 2 years for it to take hold. So, in a make due world, set up a partial dry lot for the first year and let the rest take hold.
I am looking at about 20K for a 100 x 150 arena with no drainage.
Indoor for 80 x 135 is about 80K for JUST the building, no side walls, no lights, no footing.
3 board 6.25 a liner foot last year.
The most important factor is DON"T over build if you ever plan to move and you WILL NOT get your invested money back.
I did in my last place ONLY because I bought before the bubble went nuts and was very conservative on my improvements.
I got some quotes for steel pole barns, indoor arena shells (no footing, lights, kick wall, etc.), and timber or stick framed barns. I was getting quotes in the ballpark of $100k for this area, which included materials, labor, average quality stalls, and estimated excavation work. Arena shells, on the small side too given county regs, were more than that. I was told that I could possibly combine the two and make it around $200k or so, plus footing, but I’d have to find land that would allow that much SF in the outbuilding structure, which varies by county and how big the total lot is. Soil here kind of sucks but again, no trees.
Stables are usually priced “by the stall”. Included in that figure are accessory spaces (wash rack, tack room, feed room.) It is assumed that for every additional stall you will need/want X square feet of accessory space.
When I looked into building a barn, I found barns all the way from $8k/stall (= $32k for a 4 stall barn) up to lavish barns which can cost $50k/stall (= $200,000 for a 4 stall barn.
On the theory that you probably are not going with the bare bones – plywood and 2 x 4’s, you can move up a little at a time. I have a ciderblock barn with 6 stalls and a tack room and a feed room. One stall is a tack stall/wash stall. washer and dryer. And another stall if for hay and muck cart. So I have 4 horses in the barn.
If you do not have spaces for those things in the main barn, you will have to put them in a nearby shed. So you will need to budget for the cost, whether it is part of the barn budget or added on.
I am guessing that my barn was built for about $20k stall and it is NOT fancy. But it is solid, on a good foundation, the stalls are 13 x 14 and it has everything I need.
I would think that you could budget $60k and get what you want. Anything left over (yeah, right) can be used for landscaping and painting.
Rather than quote you numbers that may or may not be relevant to your situation (locations, needs, etc) my advice is that in preparing the numbers, be VERY certain you know what you must have, what you really want, and what is a bonus.
Most would say that safe fencing is a must have, for example.
We knew when we bought our place, the existing barn needed the electric re-done, that was a “must have”.
Then decide what has to happen before the horses come, shortly after the horses come, and over time. When we bought our place, a wise friend said: “No horse farm is ever complete, it is a constant work in progress”. So there are really three different budgets as well.
We put all of this into elaborate Excel spreadsheets that gave me anxiety at 2am. But knowing what HAD to be in place before the horses came home made it a budget of necessity. Also, it does help to live on the property for a while and design the secondary and tertiary projects in a way that reflects your knowledge of the farm, your desires etc.
Now, three years later, we have moved on to the “gee, this is nice” improvements, like an overhand for the barn side which is facing the weather/sun. It’s lovely, the barn looks amazing - but it did not have to happen right away either for budget, sanity, or safety.
Hope this helps some. Oh, and we OF COURSE went way over initial budget, secondary project budget, and now are in the phase of “I don’t want to think about it” expenses. My last bit of advice when you are getting estimates is that cheaper is not always better. We had fencing done by a good but expensive company and it has held up beautifully. The one pasture done by a cheap but horrible company is already falling apart and we have not even used it yet!
Good luck to you, it really is a lot of fun!
