starting processes for opening a Colorado retail/manufacturing cannabis shop

[CaliGabe]

I just moved to CO from NorCal and my main gig is a very solid day job. On the side I'll be managing the project to set up a MIP, Medical Marijuana Infused Product Manufacturer, for an existing dispensary. Not gonna get into who that is or the general area. My specialty has been business start up and development for the last 20 years. I've got friends in CO been involved in the biz here for many years and would not want to attempt to start a new dispensary...wouldn't touch it with a 10' pole.

Got a solid idea for Cali to position a company for the long term there and that will cost $250,000 to get going and be self sustaining very quickly. The CO MIP gig will give me the experience to do the Cali gig then gonna go back home if funding permits.

Actually my day job will give me the experience I need for other aspects of the potential Cali gig I can transfer over.

CO is nothing more than a stepping stone to get back to Cali.

Was thinking about starting a thread about what I'm gonna go through to get the MIP functioning yet better things to do with my time.

 

[nastynate420]

Cali is definitely less regulated than CO which makes it a ton cheaper to set up. I've been thinking about moving out there but I think that the chance of getting raided and going to prison out there is magnitudes higher, unfortunately.

 

[CaliGabe]

I've been thinking about moving out there but I think that the chance of getting raided and going to prison out there is magnitudes higher, unfortunately.

Depends on what you're doing, how you're going about it and what county in Cali you are in. Only thing I've been seeing them get down on recently are butane extraction ops. I lived in one of the most restrictive counties in Cali and for the most part enforcement the last few years has been...nothing. CO is pretty much wrung out and time to move on. I'm fortunate with the dispensary I'm working with as it's actually a viable project and will pick up some valuable experience I can apply elsewhere...which is the plan.

 

[Connoisseur300]

first off

if you need to ask the internet advice you should just quit now before you fail that hard

get your state you live in now to follow CO's law change, and get in on the ground floor, make the change you want to see

first off,
this has to be the worst advice I've ever been given. For you to think this is the first place I've gone is ridiculous. You must not be a very successful person thinking/giving out advice like that. Your failures are not mine. Standing idle and waiting is not an option.

You seem to think CO isn't the ground floor in the big picture.

Step out of your box and join the rest of us. I bet you'll enjoy it more.

 

[Connoisseur300]

so you just want a grow house? id say unless you privately own the land its gonna be a pain to get your space very few pre made buildings are ok with indoor grows still even in the warehouse districts but those that are get bough fast so be ready for a high stakes fast paced grow location purchase. as far as a cultivation facility goes there is actually not a lot of purchasing being done wholesale wise from the outside sources as of yet. my personal beliefs on that being the case is the fact that most dispensaries have to much pride but also losing money still is big, the place i worked at has taken a loss since rec started mostly just on taxation. all of this being said look for your right to grow counties ie weld,morgan, etc they may hold your best options

I'll be in CO next week buying property in the designated zones in Boulder county.

 

[Connoisseur300]

moonshine man used to post a lot here at ICmag, now he's known as rare dankness and works at one of the biggest shops in CO, his threads have a ton of info about competing in CO. theres also another guy here managing a 450 light grow i think his thread is titled "6kw fuckaround" you can check out..

most CO guys will tell you same shit, not worth it stay in your own town. you have to wait 2 years until you are even eligible, by then 100s of people will have their permits already and already competing, commercial real estate is through the freakin roof. if you gotta wait 2 years might as well setup some unlicensed grows and start poppin seeds and collecting clone stock so that you have all your shit ready to go if you got a permit. and honestly if your biggest grow so far is only 2kw than i don't see how you can think about starting a 100kw. do you even have a ballpark cost on how much you will need to invest? think 7 figures not 6. i know that most indoor grows, built exactly to code and with high end components can cost upwards of 150k per 50 lights. so for 100 lights at least a quarter million in equipment alone, not factoring in real estate costs and monthly expenses for workers and electricity. most CO shops are up in the 300-500 light range and cost millions to start up...

if i was in CO i would go a different route than all the denver guys and set up greenhouses and do full season crops and charge a much lower price than the shops and their mediocre commercial indoors. market it as "sun grown" and shit like that, and have much lower prices like 100 a zip. and make a ton of extracts with all the popcorn and shake from a large GH operation.

honestly if you got a large amount of seed money, come out to CA and get ready for our market to take off. or find another emerging medical state like rhode island, illinois, wisconsin, florida etc…

Thanks for the advice. My two year residency is up Jan 1 .A litttle more about me.
I have 1,000,000 in investments. ive had over 30 K to my self.

I really like your greenhouse idea. I'm planning on starting three to four 50x 100 greenhouses at the same time.

 

[Connoisseur300]

since most of us on ICmag don't have a spare million or ten lying around, seed money is basically venture capital money from outside investors, they are the ones driving the CO and WA markets.

CA is heading to rec legal soon, but all the other states are still "med" legal, and in most cases the med market is very strict about who can participate but if CO and CA are any indication eventually those states will want the tax money and loosen regulation, then the people who had already established small local followings can go legal, but thats a big IF. it all depends on your local state, in WA for example i502 is pretty fucking bad and bans all home growing, same with illinois and new york proposed med laws. the black market will still thrive because they made the med market too strict….

in illinois you need to spend 150k+ in permits up front for a cultivation facility, not even including the costs to set up the damn facility in the first place! 25k non refundable deposits are gonna shut most regular folks right out of the game…then an automatic 100k payment to the state. and you can't pay them with a duffel bag full of vac sealed 20s.

This is exactly why I moved to CO. Thank U.

 

[Photosynthesis]

Was at a warehouse this weekend that is rec., and medical.

insulating the ceiling? 50k

Building one wall? 40k

Once contractors realize what you are building they will pull off of your job, and not return until you pay more.

CO2 extractor? 100k

I stand by my 1 million figure.

 

[Connoisseur300]

He probably realized how much money it costs to start up a legit op.

I have a life and don't spend it in front of a computer. Your a moron.

 

[Connoisseur300]

I think 7 figures may be a little high. I'm guessing you'd need at least 300k to start.

I know a guy who started with 5000 three years ago and is killing it now.

 

[Connoisseur300]

The state fees to start up in CO for the highest tier with the ability to have 500 or more patients cost 40.5k, so it's not that expensive. If you can grow and know your not going to fuck up a whole harvest then there's really no way you are going to go bankrupt if you're starting with 250k. Outfitting a 50 light op legit wouldn't be more than 120k including rent for the first 3 months until you harvest and have some cash flow coming in. So that's 160.5k just to get started. Now with 250k you have 90k for fuck ups and paying people. I don't want to sound like I'm lecturing but I've looked into this a lot, and if you have some balls and some cash it can be done.

Balls and cash I have. No doubt.

 

[Connoisseur300]

also gotta keep in mind that all the startup money has to pass a financial backgound check....i think thats one of the hardest aspects and biggest hurdles for most turkey baggin green rushers.

it takes quite a while to wash that much cash into the system cleanly....much easier for those who come from wealth or know a very rich investor.

remember, no wire transfers from south america to start your warehouse! lol

haha, I'm clean. Lawyer has all my info for a clean run through the system plus im all american.

 

[Connoisseur300]

I'm not saying you're wrong, I just don't see how you figure those numbers. I don't think it would really cost more than 2 grand per light to set up. So fifty 1k watt's would be 100k. Let's add 20% to be safe, so 120k. Now your build is set up.

100k watts - 10k per cycle electric bill
111 lbs trim workers- 8880 per cycle
3000 sq ft warehouse- 3.6k per cycle rent
employees wage storefront- 10.2k per cycle
storefront rent- 3k per cycle

state fees for type 3 center and optional premise license w/ 2 owners and four employees- 40.5k
county fees for grow facility and shop- 11.5k
upfront cost for the first cycle and all licenses=122.68k
recurring quarterly costs= 35.68k
111 lbs @ .5 GPW every cycle@ 2200/lb= 244k per cycle
@1600/lb= 177k
gross profit per cycle@2200/lb= 208.3k
@1600/lb= 141.3k

That's with 2 people (me and my girlfriend) working "for free" as owners and for 100 lights, so you could cut the costs in half. I also did for grossing .5 gpw which is probably about half of what the growers would actually yield. That also doesn't include using a trimming machine. Pay was 12 an hour for store employees and 20 an hour for grower. I think that you can definitely start up with less than a half mil. Is that perfectly ideal? No. But with the return you get on each harvest, it doesn't really matter. The main thing is finding customers, but using correct advertisement as well as low prices that shouldn't take too long. Also I live in Pueblo, that's why the rent and pay is so low and gross profit per lb so high. I even put in a gross of 1600 per lb which in Pueblo is way under what you'd actually get.

my numbers are very similar with the gpw being 1.0 at the lowest. I'll be starting with a million to keep me rolling.

 

[Connoisseur300]

Was at a warehouse this weekend that is rec., and medical.

insulating the ceiling? 50k

Building one wall? 40k

Once contractors realize what you are building they will pull off of your job, and not return until you pay more.

CO2 extractor? 100k

I stand by my 1 million figure.
[URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=53425&pictureid=1246666&thumb=1]View Image[/url] [URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=53425&pictureid=1246665&thumb=1]View Image[/url] [URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=53425&pictureid=1246664&thumb=1]View Image[/url]

I also have my own contractors so no worries there. Everything is done with contracts. No bullshit here.

 

[Photosynthesis]

I also have my own contractors so no worries there. Everything is done with contracts. No bullshit here.

The problem is not the contracts. The problem is how long it takes to get someone to abide by the contracts via the court system.

Contracts are great until you need to light up 500 lights in a 1.3 million dollar warehouse.

Kind of hard to have your warehouse sit stagnant for a year to wait on the court system.

Also the local inspectors are going to make the process so hard you will want to murder them. The worst part of the entire process is going to be getting a certificate of occupancy.

They will come in acting like they know everything about growing, and you have no choice but to do what they say. They can throw out a 250k change like it's nothing.

Major headaches all over the place. For the right people though it can be lucrative.

 

[nastynate420]

I have a life and don't spend it in front of a computer. Your a moron.

You're. Doubt you have a million if you don't know the difference between your and you're.

 

[nastynate420]

my numbers are very similar with the gpw being 1.0 at the lowest. I'll be starting with a million to keep me rolling.

I did the .5 gpw as a worst case scenario so if I didn't come out with the 1 gpw I would still be able to survive in the industry. Expect the best, prepare for the worst.

 

[nastynate420]

I know a guy who started with 5000 three years ago and is killing it now.

That Armenian (I think?) dude that runs sexy pizza started with 3 or 4k and a half pound around three years ago. You've got to remember, three years ago was a completely different time. Now it costs 40.5k just in fees to get started as a level 3 dispensary. That's just for MMJ. Add another 40k at least on that to go rec. The days of a 5k start up are loooong gone, unfortunately.

 

[nastynate420]

Was at a warehouse this weekend that is rec., and medical.

insulating the ceiling? 50k

Building one wall? 40k

Once contractors realize what you are building they will pull off of your job, and not return until you pay more.

CO2 extractor? 100k

I stand by my 1 million figure.
[URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=53425&pictureid=1246666&thumb=1]View Image[/url] [URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=53425&pictureid=1246665&thumb=1]View Image[/url] [URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=53425&pictureid=1246664&thumb=1]View Image[/url]

That looks legit as fuck. You hiring?

 

[Photosynthesis]

That looks legit as fuck. You hiring?

May be in the future. Keep posted for updates.