I’ve learned much on this forum and feel inclined to payback the generosity in information shared. I don’t have value to share in extraction practices yet, but my partner and I did compete and win an extraction license in one of the states biggest cities and markets San Diego.
We competed and won one of the 40 licenses San Diego offered, for a type 7 volatile manufacturing license. It’s been a long ass process with a lot of lessons.
A few things we’ve learned that hopefully can help you or save some time and money-
Finding real estate that’s zoned right can be difficult to find. Creating an email or better yet buying the domain for the website you will be using and creating an email from the domain will show professionalism and is likely to get you a showing that wouldn’t have come otherwise. John@gmail.com< johnextracts@gmail.com< john@johnextracts.com. Play the numbers game and reach out to all interesting/qualifying properties. Also, you’ll be paying rent or needing to own the building for the length of the licensing period. You’ll need to show ownership or a lease. If you can find the right building that has a tenant in it that is leaving in 6 months or so, that’s the unicorn you’re searching for. Lock a lease up that doesn’t start in 6 months or however long and save that rent while you’re getting your license.
Get multiple bids on the architect you’ll use. You’ll likely spend a year or more working with them. Having someone who is versed with cannabis helps if they don’t charge you the green tax. Prices vary obviously depending on who you use, size of operation, etc. we outfitted a 3,000 sq ft space and had the architect help with all the building permits. We paid close to $50k for everything. We didn’t get bids at first due to the race component of our licensing. We later did get multiple quotes from other architects and found out we easily paid double the standard rate. Take the time to get quotes.
Get comfortable with making lots of calls and sounding dumb. A thousand people will end up being involved with your project. You’re likely not going to know all the state and city processes, codes, etc etc etc etc. it’ll go on forever. My partner found success by searching things out online, I always found a call to be quicker and more effective. Sometimes info online isn’t updated or accurate. It’s ok to say you don’t know what’s going on with whatever your calling about, show some kindness and respect to who you’re talking to and you’re likely to find great allies in your task.
CEQA was expensive and we could only find one company who did them. We essentially provided all the info about our companies practices, paid some engineers over $20k to put it into a report and turn into the state. List ALL PRACTICES that you’re going to be doing right off the bat and in the future. If you plan on getting a distribution license in the near future, include those activities on your CEQA so you don’t have to get another CEQA report for that license.
Emails and calls will speed things up significantly. The squeaky wheel gets the grease here. You’re going to be paying the city and whoever is helping you a fair amount, you should feel comfortable to stay on them about progressing your project.
Get contractors involved with your project before architects and engineers are done designing it. They can often catch things that will save you big bucks and time in the long run. Bringing them on early will likely save you in the end.
We started our licensing process November 2017. Much has likely changed since then in regards to who offers CEQA, how many architects/engineers have cannabis experience, etc. but hopefully seeing some of what we paid and went through can help you in your journey. I have a gaggle of notes and a journal of our licensing process. Please feel free to reach out with specific questions you might have and I’ll see if we have any experience that could benefit your situation. 