grow room vs lab
What each costs to build, what it makes an hour and how long it takes to pay itself back, from the bare building to every upgrade.
the short answer
Grow Room $72,000 an hour Bare, with Grade 1 bushes. Build cost $320,000, paid back in about 4.4 h of growing. The bushes grow back after every harvest, so nothing gets used up. 
Chemical Lab $120,000 an hour Bare, in Grade 1 Hard Crystals at their exchange value. Build cost $390,000. Every crystal uses up reagents, so this is before you pay for them. Build the Grow Room first. It is cheaper, it needs a level 1 district and nothing more, and once you have stolen your bushes it keeps paying with nothing to restock. The lab earns more an hour on paper, but only while you keep feeding it reagent canisters, and its best upgrades sit behind level 2 and 3 districts.
the grow room
A Grow Table holds 6 bushes. Each needs 100 points in 36-second cycles, so about 1 h bare. A mature bush gives 2 to 4 Harvest Bags, plus 1 or 2 more on a lucky roll, then starts growing again.
| Setup | Built so far | Faster | One harvest | Bags an hour | Grade 1 | Grade 2 | Grade 3 | Pays back |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bare Grow Room, Grow Table | $320,000 | 1 h | 18 | $72,000 | $108,000 | $144,000 | 4.4 h | |
| + Fan Fan Lv.1 | $445,000 | +12% | 54 min | 20 | $80,640 | $120,960 | $161,280 | 5.5 h |
| + Water Pump Water Pump Lv.2 (district level 2) | $715,000 | +26% | 48 min | 23 | $90,720 | $136,080 | $181,440 | 7.9 h |
| + UV Lamp UV Lamp Lv.3 (district level 3) | $1,465,000 | +50% | 40 min | 27 | $108,000 | $162,000 | $216,000 | 13.6 h |
Harvest, don’t sell the bush. A Mature Bush (Grade 1) exchanges for $30,000 once and then it is gone. Harvested, it gives about $12,000 in bags every cycle and grows back. After 3 harvests the bush has paid more than selling it would.
The upgrades pay off slowly. The UV Lamp Lv.3 costs $750,000 for 24% more an hour, which is worth it only once you run Grade 2 or 3 bushes for long stretches. Higher authority helps more: Harvest Bags are loot, and the fence pays up to +50% at level 5.
the chemical lab
Reagent canisters go into the Chemical Reactor, which makes Crystalline Concentrate. The Industrial Freezer turns concentrate into Hard Crystals in 10 points of 6 minutes, about 1 h bare. The Lab Table crushes crystals into powder.
| Setup | Built so far | Freezer slots | Faster | One crystal | Crystals an hour | Grade 1 | Grade 2 | Grade 3 | Pays back |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bare Chemical Laboratory, Chemical Reactor Mk1 (4 Slots), Industrial Freezer Mk1 (4 Slots), Lab Table | $390,000 | 4 | 1 h | 4 | $120,000 | $180,000 | $300,000 | 3.3 h | |
| + Evaporator Improved Evaporator (district level 2) | $530,000 | 4 | +11.7% | 54 min | 4.5 | $134,040 | $201,060 | $335,100 | 4 h |
| Freezer Mk2 Industrial Freezer Mk2 (6 Slots) (district level 2) | $650,000 | 6 | +11.7% | 54 min | 6.7 | $201,060 | $301,590 | $502,650 | 3.2 h |
| Freezer Mk3 + Refrigerant Industrial Freezer Mk3 (8 Slots), Quality Refrigerant (district level 3) | $1,350,000 | 8 | +24.7% | 48 min | 10 | $299,280 | $448,920 | $748,200 | 4.5 h |
The freezer sets the pace, not the reactor. A Chemical Reactor Mk1 (4 Slots) fills 4 slots every 15 minutes, 16 an hour, while the best freezer finishes 10. Upgrade the freezer for more crystals. The reactor upgrades are for quality instead.
Reactor parts raise the grade, not the speed. The game says the Industrial Engine slightly, the Industrial Thermometer significantly and the Chemical Converter greatly increases the chance of higher quality crystals. A Grade 3 crystal is worth 2.5 times a Grade 1, so they matter, but the files hold no odds for them.
how we worked it out
- The game gives the points each bush and crystal needs and the length of one cycle. We count one point a cycle, which is what the numbers suggest: bare, both a bush and a crystal then take exactly an hour.
- A part that makes a table “12% faster” is counted as 12% more done an hour.
- A harvest is counted at 3 bags, the middle of 2 to 4. The bonus bags are left out, since the chance of them is not in the files.
- Bags are priced at what the fence pays at authority level 1, crystals at their base exchange value. Higher authority adds to both.
- How many reagent canisters one batch uses, and how many crystals come out of it, is not in the files, so the lab's figures are before the cost of reagents.
- Everything is one table or one freezer. If you place more, multiply.
A cop who arrests you while you carry a Mature Bush (Grade 1) gets $7,500, and $7,500 for Grade 1 Hard Crystals, so move them when the streets are quiet. The growing guide has the parts, the lab chain every value in between.