How to Create Professional Livery Invoices (and Save Hours Every Month)

If you’re new to running a livery yard, invoices can feel like the last thing you want to deal with. They often get done late at night, on a spreadsheet or a scribbled note. But professional invoices are mostly about being organised. Get that right and billing becomes accurate, quick, and something owners trust.

Why professional invoices matter

Owners are paying for the care of an animal they love, and they want to see what they’re paying for. A professional invoice:

• Builds trust by showing exactly what was done.
• Gets paid faster. A clear due date and payment details beat an informal reminder.
• Reduces disputes, because dated line items leave little to argue about.
• Captures every charge. Rugging, turnout, hay nets and farrier holding add up fast, and unrecorded work goes unbilled.
• Treats the yard as a business, with an accurate record of income for planning.

What to include on a livery invoice

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Set your prices before the first invoice

Good invoicing starts before a horse arrives. Have these in place first:

• A price list for every service: turnout, bringing in, rugging, mucking out, feeding, exercise, holding for the vet or farrier. Give it a price even if some packages include it.
• Defined packages that say what full, part and DIY include, and what’s charged on top.
• A signed livery agreement covering prices, inclusions, when you invoice, payment deadlines and what happens if payment is late.
• Clear booking rules: how much notice you need, and whether late requests cost more.

When all this is agreed in writing, your invoices just reflect terms everyone already understands.

Invoice on a fixed schedule

Pick a billing date, such as the 1st or the last day of the month, and stick to it. Each invoice covers the coming month’s livery in advance plus the previous month’s extras. Owners get predictability, you get steady cash flow. Keep each charge in the month it happened. Carrying old balances or forgotten extras forward makes bills hard to read and check.

Habits that make invoicing easier

• Log extras on the day. A one-off favour has a habit of becoming a regular job.
• Keep records in one place, not in your head, on a whiteboard or across message threads.
• Charge everyone the same prices.
• Send invoices promptly, while the work is fresh in everyone’s mind.
• Keep a record of when each job was done and who asked for it, in case a charge is queried.

Spreadsheets or online billing?

A spreadsheet or Word template is fine for a few horses. As the yard grows, extras get copied from a diary to a spreadsheet to an invoice, then chased by text. An online billing system links the work on the yard directly to the invoice, so nothing is typed twice.

How online livery billing works in LIVERYLive

1. Set up services and packages once

   Give each service a price, then group them into packages. Packages can include allowances, such as four bales of shavings a month, with anything over charged automatically.

2. Add monthly charges to each horse

   Stable rent and livery fees sit on each horse’s Billing tab and appear on every invoice without retyping.

3. Capture extras as they happen

   Owners request services in the app, or staff add jobs to the To Do list. Once a job is ticked off, it goes to billing. Staff only see the horses that need the job, and the system works out who pays and who is covered by their package.

4. Show the free work too

   Included services can appear as £0 lines, so owners see the care they’re getting even when it costs nothing extra.

5. Send in a few clicks

   At month end every dated, itemised charge is already there. Review and send. Owners see the invoice in the app, with a link to pay.

6. Keep your accounts tidy

   LIVERYLive works with Xero, QuickBooks and Stripe, so there’s no double entry. See how the integrations work.

Start as you mean to go on

Professional invoicing isn’t about being strict. It’s about being clear, consistent and fair. When owners can see what was done and what it cost, conversations about money get easier, and you build a name as a well-run yard.

Your quick-start checklist

• Work out your costs before setting prices. The Yard Owner Hub has a pricing guide.
• Write a price list covering every service.
• Define what each livery package includes.
• Put it all in a signed livery agreement.
• Pick a monthly invoicing date and stick to it.
• Record every extra on the day it happens.
• Include all the essential details on every invoice.
• Move to online billing once spreadsheets start slowing you down.

LIVERYLive Pro is £2 per horse per month, everything included. See pricing or book a demo.