The Horse:Your Guide To Equine Health Care provides monthly equine health care information to horse owners, breeders, veterinarians, barn/farm managers, trainer/riding instructors, and others involved in the hands-on care of the horse.
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22 TheHorse.com The horse April 2015 subcontractor estimates, make sure you have an apples-to-apples comparison of services, and get it in writing. Not all con - tractors offer the same scope of service, and prices can vary greatly. Budgeting This is the point where your project gets real, fast. If you're working with an architect and general contrac - tor, your team will meet with you about project requirements and costs, line-by- line. How much money you need depends on your local design and construction costs, material prices, and if you're doing some of the work yourself. In general, pad your budget by at least 10%. Costs rarely come in less than you expect, and material and labor costs often increase as time goes by (i.e., a budget completed today won't apply next year from now if your project gets postponed). Been-there, done-that tip: For each item on your budget, check with at least two vendors or service providers (such as an excavator and builders) for pricing, and compare numbers before you purchase products (such as fence posts, troughs, or gates) or hire a service provider. In the case of arena installation, we found prices varied by thousands of dollars. Phasing Maybe your budget allows you to build your entire horse facility all at once. If that's the case, you can skip phasing. But, if you're like us, cash flow and time limitations might require you to separate your project into phases. Ours were as follows: ■ Phase 1: Get horses on the property, with safe fences, shelters, water access, and hay storage. ■ Phase 2: Remodel existing house, repair garage. ■ Phase 3: Add riding arena and grazing area. ■ Phase 4: Build barn and tractor storage, add landscaping, and set up composting. Been-there, done-that tip: Avoid spend - ing money on major things you plan on changing later. For example, we set up paddocks before remodeling our house. Had we known what kind of addition we we're going to do on the house, we would've placed our paddocks on the op - posite side of the property, closest to the mud room and half-bathroom. Construction This is what transforms all the ideas, planning, and design in the drawings into real, built structures. Depending on the size of your project, construction could take weeks, months, or years. Been-there, done-that tip: Construction is messy. Expect your lawn to get torn up and dust to infiltrate your house. Good contractors will clean up after themselves and keep a dumpster on-site for trash removal. Talk to your contractor about taking this opportunity to dump other stuff on the property, such as broken equipment or car parts left by previous owners. Part 2 Getting Down to the Details Now that you have a basic under- standing of the design and construction process, it's time to investigate the details of your horse property—the fun stuff. You know, the barn, arena, and pretty pastures. Your specific needs and the details of your project will influence your big-picture decisions. Here is the list we included in our small horse-property master plan: Building a Horse Property from the Ground Up ® Tasty Pellets! Order online at www.horsetech.com Order by phone at 1-800-831-3309 Free Shipping in Contiguous U.S. Awesome Supplements... Amazing Service! Buggzo offers an easy way to keep pesky bugs away. Our tasty pellets contain garlic, buffered apple cider vinegar, thiamine (Vitamin B ), diatomaceous earth and more! Buggzo--the original, best-selling garlic and vinegar pellets! 1 The Bugs don't even come close... Neither do our Competitors! TM