Greenhouse Procurement Calculator.
Build a procurement-ready cost model for a commercial greenhouse in one place: installed CAPEX package by package, annual operating cost, and total cost of ownership across your evaluation period. Adjust every rate to your own figures, then send the whole model into a managed RFQ so suppliers quote on one comparable scope.
How do you budget a greenhouse project across CAPEX, OPEX and TCO?
Installed CAPEX is the sum of the equipment packages per m² multiplied by covered area, plus installation, engineering and contingency. Annual OPEX is energy, labour, water, inputs and overheads per m² plus maintenance as a share of CAPEX. TCO is installed CAPEX plus escalated OPEX over the evaluation period.
- Formula: TCO = CAPEX + Σ (annual OPEX × (1 + escalation)^year) over the evaluation horizon.
- CAPEX packages: structure, covering, screens, climate plant, irrigation and fertigation, growing system, automation.
- Installation, contingency and maintenance shares are editable planning assumptions — replace them with figures from written supplier offers.
- Compare bids on lifecycle cost (CAPEX plus escalated OPEX), not purchase price alone.
Estimate only — not a quotation. Outputs are indicative planning ranges based on the values you enter and typical commercial benchmarks. Real pricing, specifications and lead times vary by country, site conditions and supplier, and are confirmed only in written offers collected through a private RFQ.
CAPEX packages (USD per m²)
Annual OPEX (USD per m² per year)
| Equipment packages | USD 2,600,000 |
| Installation | USD 468,000 |
| Engineering and project management | USD 156,000 |
| Contingency | USD 322,400 |
| Maintenance, year 1 | USD 70,928 |
| Operating cost, 10 years (escalated) | USD 7,874,860 |
Preliminary planning estimate only — not a quotation, recommendation or endorsement. Rates are editable placeholders, not a price list. Land, site works, buildings, grid connection, freight, duties, financing cost, tax and working capital are excluded. Figures must be verified by an agronomist and a project engineer before commitment. SeedMatchGroup is supplier-neutral and does not manufacture equipment.
Turn this estimate into a qualified project
SeedMatchGroup is a supplier-neutral, human-led platform. We do not manufacture or resell equipment — we help buyers specify the project, review relevant suppliers privately and compare the written offers received. Supplier participation and timing are not guaranteed.
Send these numbers to the RFQ Builder
The numbers below were calculated with SeedMatchGroup's Greenhouse Procurement Calculator (CAPEX, OPEX, TCO). Indicative — the specialist will confirm scope before contacting suppliers.
25 inputs · assumptions · results
How the model is built
Equipment cost is your rate per square metre for each package multiplied by the covered area. Installation and engineering are applied as a percentage of that equipment cost, contingency on the resulting total, and the sum is the installed CAPEX. Operating cost is the per-square-metre lines plus maintenance expressed as a share of CAPEX, escalated each year across the evaluation period. TCO is installed CAPEX plus that escalated operating cost.
How this feeds the RFQ workflow
Sending the model to the RFQ builder carries the area, technology level, package-level budget envelope, operating assumptions and the bid requirements into a written brief. A SeedMatch Group sourcing specialist reviews that brief, structures the scope and manages every approach to manufacturers. Buyers are not connected directly to suppliers, and supplier identities and contact details are never published.
Limitations
The default rates are broad planning placeholders for three technology levels — they are not a price list and they vary widely by country, climate, steel and glass pricing, labour rates and logistics. Revenue, financing terms, tax and residual value are excluded, so this is a cost model rather than an investment case. Model the revenue side with the greenhouse ROI calculator and compare received bids with the greenhouse TCO calculator.
Frequently asked questions
It turns a project idea into a procurement-ready cost model: installed CAPEX split by package (structure, covering, screens, climate, irrigation and fertigation, growing system, automation, installation, engineering and contingency), annual OPEX, and total cost of ownership across the evaluation period. The output is a planning estimate used to write a comparable RFQ, not a quotation.
Procurement decisions made on CAPEX alone routinely lose money over the life of the project, because structure, covering, screens and climate equipment determine the annual energy bill and automation determines labour. Modelling the three together shows which package deserves the extra capital.
Everything you enter per square metre: structure, covering, screens, climate and energy plant, irrigation and fertigation, growing system, automation and controls, plus installation, engineering and contingency as percentages. Land, site works, buildings, grid connection and working capital are excluded and must be budgeted separately.
TCO = installed CAPEX + the sum of annual OPEX across the evaluation horizon, with an optional annual escalation applied to operating cost. Revenue, financing cost, tax and residual value are excluded — this is a cost model, not an investment case.
No. The defaults are broad planning placeholders for three technology levels and should be replaced with your own figures or with rates a specialist confirms for your country. SeedMatchGroup does not manufacture equipment and does not publish supplier prices.
The inputs, assumptions and results are carried into the RFQ Builder so the brief states area, technology level, budget envelope and operating assumptions. A SeedMatch Group specialist reviews the brief and manages all supplier contact — buyers are never connected directly to manufacturers.
Model at least two. Run a mid-tech and a high-tech case for the same area and compare TCO per square metre over the same horizon; the gap tells you what the higher specification has to save in energy, labour or yield reliability to be worth the extra capital.
No. It is a preliminary planning estimate. Final budgets require a site survey, a climate study and quotations verified by an agronomist and a project engineer.
Related tools: CAPEX calculator, operating cost calculator, energy cost calculator, fertigation head station cost calculator and the lifecycle cost calculator.
Turning this estimate into a request? The greenhouse systems request builder lists what changes a quote — structure, cover, climate and installation scope — and opens a pre-filled request that our team reviews before any supplier is contacted.
Understanding the values
What each choice in this calculator means, and how the options differ in practice.
- Ranges, not points
- Planning figures are ranges because scope, site and market move the real number. Read both ends of the range before deciding.
- What is excluded
- Land, site works, utilities and working capital are usually outside per-unit bands. Check the exclusions before comparing two estimates.
Illustrative project summary
1 ha multi-span tomato house
A new commercial entrant builds a first multi-span block with fertigation, insect screens and a basic climate computer.
1 ha · Multi-span polyhouse · Tomatoes
Indicative full greenhouse project CAPEX
USD 575K – USD 1.56M
Illustration only, not a real project or quotation. This is the structure, equipment and site-works budget for the example greenhouse, not the price of this calculator’s individual system, seeds or inputs, and not a result calculated from your entries. Excludes land, permits, packhouse, financing costs and working capital.
Based on the published commercial greenhouse cost benchmark. Written offers require a private project review; commercial projects start from USD 250K.
What can change the result?
This is a preliminary planning estimate based on the values you entered. The variables below usually move the outcome most, and should be confirmed with an agronomist, engineer and supplier offers before final design.
- Growing area and layout — hectares alone are not a greenhouse specification
- Greenhouse type and technology level (tunnel, naturally ventilated, high-tech)
- Energy and utility tariffs, plus tariff escalation over time
- Labour availability, productivity and local wage levels
- Project country: duties, freight, installation cost and permitting
Questions this calculator answers
Typical buyer and investor searches this tool is built for, including the markets where we run the most commercial projects.
- greenhouse total cost of ownership per hectare for a commercial project
- greenhouse total cost of ownership for a 2-hectare project — India
- greenhouse total cost of ownership: indicative planning ranges — Kenya
- greenhouse total cost of ownership benchmarks for investors — Saudi Arabia
- greenhouse total cost of ownership under local market conditions — Mexico
- greenhouse total cost of ownership — what to specify in a supplier RFQ
Method and decision path
How to use this result in a commercial project
Use the result to test scope and compare scenarios. It is not a design, agronomic prescription, financing offer or supplier quotation.
1. Enter site evidence
Replace defaults with measured area, climate, water, energy, crop and commercial assumptions.
2. Test scenarios
Change one assumption at a time and record the effect on capacity, cost, demand or return.
3. Validate the duty
Ask the relevant agronomist, engineer or financial adviser to check the inputs and constraints.
4. Prepare a private RFQ
Carry the confirmed scope into a human-reviewed brief so written offers can be compared on the same basis.
Final specifications, performance, prices, supplier participation and timing depend on the site and written supplier responses; none is guaranteed by this calculator.
Plan the project around the numbers
A calculator output is a starting point. Pair it with the planning guides below to align timeline, irrigation, budget and risk before you launch an RFQ.
One private brief, specialist review, private supplier research and a like-for-like comparison.
Spec gaps, MOQ, delivery, Incoterms and evidence labels for seeds, greenhouses, irrigation, fertilizers and produce.
Month-by-month schedule from concept to first harvest across 9 stages.
Design principles for drip, pivot, fertigation and filtration on commercial projects.
How CAPEX, working capital and operating cost drive the project business case.
The ten most expensive planning and procurement pitfalls — and how to avoid them.
Procurement answers behind these numbers
A model output only holds if the scope, contract route and delivery terms match the assumptions. These reference answers cover the commercial decisions that move the figure.
- Turnkey EPC vs separate equipment packages
- What belongs in a greenhouse equipment specification
- Normal payment milestones in equipment contracts
- Which Incoterms to use for greenhouse and irrigation equipment
- How long a commercial greenhouse takes from order to handover
- What is normally the owner's scope on a greenhouse project
Move greenhouse procurement calculator into a structured RFQ
Editorial · not a sales pitchCalculator outputs are indicative. When your numbers stabilise, a supplier-neutral RFQ turns those estimates into a consistent brief for comparing the written offers that participating suppliers provide.
The facts a complete, supplier-neutral request on this topic includes. Use it as a checklist before submitting.
- Covered area (m² or ha), bay/gutter layout preference and target gutter height
- Site location, altitude and design loads (wind, snow, seismic) if known
- Crop and production system (soil, substrate, hydroponic, nursery)
- Covering choice: polyethylene film, polycarbonate or glass — and expected lifetime
- Climate scope: ventilation, screens, heating, cooling/pad-fan, CO₂, controls
- Irrigation/fertigation scope and water source quality
- Target commissioning date, phasing and budget band (USD $250K+)
- Incoterms, destination port/site and who handles civil works and erection
- Site plan or coordinates with plot dimensions
- Soil/water analysis where available
- Any existing concept drawing, BOQ or previous supplier offer
Opens the RFQ Builder pre-scoped as a greenhouse project so suppliers quote structure, covering, climate and irrigation on the same basis. You stay in control — nothing is submitted until you review and confirm.
Free to submit · supplier-neutral · reviewed by a specialist before any supplier is contacted.
Running these numbers for a client project?
Agronomists, greenhouse and irrigation consultants use this calculator for feasibility, then hand the project to us for supplier shortlisting, RFQ preparation and quote comparison. You stay client-facing and we work through you.
Your client relationship stays with you — we work through you and never contact your client unless you ask.
Indicative only
- This tool is indicative only.
- It is not financial advice.
- It is not agronomic advice.
- It is not engineering design.
- Final numbers require supplier, agronomist, engineer and local regulatory review.
SeedMatch Group is an independent agricultural project sourcing and RFQ platform. We are not a farm, seed producer, fertilizer manufacturer, irrigation manufacturer, greenhouse builder, EPC contractor, lender or financial advisor. Supplier and project partner outreach is handled only after a commercial project brief is reviewed.
Supplier and manufacturer content is provided for research, transparency and discovery only. Buyers submit one project or RFQ to SeedMatch Group; our team validates and organises it, manages any suitable supplier or manufacturer outreach, and presents the responses through SeedMatch. There is no public directory of company identities, automatic matching, direct messaging or direct buyer-supplier contact.