Prebuilt Cabinets - Market?

[Hephaestus]

G'day All,

Pondering something... I love designing/building grow cabinets... Just finished mine, and find myself jonesing to start another... Even though I have no need...

I know there's a bunch of you out there without the tools/ability to build your own cabinet... And comments about what's offered currently is that they're ridiculously overpriced and have a lot of useless junk encorporated...

What kind of demand is there for a ready to grow cabinet? Professionally built, soundly designed, pretty much ready to go to your specs... Plug in, add your media, set the time and let'r'rip...

Just trying to understand how many people out there are looking for a pre-built cabinet (be it stealth pc or a bigger cabinet)? What they're looking for - And what kind of price ranges and features would be wanted? What kind of options do you wish to be available - lights, grow system (dwc, aero, soil etc).

Pondering starting a PC case build just for the hell of it, and a 2 drawer file cabinet build, just to start working out some of the basics - as those seem to be two of the more popular offerings out there right now...

Give me your thoughts - dreams, expectations, etc - really want to hear from you guys....

I'm thinking perhaps its time to look at doing what I love to do - instead of toiling away doing things I don't love...

 

[chidoctor]

demand is their but promblem is that shipping is going to be too much $. you would need to find a lighter material to build your cabnit to make it cheaper to ship.

 

[mad librettist]

I have been pondering this myself.

I think regional considerations are important.

 

[Hephaestus]

Regional considerations on temp you mean? In many ways - that can be addressed in simple means... Providing true numbers of "cabinet temps will run Xdeg F over ambient" - should help out with that...

Optional devices like peltier cooling probes can be used to lower aero/dwc/swc sump temps - and provide some cabinet cooling fairly easily... And as long as the price is kept reasonable - while googling I saw one offered... It's an off the shelf reef aquarium product - they've doubled the price to bundle it with the cabinet... Which is insane - if you're buying off ebay etc - you're getting a hell of a discount over retail, so to try to sell at 2x retail...

 

[pease]

?wana do all the hard work for me?

is that what this post about?

PM

 

[Hephaestus]

Somewhat yes - though more investigation of what people are looking for at the moment - trying to get some idea of what kinds of cabinets people want, with what features, and what pricepoints... Need to have a better grasp of what people are specifically looking for before I start down that path...

I believe I'll have to make arrangements with Gypsy Nirvana before I could outright solicit work here

 

[pease]

there's definately a market if you can make some chambers for under a grand I'd say....all the 'professional' things on the market like giant 5ft tall cabs and stealth computer boxes are INSANELY overpriced...and people still supposedly buy them

 

[Hephaestus]

Yeah, that's what I think... I look at some of the stealth pc boxes and wonder who in their right mind... But that's largely supply/demand thing I guess... I was spec'ing one out today - listed at 599.99 - and even with a fairly healthy profit, would have probably priced it in around 400... (sadly that's even paying retail for the case etc...)

 

[stihgnobevoli]

i dunno why theres that much of a market for prefab grow cabinets considering its only "legal" for meds in like 13 states. i myself dont want anything in my house filled with weed where everyone knows just by loking at it, that its a weed growing cabinet "as seen on tv" . maybe in the future where you dont go to buttfucking prison forever living in fear of being shanked or raped in the shower then shanked for growing a plant that sprouts from the fucking ground naturally. but now, no. not me. maybe if you did a custom cab for each person based on what they wanted to grow, like 2-6 plants micro, 1 large one, etc. you work out the space and then use your creativity to design and build a stealth cab for them. or you can become a reseller of those DR-xx growroom tent things.

 

[thehappyguy]

you'd be forced to make two types of PC cases, i would think, one using CFLs and one using MH/HPS (cool tube is necessary). but i'd rather do the work myself

 

[Hephaestus]

Was just looking at the details of a PC for a personal friend; eyeballing a cooltek master cosmos 1000 full tower, with a stripped down EEEpc mounted to make it functional (if there's a computer there - someones going to try to log on); and since that's in there... Webcam and phidget control over lights/pumps/pH makes a lot of sense (gets pricey though). Luckily the case is a friggin MONSTER...

Hopefully he gives the go-ahead... Could be fun!

--

Yeah everyones going to have their own needs for sure; and I'll have to adjust on the fly to those... Legalities aside - really these are for growing tomatoes you know

 

[Hephaestus]

you'd be forced to make two types of PC cases, i would think, one using CFLs and one using MH/HPS (cool tube is necessary). but i'd rather do the work myself

No argument, I rather do the work myself too In fact I prefer to fix other peoples work too on occasion :friends: I'm one of those people who get called in at the end of a friends project... To come redo that which looks bad / doesn't work at all... Some things make me insane...

I'm thinking multiple designs - pretty much custom building to the users need... Though I must admit, I'm not a CFL fan - I'd rather use PL-L's any day of the week over CFLs... Cheaper and more efficient... HPS/MH - sure - why not

The friend who asked about controls - that really got my mind working... I love the automated side of the world Be really cool if people go that route!

 

[headfortrinity]

If your making it out of wood you have to consider shipping cost as well. Maybe you can do a screw together design like an Ikea cab so it ships flat?

 

[Hephaestus]

Not so much thinking wood... Not impossible - shipping costs will be larger for bigger boxes; just no way around it - want it to be completely ready to grow when it arrives, plug it in, set timer, (add water?) and go...

 

[isthislegal]

if someone made the hanging garden, or the volks garden, or the rotogarden for a reasonable price, i'd buy it in a heart beat, as i'm sure others would. Definitely a huge market for pre fab systems if they are of reasonable quality and reasonable price.

 

[Hephaestus]

Volks/rotogarden... Interesting concept - hadn't even seen it before (think someone here had posted a very small version of it?) That might be a long way down the road - it's a rather huge engineering project to put it mildly... I can see how to do it - but... Wow...

Hanging garden - which one are you thinking of?

 

[NiteTiger]

i dunno why theres that much of a market for prefab grow cabinets considering its only "legal" for meds in like 13 states. i myself dont want anything in my house filled with weed where everyone knows just by loking at it, that its a weed growing cabinet "as seen on tv"...

So you're not growing now? It's a lot easier to hide a cab than a room.

What are you going to do, put it in your living room? Who the hell is going to be in your grow area poking around anyway?

If people are seeing your tent/cab/grow, you're doing it wrong.

Find the 1kw 4x4 cab w/air conditioning!







As far the size of the market, California alone has a population of almost 37 million people. If only one half of 1% grow, then you have a potential customer base of 185,000 in that one med state alone.

To the OP:

I know EXACTLY what you mean. I love doing cabs. Well, I call my large one 'pods', since they're complete with a/c, they can go anywhere. Also can be set up to run in series

The one above was done for a friend, and when he saw it complete, even though he assisted with the build, was just in awe. He loved it. His comment was 'I think I just saved about $2k'

Currently doing another in an old entertainment center, and immediately after I'll be doing a dresser. Those are both 'commissioned' work though, not to have stock on hand so to speak.

I've got a design on paper for turning an old projection big screen TV into a 600w cab, and just acquired the TV. I was thinking that once it's done, I may try to work out a deal with Gypsy to offer it and conduct the transaction through Seedbay, then basically drop ship it from a secure location.

I also plan on doing another pod as shown above that will be 'snap together'.

I think there is definitely a market for some high-quality stealth cabs, but my thought was to basically build what I want and would use, then offer each one up as it was completed, instead of trying a 'one-size-fits-all' (not meaning actual size, but having standard model lines, if you get me) approach.

I would also be willing to do commissioned jobs, and build them custom to customer specs. Maybe even work with them on their space, and help the customer choose what will work best for their situation.

Build on, fellow Build-out/Design Addict!

Edit: PS, that's an older pic, that cool tube has been redesigned for better airflow, and still can be made for under $50 with easily available non-specialty parts

 

[Hephaestus]

Yeah, I'm pretty much realizing this will almost have to be contract type work... Work out the specific details, get a quote - use escrow.com for payment handling with a construction costs draw... Then customer is able to see / test before final release of funds.

Did talk to GN about possibly acting as an intermediary - so it goes to a safe remote location between builder/buyer... But he's not interested - no space. And shipping costs to UK would be high...

Thinking an 'off the shelf' system is almost out of the question... We all have different desires/wants - even just on lighting... Talking to one person and they want CFL - I prefer PLL (and probably will default to it always) having a quick chat with LEDGirl - see if we can figure out a way to work together there...

Some people are going to want automation, others not... To each their own...

Nite - you seem to like the bigger work that I don't I have more fun cramming a grow into a PC or file cabinet than into a big screen tv...

 

[NiteTiger]

Yeah, I wasn't thinking about sending the cabs for gypsy to hold and ship, just handling the transaction through Seedbay, and drop-shipping it to the buyer myself from a secure location.

I don't know about using an escrow service myself, seems like that would only increase the paper trail?

And yeah, I do like larger stuff. I like the challenge of seeing how stealth I can make a higher wattage grow. I just measured the TV again, and I'm betting I can squeeze a 1kw in there now

The TV idea just started as a "wouldn't it be cool if...", a personal challenge, if you will. I just think it'd be awesome to pull that off

I'm going to James Bond it out, to the point you could keep it in your bedroom without raising eyebrows. I've already got the stuff to use a TV remote to punch in a combination to release the door. I'm also going to rig it so that hitting the power button on the remote shuts down everything for emergencies.

I haven't tackled the smaller stuff, mainly because I have larger wattage lights. I do want to do it though, because I think it will be a whole new experience, and as we've said, that's fun for us

 

[Hephaestus]

I'm finding this pc case grow I'm quoting right now the fun project... That's always been one thing about PC grows that bothered me... We have a few computers in the house - anytime someone comes over - SOMEONE sits down and tries to use one...

So it makes most sense to actually have it functional... Just in case... Then the automation part - well thats just fun