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Warehouse or Residential

ghettochild

Active member
what are the pro's and cons of growing in an urban or commercial setting... anyone have any input.

I am looking to set up a 15k grow and weighing the options. thanks
 

BigDawg

Member
only gets inspected once a year if it's a business I believe... but if you're renting no tellin how many inspections they gotta do.
 

ghettochild

Active member
I am more worried about electric bills and finding a resonable excuse to rent a warehouse. Most warehouses are set for 240 and have a minimum of 200 amps and are also set to charge for commercial electric costs. I would much rather live in a loft setting and save 10g'sh a run then pay for residential electric 15-30cents per/kwh and rent, but there are some trade offs that are worth it. Thanks for the input. Anyone else with experience please feel free to chime in.
 
If you go commercial and your not in a medi state there are many reasons you may have to open your door for inspection. One is the fire marshall. Make sure your op doesn't have any wires that would lead them to it. Don't block any exits or your service entrance for your eletricity. They really look for very little.

I have had realtors come to show the place a few times when the building owner was thinking about selling.

Maintenence workers.

I'm in a unique situation now where I haven't even seen my landlord for 7+ years and he lives in another state.

My power peaks at 500mo in the summer, regular use of this space would use that.
 
if ya can find the right commercial spot id go that way. you dont to have a good reason to have a shop. what kinda hobbies do ya have maybe welding or something that draws a decent amount of power as a cover if your worried about it. frame off the area to be used so that if anyone needed to get inside it would be out of plain site.
 

ghettochild

Active member
If you go commercial and your not in a medi state there are many reasons you may have to open your door for inspection. One is the fire marshall. Make sure your op doesn't have any wires that would lead them to it. Don't block any exits or your service entrance for your eletricity. They really look for very little.

Maintenence workers.

I'm in a unique situation now where I haven't even seen my landlord for 7+ years and he lives in another state.

My power peaks at 500mo in the summer, regular use of this space would use that.

this is sort of helpful... what is your cover for the use of space and how big is the space being used?
 
I have 2000-sq ft of which I have a little closet type PS op going. Barely 50 sq ft. but I do have to run power to it, running extension cords through walls or having romex in a commercial building is not allowed. If everything looks right, they don't dig very deep, but if they see some simple things out of place they will cite you and re-inspect. I do not have any large scale experience. I just use a commercial space.
 

kifmaster

Member
Better option than either is rural.
A farm has power service for a shop, privacy, and no inspections.


agreed. Find a property that is already set up to pull as much power as you need (from the pole, rewiring on the property isnt a big deal).

Look for ranches and farm type properties, you'd be suprised how cheap some are.

Any time you are renting, out of state landlord or not, med friendly state or not, you are at the mercy of your landlord should they ever decide to stop by.

Yes they are supposed to give you 24 hrs notice, do they always? No. If they show up and you wont show them the property they will be suspicious and insist on a viewing asap. For a serious commercial op, landlord needs to be in on it, or you need to own the property.
 

JG's Ghost

Active member
I've always grown residential, but got busted a while back due to my own hubris. I'm now starting a warehouse grow that will only use 2 1kw lights. I rented the place under a Delaware non-profit corporate name (you do not have to list principal's names in Delaware). I've met the landlord, and he knows me by a fictitious name, and I spent the first three months of rental doing absolutely nothing with the space. Funny, but back in May I went to pay the landlord (in cash every month), and his door was locked, and I had to knock. He opened up, pulled me inside, and told me they were avoiding the fire inspector. This warehouse area is condo, and the fire inspector comes every May. The landlord informed me that as long as there is no evidence of running a business from a unit the inspector won't bother it. So that's how I learned what inspections to expect.

I don't anticipate any problems with the power company. I've spoken to them, and the place is set up for 500 amps minimum.

I'm now framing out the grow, and equipment areas, and have given the landlord a very good cover story. He can get access to the unit's ground floor. I have not changed the locks, but the second floor now has serious locks, and I intend to set up a intranet monitoring system as well.

We'll see how it goes.

JG
 
You know a master kill switch is a good idea. I have the ability to wire one into my controller. Can turn off anuthing that makes noise or generates heat.

The police has been teaching detection methods for a few years now to detect growrooms in houses. This is on any type of call. Fan noise is one of the biggest tip offs.

I did a google on grow room busts to see what was getting people popped and came across some info on the course.
 
I'm with MrE and kif, rural properties are great for the size of grow your looking at. Just be sure not to be baked all the time and make time to know the locals but not too well. I know it sounds stupid but if you are all alone in a house and don't socialize with the locals you're sure to attract sticky beaks and that's something you really don't want. Of course I'm in a different country but things work in a similar way here too. Over here people advise not to grow at any single address for more than 18months as sooner or later some people get really nosy and feel the need to rock up at the front door with a cake or some shit, locked gates don't even stop them. Country properties also have the advantage of being fairly far from the next property which is a help if anything goes to shit with your odor control. Also, find out as much as you can about the landlord as they are make or break in a lot of situations. I remember a friend from university started a small (1200W) grow to supply himself and make money to get through school and came home one day to find the landlord in the loungeroom of his place, hadn't given notice or anything. After a 30minute chat my friend had organised to pay part of his rent in bud (at a low price of course, he kinda had no choice) He stayed there for years so it must have worked out for both parties.
 
If you run a fairly low oder strain it's not bad, but it does seep out. I ran a real stinky stinky strain once and had to pull a week early. I pulled up one night and could smell it from outside.
 

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