Commercial greenhouse planning checklist: crop, climate, structure, utilities and automation requirements

Decision tree: are you ready to request quotes?

• 1. Is the crop, cultivar type and growing calendar fixed? If not, decide this first. Climate, irrigation and structure requirements all follow from it.
• 2. Do you have at least several years of local weather data (temperature extremes, humidity, wind, snow and solar radiation)? If not, get it before you choose cooling or heating. FAO notes that greenhouse design must be adapted to the local climate (FAO GAP 217).
• 3. Do you have a laboratory water analysis of the actual source? If not, order one. It decides filtration, treatment and fertigation scope (Penn State Extension).
• 4. Are the available power (kVA), fuel or heat source and water volume confirmed in writing by the utility or by a well test? If not, treat them as unknown, not as assumed.
• 5. Have you decided which data the control system must log and who will respond to alarms? If you can answer yes to all five, your project is ready for a structured request. If not, use the free project planning guide first.

What to define for each requirement area

Crop: species, cultivar type (for example vine tomato or mini cucumber), planting dates, crop duration, growing system (soil, substrate or hydroponic) and the buyer specification you sell to. These decide the light, temperature and humidity targets your local agronomist will set.

Climate and site: design temperatures for summer and winter, humidity in the hottest month, prevailing wind, snow and wind loads under the local building code, and flood or drainage risk. Design loads and framing choices vary greatly by region (UF/IFAS BUL235).

Structure: covering type, gutter height, bay width, ventilation openings, screens and access for crop work and harvest logistics. Ask for the structure to be designed against your local load requirements, not a standard catalogue load.

Utilities: peak daily water volume and storage, electrical capacity for pumps, fans, lighting and controls, heating fuel or heat source, and drainage or effluent handling. Each utility must have a confirmed capacity and a named source.

Automation: the sensors (air temperature, humidity, radiation, CO₂, substrate or drain EC/pH), the actuators they control, the alarm thresholds, data export format and who maintains the calibration.

Worked example (illustrative): sizing water storage for a 1 ha substrate tomato crop

Assumptions, for illustration only: 10,000 m² of crop; peak crop water use of 6 mm/day in the hottest month (your agronomist should calculate this for your site with the FAO-56 method, FAO-56); planned drain fraction of 25% of applied water; storage target of two peak days.

Step 1 — crop use: 6 mm/day × 10,000 m² = 60 m³/day (1 mm on 1 m² equals 1 litre).

Step 2 — applied water with drainage: 60 ÷ (1 − 0.25) = 80 m³/day.

Step 3 — storage for two peak days: 80 × 2 = 160 m³ of clean water storage, before any drain-water recirculation.

What this tells the buyer: the water source, pump and storage must be confirmed for about 80 m³ on the worst day under these assumptions, not for an annual average. If the well test or utility allocation cannot supply this, the project scope changes before any supplier is asked to quote.

What to do and what to avoid

• Do: send every supplier the same requirement sheet, including weather data, water analysis and utility confirmations.
• Do: ask for heating, cooling and ventilation capacity to be justified with a stated method, such as the ANSI/ASAE EP406 practice for heating, ventilating and cooling greenhouses (ASAE EP406.4).
• Do: separate structure, climate, irrigation/fertigation and controls into separately priced lines so the offers can be compared.
• Avoid: requesting quotes 'for a 1 ha greenhouse' with no crop, climate or utility data. You will receive offers that cannot be compared.
• Avoid: assuming grid power, gas or water capacity because a line passes near the site.
• Avoid: leaving sensor calibration, data ownership and alarm response out of the scope.

Common costly mistakes

• Choosing the structure first and the crop later. The ventilation area, gutter height and screens may not suit the crop you finally choose.
• Designing cooling for average summer conditions. Evaporative cooling performance depends heavily on outdoor humidity, so the most humid hot month must be checked.
• Sizing water from annual use. Pumps, storage and treatment must handle the peak day.
• Not budgeting for drainage and effluent handling, which may need a permit.
• Buying a control system that cannot export data, which makes performance disputes hard to settle.

Questions to ask suppliers

• Which local snow, wind and seismic loads did you design the structure for, and under which code?
• Which outdoor design conditions did you use for heating and cooling capacity, and which method?
• What utility capacities does your proposal assume (kVA, fuel, m³/day), and what happens if they are lower?
• Which items are excluded: foundations, civil works, connections, permits, commissioning, training?
• Which sensors are included, how are they calibrated, and can we export all the logged data?
• What are the acceptance tests at handover, and who carries out and records them?

Summary: your next three actions

• Fix the crop, calendar and buyer specification, and obtain local weather data and a laboratory water analysis.
• Get written confirmation of the water, power and heat capacity available at the site.
• Complete the checklist below, test the economics in the free CAPEX/OPEX/ROI scenario, then send one structured project request so every offer answers the same brief.

Requirement sheet: what to define, with what evidence

Use this table as the cover sheet of your request. Each row should have evidence attached before suppliers are contacted.

Pre-quote checklist

• ☐Crop, cultivar type, calendar and buyer specification written down
• ☐Multi-year local weather data obtained (extremes, humidity, wind, snow, radiation)
• ☐Laboratory analysis of the actual irrigation water source
• ☐Peak water demand and storage calculated with stated assumptions
• ☐Power, fuel or heat and water capacity confirmed in writing
• ☐Local load, permit and drainage requirements identified
• ☐Sensor list, alarm thresholds and data export requirements defined
• ☐Acceptance tests and handover documents listed

Frequently asked questions

Related SeedMatch tools

• Greenhouse climate load calculator
• Greenhouse irrigation planner
• CAPEX/OPEX/ROI scenario
• Commercial greenhouse cost benchmark

• Greenhouse climate-control systems compared: ventilation, cooling, heating and energy trade-offs
• How to evaluate greenhouse irrigation and fertigation suppliers: water quality, crop needs and operating cost
• Low greenhouse marketable yield: diagnose before buying upgrades
• Commercial greenhouse system selection: climate, water and CAPEX
• Greenhouse and irrigation bid comparison: a supplier-neutral RFQ scorecard
• Plan a greenhouse project around crop goals: use free calculators and project tools before sourcing suppliers

When the outcome and constraints are defined, our team reviews your project request (free for buyers, typically USD 250,000+ B2B projects) before approaching suitable independent suppliers and organising comparable proposals. Any financing is arranged only through independent third parties.

Sources

• FAO (2013) — Good Agricultural Practices for greenhouse vegetable crops: principles for Mediterranean climate areas, Plant Production and Protection Paper 217
• UF/IFAS Extension BUL235 — Florida Greenhouse Design (rev. 2024)
• FAO Irrigation and Drainage Paper 56 — Crop evapotranspiration (Allen et al., 1998)
• Penn State Extension — Interpreting Irrigation Water Tests
• ANSI/ASAE EP406.4 — Heating, Ventilating and Cooling Greenhouses (hosted by University of Arizona CEAC)

Extension guidance is general. Crop-specific targets, local regulations and qualified local advisers take precedence.