Warehouse Build Plans

[Onetwothree]

Hey guys -

So a few buddies and I are looking to get a business plan together and I thought I'd start a thread to get some help from anyone with some experience. Namely in construction/electrical/HVAC...growing is the easy part.

We've got some money and investors, but of course we want to spend money where we need to, and save money where we can. I'm all about spending a few extra bucks to get things done properly, I hate corner cutting and penny pinching...but we're not rich either, and we need to be smart about our spending...this is where my farm fam comes in!!

Now, with all that being said, my main concern is with cooling. We will have two flower rooms. Both are 16x62 with 20 1k DE lights each (we haven't settled on brand yet...probably leaning toward Gavita since they seem to be the standard, but we're open to suggestions and still doing our due dilligence.) We're planning on putting up drywall and insulating, and my buddy is all good with that, luckily he's pretty handy. However, none of us are electricians and our knowledge of HVAC isn't what it should be. So I'm wondering how we go about cooling the flower rooms? From what I understand a good rule of thumb is 1/2 ton of AC per 1K light. Would we be better off going with a 20 ton central air unit, or going the mini split route? I know those are pretty popular these days, but I have no clue how big we should go with a minisplit. Would minisplit save on installation and ducting cost but be more expensive in the long run, or is it the other way around?

Also, on another note, is it worth it to put up drywall and insulate? Or would we be better off just figuring out a super cheap route to block off the rooms? Figuring on the drywall and insulation to be around 8k...not a huge expense, especially if it cuts down on electric cost month to month...but just wondering as I've seen dudes on here putting up plastic sheets for their walls.

As always, thanks in advance for any and all advice.

 

[The Terps]

Would be pretty strange to have 6-8 mini spits on one building don't you think? Imo when building a BIG room you wouldn't want anything to have MINI in the name.

 

[hiboy]

I'm an electrical contractor
Just built a 20 gavita light room with 2 co2 burners
Our 10 ton 3 phase a/c does the job
Also framed our walls with metal stud and drywall
100% the way to go
Didn't need insulation since exterior walls are concrete
Hb

 

[Onetwothree]

I'm an electrical contractor
Just built a 20 gavita light room with 2 co2 burners
Our 10 ton 3 phase a/c does the job
Also framed our walls with metal stud and drywall
100% the way to go
Didn't need insulation since exterior walls are concrete
Hb

I was hoping you'd post here! I've seen you around the farm, and I know you know your shit. Thanks for the reply man. We're going metal studs as well. So please forgive my ignorance, why does the exterior walls being concrete make you not need the insulation?

 

[Bulldog420]

Concrete wall will insulate much better than R--13. Good luck on the grow.

 

[Onetwothree]

Anybody using Current Culture systems? One of the guys is a hydro guy but I just think they're waaaaay too fucking expensive for us. Curious if anyone has had any experience with them. I think I saw @FooDoo was using them. Any thoughts?

 

[FooDoo]

Super expensive. Can be homemade for a third of the cost but it's a pain in the butt and I don't think I'd go that route even knowing what I know right now.

However you're talking about 40 lights and two 16X62 rooms which at that point money is moot.

 

[Onetwothree]

Super expensive. Can be homemade for a third of the cost but it's a pain in the butt and I don't think I'd go that route even knowing what I know right now.

However you're talking about 40 lights and two 16X62 rooms which at that point money is moot.

Thanks dude!

Haha I wish money were moot. It's 15k to go with a current culture system. Sure the return would be right, but unfortunately startup money doesn't appear out of thin air.

 

[FooDoo]

Just try not to spread yourself so thin. Not sure how you were growing before but going from a one man show to a team with 40 lights is like pulling up to a high school, pulling a kid out of his baseball game and throwing him into the World Series to start pitching

 

[Onetwothree]

Just try not to spread yourself so thin. Not sure how you were growing before but going from a one man show to a team with 40 lights is like pulling up to a high school, pulling a kid out of his baseball game and throwing him into the World Series to start pitching

That's some good advice man. I'm sure you're probably right about that.

We've been kicking around the scale problem. The big issue is the low price of lbs and generating enough per month to see a good return. I'm trying to make the numbers work with 2 flower rooms at 10 lights but it's tough. They work under best case scenarios. But it's nice to plan for worst.

 

[hiboy]

I was hoping you'd post here! I've seen you around the farm, and I know you know your shit. Thanks for the reply man. We're going metal studs as well. So please forgive my ignorance, why does the exterior walls being concrete make you not need the insulation?

Good question
Being in California if I run the lights at night then the temperature stays pretty even to the daytime give or take
Plus no smell can escape thru the solid concrete 12 inch walls
Thanks on the company I'll be around if you got questions
Hb

 

[Onetwothree]

Good question
Being in California if I run the lights at night then the temperature stays pretty even to the daytime give or take
Plus no smell can escape thru the solid concrete 12 inch walls
Thanks on the company I'll be around if you got questions
Hb

Much obliged hiboy. I'm sure I'll be bugging all of you again.

 

[The Terps]

Don't forget that you need to process (probably hire trimmers buy bags scissors bins buckets tarps extra dehumidifier ect.) and possibly wait weeks to move product while paying for the second crop cause that's typically where most gardeners see the most financial stress is between the first and second grow if you aren't prepared the bill can eat you up.

 

[Onetwothree]

Don't forget that you need to process (probably hire trimmers buy bags scissors bins buckets tarps extra dehumidifier ect.) and possibly wait weeks to move product while paying for the second crop cause that's typically where most gardeners see the most financial stress is between the first and second grow if you aren't prepared the bill can eat you up.

Indeed good sir. We have 6 months of working capital worked into our financial plan. I was thinking about posting our financial sheets here when they are a bit closer to being finalized and letting y'all pick me apart for anything we may have overlooked.

I'm shooting for keeping the budget way higher than necessary...my wife and I started a business last summer (non cannabis related) and build costs were so much higher than we expected. Everyone low balls you on their estimates.

 

[hiboy]

I took possession of property around March it literally took me four months to get the build complete and start vegging
It always takes longer than you think and nine months I only got one pull
But now we are going to be full speed ahead
Hb

 

[jsv1027]

Hey guys -

So a few buddies and I are looking to get a business plan together and I thought I'd start a thread to get some help from anyone with some experience. Namely in construction/electrical/HVAC...growing is the easy part.

We've got some money and investors, but of course we want to spend money where we need to, and save money where we can. I'm all about spending a few extra bucks to get things done properly, I hate corner cutting and penny pinching...but we're not rich either, and we need to be smart about our spending...this is where my farm fam comes in!!

Now, with all that being said, my main concern is with cooling. We will have two flower rooms. Both are 16x62 with 20 1k DE lights each (we haven't settled on brand yet...probably leaning toward Gavita since they seem to be the standard, but we're open to suggestions and still doing our due dilligence.) We're planning on putting up drywall and insulating, and my buddy is all good with that, luckily he's pretty handy. However, none of us are electricians and our knowledge of HVAC isn't what it should be. So I'm wondering how we go about cooling the flower rooms? From what I understand a good rule of thumb is 1/2 ton of AC per 1K light. Would we be better off going with a 20 ton central air unit, or going the mini split route? I know those are pretty popular these days, but I have no clue how big we should go with a minisplit. Would minisplit save on installation and ducting cost but be more expensive in the long run, or is it the other way around?

Also, on another note, is it worth it to put up drywall and insulate? Or would we be better off just figuring out a super cheap route to block off the rooms? Figuring on the drywall and insulation to be around 8k...not a huge expense, especially if it cuts down on electric cost month to month...but just wondering as I've seen dudes on here putting up plastic sheets for their walls.

As always, thanks in advance for any and all advice.

16×62 is pretty good sized room. I would recommend staying away from the mini split HVAC units. Instead run a standard unit, with ducting. This way you can have fresh cool/warm air spread evenly throughout the room. You'd have to install several minisplits to accomplish this in such a large room. One main HVAC unit with ducting will save tons of $ on power vs. multiple minisplits.

 

[Onetwothree]

I took possession of property around March it literally took me four months to get the build complete and start vegging
It always takes longer than you think and nine months I only got one pull
But now we are going to be full speed ahead
Hb

Damn dude that's good to know. I had 3 months slated for build out, will bump that up to four. I'm all for exercising caution when planning.

 

[hiboy]

Damn dude that's good to know. I had 3 months slated for build out, will bump that up to four. I'm all for exercising caution when planning.

We lost one round of babies so that was a set back
As I look back I wonder how it took so long but it did
Building walls
Painting
Craning up the a/c s
Electrical
And trying to do it stealth

 

[Onetwothree]

We lost one round of babies so that was a set back
As I look back I wonder how it took so long but it did
Building walls
Painting
Craning up the a/c s
Electrical
And trying to do it stealth

It's always harder than you think right?? Murphys Law and all that shit. Too many moving parts/variables/delicate habitats for everything to go as planned. Yea man that's a big operation to do on the quiet. I figured you were running licensed with that many lights. More power to ya sir. No pun intended.

 

[Onetwothree]

@hiboy how are you spacing your lamps lengthwise? Gavita recommended about 3.5 feet from the center of one lamp to the center of the next lamp. That seems a lot closer than I had expected. I guess that's to get overlap? Just wondering if you (or anyone else) went that close or if you went a bit farther apart. Also, what's the distance from light to wall...or does that not really matter, as long as you have space to get in there and work?