Capex vs Opex: Spending Where the Grams Live
Every dollar is either capital (spent once, depreciated) or operating (spent every cycle). Getting the split wrong — underspending on the room to protect cash, then bleeding it back in opex and losses — is one of the most common ways indoor grows quietly go broke.
Capex is capital expenditure — the build: HVAC, LED, fertigation, racking, sensors, controls, the envelope. You spend it up front and depreciate it over years. Opex is operating expenditure — the recurring burn: power, labor, nutrients, media, testing, rent. The single most consequential financial decision in an indoor grow is how you split the two, because they trade against each other and the market punishes getting it backwards.
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