Practical guides — 14 min read
A step-by-step guide to building a commercial greenhouse farm: site and market assessment, feasibility modelling, specification, supplier tender, construction and first crop cycle.
By Aegis Project Engineering
Published /Updated
The most expensive mistake in greenhouse development is selecting a structure before establishing who buys the output. Every subsequent decision — glazing, climate strategy, crop, scale — follows from the market window you intend to serve. Projects that begin with a supplier catalogue rather than a buyer conversation tend to build the wrong facility competently.
Site conditions set hard limits that cannot be engineered away cheaply. Water quality in particular determines both the treatment budget and, for sensitive crops, whether the site is viable at all. Commission a full water analysis before committing to land.
A feasibility model tests whether the project can work before capital is committed to a specific configuration. It should be built on hourly climate data so energy demand is modelled rather than assumed, and it should include the sensitivity cases that will determine whether lenders participate.
The specification is the document that converts intent into an enforceable requirement. It should state what the facility must achieve, with measurable acceptance criteria, rather than listing components. This is what makes supplier offers comparable and warranties meaningful.
Qualify suppliers before pricing them. Three to five bidders with reference projects in a comparable climate is the practical range. Once offers arrive, level them by pricing every exclusion and deviation so all bids describe the same facility. Levelling frequently reverses the apparent ranking.
Construction supervision exists to verify that what was specified is what gets built. Structural tolerances, screen installation and irrigation uniformity are the items where deviations are cheap to fix during installation and expensive afterwards. Tie payment milestones to inspected verification rather than to dates.
A commissioned greenhouse is not a producing greenhouse. Climate set points, irrigation recipes, crop registration routines and operator training should be planned before the structure is finished. Facilities that underperform in year one usually do so because operational capability was planned late, not because the engineering was wrong.
For a first commercial facility of five to ten hectares, eighteen to thirty months from decision to first harvest is normal. Compressing the planning phase rarely accelerates the project; it usually moves the delay into construction or into a disappointing first crop.
| Phase | Duration | Key output |
|---|---|---|
| Market and site assessment | 1 – 3 months | Go / no-go on site and crop |
| Feasibility and financial model | 2 – 3 months | Financeable business case |
| Specification and design | 2 – 4 months | Performance specification |
| Tender and contracting | 2 – 3 months | Levelled bids, signed contract |
| Manufacturing and delivery | 4 – 8 months | Materials on site |
| Construction and commissioning | 5 – 9 months | Verified handover |
| First crop cycle | 3 – 10 months | Production to model |
Aegis Project Engineering
Structural and climate engineering desk
The engineering desk writes the technical specifications behind Aegis projects, covering structures, glazing, climate systems and irrigation. The team reviews supplier designs against local load codes and measured site climate data rather than reference-project assumptions.
FAQ
Eighteen to thirty months from investment decision to first harvest for a five to ten hectare first facility. Construction itself is often only five to nine months; the planning, tender and manufacturing lead times account for most of the schedule.
Underestimated operational capability. The structure is usually adequate. What is missing is a trained growing team, monitoring routines and a post-harvest chain, because those were treated as post-construction concerns rather than as part of the project.
Often yes, provided the first phase is large enough to be commercially meaningful and the infrastructure is sized for the eventual footprint. Building a first phase that cannot be expanded without replacing the head station is a false economy.
Turnkey concentrates delivery accountability with one supplier, but the supplier still writes the scope. Independent specification and supervision is what verifies that the turnkey scope matches what the business case assumed.
Send us your location, available area and target crop. You will receive a structured first assessment with technology direction and an indicative investment range.