Greenhouse project builder — a CAPEX estimate for your country
Enter your location, structure level, site conditions and budget. The builder returns a planning CAPEX range per m², per hectare and in total, using the same published bands as the SeedMatchGroup country cost guides — then takes you straight into the matching guide, the detailed calculators and a private, human-reviewed 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.
Direct answer
A commercial greenhouse CAPEX estimate is the installed cost per m² for the structure level in that country, multiplied by the area, plus 15–30% for site works and utility connections. Cost per m² ranges from roughly USD 12 for a simple East African tunnel to over USD 700 for a highly automated semi-closed facility, so location and technology level decide the number long before the supplier does.
From “20 hectares of tomatoes” to a complete turnkey scope
Enter the project in one line. The designer lists the systems the project needs, sizes water, irrigation, fertigation, cooling and packhouse at planning level, gives an indicative CAPEX range and carries everything into a private RFQ.
Systems this project needs
- Greenhouse structure and cover
- Ventilation and screens
- Pad-and-fan or fogging cooling
- Irrigation: intake, filtration, mains and emitters
- Fertigation dosing unit with EC/pH control
- Water treatment (RO likely if source is brackish)
- High-wire crop support and gutters
- Climate computer and controls
- Packhouse and cold room sized to peak harvest
Planning-level engineering estimates
- Water at peak: 800 m³/day (8 L/m²/day assumption)
- Peak irrigation flow: 80 m³/h over 10 h/day
- Fertigation stock injection: ~800 L/h at a 1:100 ratio
- Water storage: ~4,320 m³ (5 reserve days for this source)
- RO not indicated at EC 1 dS/m — confirm with a full water analysis
- Pad-and-fan airflow: ~15,000,000 m³/h (~395 fans of 38,000 m³/h)
All defaults are editable assumptions, not engineering design. Refine each line with the storage, RO, pad-and-fan, ventilation, recirculation, packhouse, pre-cooling and cold storage calculators.
Indicative CAPEX
USD 2.5M–USD 5.0M
Structure and systems, before site works (typically +15–30%). Planning range only, not a quotation.
Country CAPEX builder
Location and scale
Structure type
Site and climate conditions
For a Saudi site, enter a hot-arid climate, a 45–50 °C summer peak and the real water source (groundwater with its EC, or desalinated supply). The climate calculator will then size cooling, not heating, and the irrigation planner will show whether reverse osmosis and extra reservoir volume belong in the budget.
Budget and timeline
Planning CAPEX estimate — Saudi Arabia
- Installed structure and systems
- USD 1.10M – USD 2.20M
- Site works and connections
- USD 242K – USD 484K
- Total planning CAPEX
- USD 1.34M – USD 2.68M
- Per hectare
- USD 1.34M – USD 2.68M
- Annual operating cost
- USD 30 – 65 /m²/yr
- 1 ha
- 10,000 m² · USD 1.1M – USD 2.2M
Add a budget to see whether this scope fits.
Planning bands only — not a quotation and not a SeedMatchGroup price. Committed pricing comes from qualified suppliers responding to one written specification, reviewed by a sourcing specialist before any supplier is approached.
Send these numbers to the RFQ Builder
The numbers below were calculated with SeedMatchGroup's Saudi Arabia greenhouse project builder. Indicative — the specialist will confirm scope before contacting suppliers.
12 inputs · assumptions · results
Builder questions
How does the builder produce a country CAPEX estimate?
It multiplies the published per-m² band for the structure type you choose in the country you choose by your area, then adds a site-works uplift of 15–30% depending on the site condition you select. Nothing is invented: the bands are the same planning ranges published on each country cost guide.
Is the result a quotation?
No. It is a planning band. Committed pricing comes only from qualified suppliers responding to one written specification. A sourcing specialist reviews every brief before any supplier is approached — SeedMatchGroup is not an open marketplace.
Which countries are covered?
The builder covers the 24 countries with published SeedMatchGroup cost guides, including Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Oman, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Türkiye, India, Japan, the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Spain, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Kenya, Ethiopia and Australia.
What project size is worth an RFQ?
SeedMatchGroup works on commercial agricultural projects from roughly USD 250,000 upwards. Smaller builds are better served by a local supplier directly.
What happens to my numbers after the builder?
You can carry the full input, assumption and result set straight into the RFQ Builder, where a sourcing specialist reviews it. Suppliers see one written specification, never your contact details before review.
Project intelligence by country and scope
The pages buyers use most before issuing a brief: country project context, import and compliance rules, cost benchmarks and contractor routes.
- Planning in Central Asia? Start with commercial agriculture projects in Kazakhstan — greenhouse, irrigation and financing scope in one place.
- For Gulf food-security programmes, read the Oman Vision 2040 agriculture and food security brief before budgeting a sponsor-led project.
- Importing equipment or planting material into the Emirates? Check UAE seed and greenhouse equipment import rules before the supply contract is signed.
- Budgeting a structure? Compare commercial greenhouse cost per m², acre and hectare against your target technology level.
- Awarding one turnkey contract? Review agriculture EPC contractors and how bids are normalised before shortlisting.
- Building an agro-processing line? See agricultural processing plant EPC scope and cost drivers .
- Sizing dosing and injection equipment? Use the fertigation calculator before specifying the fertigation skid.
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.