Commercial vs. Residential spaces.

[soil margin]

So I'm currently shopping for a locale for my next grow. What I'm having trouble deciding is whether I want to use a residential space like a house, or a commercial space such as an office or warehouse. Almost all of my grows have been in a residential unit owned by a friend and I have very limited experience using commercial space for growing. (Ran one grow out of a warehouse for 3 months)

I am a medium scale medical grower (5-6kw of lights) operating completely legally in California, and am primarily concerned with security (don't want landlords coming inside) and ease of growing. (i.e. preferably avoiding construction/electrical work)

I'm interested in hearing people's experiences and opinions on the pro's and con's of these two kinds of environments.

 

[krunchbubble]

with that low of wattage, a house for sure.....

find a house with an absentee owner, put an ad on Craigslist and have them come to you, under your circumstances, its really easy.....

having 30 plus grow houses and 10 plus warehouses, ive been way around the block on this one.....

 

[soil margin]

Makes sense, krunch at what level of wattage would you no longer prefer using a house? 10-15kw?

 

[headiez247]

with that low of wattage, a house for sure.....

find a house with an absentee owner, put an ad on Craigslist and have them come to you, under your circumstances, its really easy.....

having 30 plus grow houses and 10 plus warehouses, ive been way around the block on this one.....

^ this

 

[headiez247]

Makes sense, krunch at what level of wattage would you no longer prefer using a house? 10-15kw?

Depends on the size of the house and the panel. I did 9k+all the other electricity-sucking stuff + normal house electricity and had no problems but this was in a 3,000 sq foot newer house with a 200amp panel.

 

[Godless]

with that low of wattage, a house for sure.....

find a house with an absentee owner, put an ad on Craigslist and have them come to you, under your circumstances, its really easy.....

having 30 plus grow houses and 10 plus warehouses, ive been way around the block on this one.....

Did you mean post a "I wanna rent your house" ad on CL? And then try to feel them out to see if they are absentee LandLords? I'd say that's a tricky game. I am renting a house (for living, not growing) and the LL lives out of state, but he still shows up 1-2x a year to check up on his house. Even with some notice, it would be tough to clear all trace of a 6K grow op. Or are you just telling the LL what you are doing? If you do that, they'll either freak or want more $ in rent. Either way, it is a huge risk.

On the flip side, don't all commercial spots get fire inspections regularly?

It seems to me the only solution is to buy a residential property, but I am guessing that has pitfalls as well...

 

[RubeGoldberg]

For a couple years I kept multiple apartments, simply because I was living in a city where apartments were very plentiful and grow operations weren't something on people's minds.
It was in a city with excellent public transportation so I could ride the Metro and tend all the places along the same line. I managed to rent in a fake name along with utilities, had webcams along with remote connection software so that I could get a peice of mind anytime I started to lose my shit worrying the place could be burning down.


in a 2 bedroom concrete building, you can easily hide your 6kw running off a prefab timer board coming off the oven outlet (you can microwave your meals anyhow, or better yet don't live there)

Slumlord type places are the best, not so slum where crackheads will challenge the front door though. Be presentable and portray yourself as somebody who travels for work and isn't always home, I liked to say I was in the oil industry as it was a believable for career for my appearance/demeanor. Annual fire inspections didn't occur where I was, but even so you can get ample notice if its known you travel all the time.

Based on my modular setup and the number of apartments I had going, i was able to hedge my bets and any unexpected chop-downs and pack ups were absorbed by the overall business model.


A house is definitely better, But apartments can be viable if you have the balls and the knowhow.

My method works best for eurofags since most major west european cities have huge expanses of middle class apartment blocks of prefab concrete buildings on the outskirts of town where you can blend in, never talk to your neighbors and installing reinforced security doors is commonplace.

 

[soil margin]

Interesting stuff Rube, thanks for sharing.

I've considered apartments as an option because prices for renting houses are pretty ridic here in so-cal. They do bring in some serious security and ease-of-grow issues for me, I guess everything is a trade off though.

 

[The Phoenix]

Keep in mind that house rental properties can be subject to annual code inspections by the city. It just depends on which city you choose.

You can get waivers for these inspections for a couple years if you pass absolutely clean on the initial inspections though.

The best way to handle rental properties is to rent them to live in for a year or 2 prior to converting to a full fledged grow house. That way you know every little thing that can occur, and what steps to take when inspection occur. You get to know the neighbors and landlords habits long before going large and risking everything. You get to know the utility and city workers habits.

Flip-Flop 7'x7' grow tents with 1kw lighting are the way to go for rental houses IMO. They are easier to tear down than home made rooms, and they solve the light exposure issues. No need to seal up the windows, which lead to neighbor suspicions.