Best practices for commercial greenhouse construction projects

Whether you are building a single hoop house or building a ten hectare greenhouse range, new greenhouse construction is part of building your growing business. For many growers the construction process is exciting full of anticipation as you watch your dreams becoming a reality. For other growers, greenhouse construction brings on a feeling of anxiety as personal and corporate resources must be directed to an area of the business they are less familiar with. After decades of working with thousands of greenhouse growers all over the world, GGS have come up with our list of best practices for ensuring a smooth new greenhouse construction project. Here are the GGS greenhouse growers’ best practices:

Planning for long term goals first
Very few greenhouse construction projects are built to cover the entire property in one build. In most cases, finances, time, and current market demands are not in place at the beginning for the size you want to become. So by looking at your greenhouse business’ future goals you can avoid some costly layout mistakes, and increase the efficient scalability of your greenhouse. A well-planned layout for structures and greenhouse equipment should include mapping out workflow for the various functions of your operation. Consider in the future how you will automate, streamline, and adapt to your growing business.

Hiring experienced people
Use a greenhouse manufacturer who understands how you want to build and has the experience to provide the level of construction assistance that you need. For do it yourself projects, a clear set of construction blueprints and a sales/service department who can answer questions during construction are what you need. On the other end of the spectrum for turnkey greenhouse management you need a greenhouse manufacturer with experience in project management as well as the various facets of greenhouse systems design and installation.

Getting organized from the start with a kickoff meeting
Make sure there is a kickoff meeting to clearly define the different systems that will need to work together. Shade, CO2, irrigation, fertigation, ventilation, heating all need to work together to provide the ideal crop environment in your greenhouse. By making sure everyone on your supply side is aware of the total package you gain more expertise to make sure that the systems work as planned. Greenhouse construction projects that start with suppliers and installers working together have a higher satisfaction rate.

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