[Xxero]

HI all, First don't shred me like that conissoir300 guy LOL. I'm doing some research and could use a little help from some people who know.. I'm trying to figure out the average set up costs for a 3600 plant OPC, also the operating costs for the first grow cycle and average eletric and water monthly costs. I need the set up costs for an indoor grow, an outdoor, and a duel in/out. Any info would be a HUGE help!! Thankx!

[HatchBrew]

Water and electric depend on your location and supplier and how much you're use is/going to be. How long of a veg cycle are you gong to run, how long is flower time, what's your medium, plant density..?

[Xxero]

well im figuring 3600 plants on a 120 day cycle. or just what the average plant uses per day cuz i could just multiply that times 3600 times the average cost per gallon. eletric am figuring 250 1k watt bulbs.

[SirStynkalot]

Grow room design is a subsection of this forum. You can find some of your information there. I suggest google for bulk pricing after you've made a full inventory.

Power and water costs come from your utility companies.

There are WAY more monthly bills than just power and water. You'll need to categorize and account for all of them.

There is no such thing as "average" setup costs, but if you're doing a budget op you can probably get close to $2,000 per light in build in costs indoors.

Outdoor varies even more than indoor. CO and WA have different rules for outdoor grow security that drastically affects build-in pricing.

If you're serious about this you have a couple months of research in front of you and anyone who can reliably give you the assistance you need will charge you $100-$150 per hour.

And sorry to say this but I think you might want to put your energy elsewhere if the above post is any indication of your experience level with horticulture. Feeding schedules are *a bit* more complicated than you seem to think and that's the easiest part of the job.

[Xxero]

Feeding schedules are for the grower to know. He will be hired at a later date. I'm just trying to get the costs on getting it bought built and funded thru the first grow, or at least get a rough number on the costs of doing so.

So like if i was doing say a 3600 plant outdoor grow, whats the best estimate an full start up costs thru the first grow? Same with indoor and maybe a in out hybrid?

[HatchBrew]

Through the first grow's harvest or when it is actually trimmed dried and cured + sold? Big difference in time money and resources. Always plan on being able to fund your business in the worst case scenario.

[SirStynkalot]

Costs and risks growing both indoor and outdoor vary significantly regionally. So do legal issues, compliance regulations, etc. A grower, a lawyer, and a compliance officer (Coding specialist and/or industrial hygenist) should go over it with you in order to answer that question. Then there are the differences based on your grower's methods - some fertilizers cost hundreds of times more than others, for instance.

"3600 plants" doesn't tell us anything. Plants can be one foot tall or twenty feet tall. I could fit 3600 plants in my basement or across several acres. That's another problem a grower needs to go over with you.

This is frustrating.You need a marijuana grower in on the ground floor if you're trying to build a marijuana growing business. The internet is not equipped to answer your question.

[HatchBrew]

What he said

Plenty of growers on here....

[SirStynkalot]

This is true. There are many here who can help you. There are many more who will say they can help you but probably can't. I'd suggest learning how to tell the difference in a hurry.

If you really want a short answer cost projection, 120 day cycle as you put it, plan for at least 1 million dollars for the small side of what you're envisioning. You have to spend as much on a security fence for an outdoor grow as you do building a warehouse in WA, anyway, and WA and CO both have relatively undesirable outdoor growing seasons, meaning you have to pay or lose more to environmental conditioning than you would in, say, Humboldt County.

Outdoors is damn near impossible in CO with the current legal wrangling over federal water rights. It's a bit better in WA but not by much, since most counties have developed some rather unpleasant additional zoning regulations for outdoor grows meaning you need to buy multiple lots just to seed one.

Since you're not a grower I'll also share that indoors on a commercial scale is pure hell compared to any related industry. It's basically entirely unrelated to outdoor growing. You have headaches unless you slowly build up to scale because industry-specific labor is required for all of the vital plant health related and equipment maintenance tasks. It's super high intensity monocropping. Running a typical commercial greenhouse with normal plant spacing, variation, and simplified maintenance procedures is headache enough for almost everyone, and running an indoor marijuana grow op is much, much more difficult than that.

Honestly, if you read Connoisseur300's thread, those folk were being kind when they warned him to stay out. Even as the owner you should plan on putting in 70 hour weeks for the next couple years just treading water and fighting fires if you plan on going down this path. This isn't an investor or absentee owner friendly industry at all. The easy money dried up five years ago and most who didn't get started then are down to squeezing rocks for water.