Second what Snaps said about going legit with inspectors and licensed contractors. If you think that it is too expensive just wait until they enter in the middle of a grow and shut you down for violations - now that will be expensive. The county will know where and who you are, so you might as well sit down with the building department and figure out how to make them happy with the operation.
So true. I would like to reinforce this strategy with some early reconnaissance work you might do before you have a sit down with the building department. For the most part, this is the order I would go about doing these things as each step builds upon the previous one. From this point on we'll assume you have a property where commercial growing is accepted, a landlord agreement for the operation, security and enough power to run the operation.
1-Take notes of everything that you do that involves any government official or contractor(s). Names/time/date stamp your notes so you can go back and create a timeline in the event you have to do so.
2-Get a business license. If the county you're in will grant you a business license for commercial cultivation you have a binding legal document as to an acknowledgment and acceptance of the operation. It'll also make it harder for the building department to put up any road blocks later if the business license was granted.
3-As the owner, not the contractor or engineer, make a walk in meeting at the counter where you're going to eventually apply for a building permit. They will, or should, have written instructions on what they will require for plan submission. The purpose of this visit is to give you enough information to know what will be necessary of any contractor or engineer you hire to represent you to the building dept. Try and get as many business cards as you can during this visit. If you can score the head of the building departments card than do so. It may come in handy later. Also make sure you get a list of all plan and permit fee's. Electrical fees are often determined by size of service and number of circuits.
4-If there is any structural modifications to the building hire a licensed architect or structural engineer. This is important because if there is ever a fire or damage that the property owner can point to you and your work not being done to code and inspected under permit you will likely face a lawsuit for damages that the landlord's insurance company will deny coverage on.
5-If there are no structural modifications, only electrical and mechanical than you can act as the owner/builder to the extent that the mechanical and electrical contractors will develop single line drawings that will be submitted to the building department for issuance of a combined Mechanical/Electrical/Plumbing permit. The MPE permit will require you to have given the electrical contractor a list of all the loads so he can develop load calculations and panel schedule(s). These loads must come from you and should be given to the contractor in the form of an equipment schedule. That is each piece of equipment should have a cut sheet indicating the operating voltages, full load amperage, accredited listing agencies, etc. Make sure the contractor signs for your equipment schedule having acknowledged receipt. When dealing with contractors having a signed Proof of Receipt that states something to the effect that the contractor acknowledges by accepting this package document he has been given enough information to perform the necessary design work to apply for the permit being sought. If more information is necessary the contractor agrees to notify you within 48 hours of receipt of this package that he will notify you in writing of precisely what else he requires to successfully complete the load calculations necessary for plan submission.
6-I set up rooms with energy efficient lighting and HVAC systems that enable the customer to take advantage of rebates and tax incentives to specify and install these systems. Not only do the programs help offset the initial equipment expenses the lower loads will help decrease permit fees and contractor costs on labor and materials for less energy efficient systems. To see what programs are available in your area go to;
http://dsireusa.org/
7-I always try to hire contractors based on Fixed Bid/Scope contracts. This enables you to weigh one contractors bid against another when scope has been clearly identified and the work has been approved for permit by the building department. If you hire a contractor on a Time and Material basis make certain you have established benchmarks in place so that the clock is not running past when those expected benchmarks should have been completed. I also tie in any T&M contracts on a Cost Not to Exceed basis with a signed copy of the Scope and the Equipment Schedule you've provided the contractor being agreed to in advance. If I enter into a T&M contract I require the past weeks payroll summary be provided to me no later than Tuesday or Wednesday of the prior week so there is less likelihood that there will be a disagreement as to who was doing what and when.
8-T&M Contracts - Materials: This is an area that I had a contractor slip one by me. The contractor set up a Job Account at the local electrical supply house. We put a cap on the job @ $30K. I was to have been notified if contractor had costs that went above that $30K by the supply house. It didn't happen. The Job Account ended up with materials purchases that went up to $50K before the project was completed. When I got all of the invoices, 5 months worth, it was impossible to tell if every item on those invoices was put onto my project. The big ticket items checked out but with the cost of wire being what it was it became pretty clear that there was $15K worth of wire that I know was bought in bulk quantities that only partial amount were used on my job. The Job Account with the supply house had to be paid because the supply house had lien rights on the property. It was a learning experience. From this point on I won't do another Job Account and any materials that were installed on a T&M project should be given to me by the contractor on my weekly summary with a materials line item shown at cost + 15%.
9-Now that you have your permit and inspections are going to happen try and be onsite when the inspector gets to the job and get their business card if you can. I've had instances where it really came down to me getting between the contractor and the inspector to smooth out what would have been a costly undertaking had we not come to some meet in the middle agreement.
10-Make sure everything you install is as per the submitted drawings. I had a project where the customer ended up thinking they were going to add some LED lights on the project that had not been on the submitted drawings prior to final inspection. This in and of itself was not too big of an issue as additional fee's would have been all that was required but when the inspector got to looking at the LED lights and could not find a major standards agency certification such as UL, CUL or ETL on the light they had to taken down before a final inspection approval or Certificate of Occupancy was granted. I've heard of other projects where a significant investment went into equipment that was not listed and the inspectors who have a responsibility but don't always inspect for this do so to prevent electrical fires when the equipment hasn't proven to meet an accredited listing agencies safety standards.
11-Whenever I pay the contractor their final payment I make sure I've noted on the check that this payment constitutes payment in full.
In addition to these steps I also like to consider what the condition of the existing electrical system and the utility power coming into the building. If my rooms might be subject to extended power interruptions than I always find a way to run a backup generator for my critical circuits which would be set up on a panel that only serves the 'critical' circuits and would allow me to run a generator through a transfer switch, preferably automatic, in the event we suffer an intermittent or extended loss of power.
Good luck with your project.