How to specify a commercial greenhouse
A specification that a supplier can price and a contractor can build, in the order that avoids rework.
Start from the crop, not the structure
Write down the crop, the target yield per square metre, the delivery window and the labour model before you ask for a drawing. A house sized from a catalogue will be wrong in one of those four places.
Fix the four numbers first
Span, bay, gutter height and column grid. Everything else — vents, screens, heating, irrigation — hangs off those four, and changing them later is a rebuild, not an adjustment.
Write the design day
Give the supplier the summer design temperature, the winter minimum, the snow load and the wind speed for the site. 'Hot climate' is not a specification; 46 °C with 30 % RH is.
Define the interfaces
State who provides foundations, power connection, water supply, drainage and the boundary. Most site delays live at these five interfaces, not in the factory.
Ask for the same document set from every supplier
Layout, structure drawings, equipment schedule, bill of materials, packing list and a commissioning plan. Comparing quotes without a common document set compares prices, not scope.
Shortlisting suppliers? Get one brief in front of them instead of five emails.
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