Overgrowtho
Well-Known Member
As a community service, I would like to report about my experience with the 4Trees Cannabis Building Company based in Victoria B.C. Run by a many named Daniel, he severely over-promises & under-delivers, to the level of fraud. Upon getting a semblance of a plan from him, we quickly came to realize that "comprehensive systems engineering" & claims of "licensed engineers at your fingertips" were anything but evident in the work he provides.
1. We can see clearly that there are no licensed engineers in 4Trees, which is just one person, Daniel. Claims of an engineer "Jax" on his website were not evident in the design or planning, nothing was signed-off by an engineer (which we require in our jurisdiction, & why we justified spending 8000 CAD). See the screenshot, showing he uses stock images for his "engineer" and team.
2. Plans provided were far from "construction ready" as promised. They lacked basic electrical layouts & analytics. Even measurements for rooms were missing. Dan claims he pulls local codes, this was untrue. He failed to see we use 220 Volts (not 110V) which he still claims incorrectly to be used in our country.
3. Strangely, he suggested we use a space heater connected to a power generator when power goes out - in a tropical country where heat is the enemy – which would rot all plants quickly.
4. We got zero analytics about BTU, amps, water consumption, de-humidification, or plant count. We were simply given a basic floor plan with limited systems, and a copied & pasted purchase-list at 30,000 CAD suggesting importing items from him in Canada (he is a salesman preeminently). It was not helpful; we are sourcing everything locally/from Asia so he asked us to “please” find our own equipment. However, we hired him for expertise sourcing equipment globally, he refused to assist or evaluate our choices.
5. He was not familiar with Netafim, the #1 global irrigation co. & gold standard in cannabis fertigation. When we heard him say it "rings a bell" only, we were sad. Feeding regulators are needed, he does not deny that he feeds plants irregularly. Industry standards see his method as wasteful, non-standard & unprofessional.
6. He thinks that ducts cannot be used to evenly spread contained, conditioned air, since they will pull in air from outside. Ducts can be used with indoor "returns" to pull from within the room. Thus his understanding is wrong. Industry best-practices spread air gently over a canopy.
7. When we asked him to fix the design to evenly distribute air on each side of the room by two aircons, nothing was done. He left 3 in a corner.
8. He refused to integrate our existing equipment including the 60,000 BTU aircon that we have + basic equipment for monitoring (Trolmaster). When asked, he said that monitoring temperature is "boring” & he did not recommend measuring metrics at the canopy nor root zone.
9. Claims to "keep up to date with latest tech" & "truly next level automated growing systems" could not be further from the truth. There was no advice about using modern, reliable ag-tech which was one of the main features we sought from a designer. He claims to offer it in his marketing/sales, but unfortunately, has zero success in that, & could only recommended to NOT use modern tech/automation due to his lack of success.
10. Judging from his Linkedin profile, he lacks experience in commercial growing facilities. He does not recommend rolling benches or extra wide doors for smooth work-flow.
11. Despite promising to provide SOPs, he does not provide written standards as promised
12. He sought to charge us for a number of square meters including a dispensary area. We were told there would be a design, but all we got was a square that said “sales floor” on it, with an existing window. Where is the design?
Daniel tried, clearly he spent about 5 hours for the 8000 CAD we paid. However, he simply lacks the team, integrity & modern industry standards + best practices needed. He is a salesman with invoicing that is dishonest, misleading & shockingly, his website is full of false marketing about: pulling codes, licensed engineering & technical expertise.
1. We can see clearly that there are no licensed engineers in 4Trees, which is just one person, Daniel. Claims of an engineer "Jax" on his website were not evident in the design or planning, nothing was signed-off by an engineer (which we require in our jurisdiction, & why we justified spending 8000 CAD). See the screenshot, showing he uses stock images for his "engineer" and team.
2. Plans provided were far from "construction ready" as promised. They lacked basic electrical layouts & analytics. Even measurements for rooms were missing. Dan claims he pulls local codes, this was untrue. He failed to see we use 220 Volts (not 110V) which he still claims incorrectly to be used in our country.
3. Strangely, he suggested we use a space heater connected to a power generator when power goes out - in a tropical country where heat is the enemy – which would rot all plants quickly.
4. We got zero analytics about BTU, amps, water consumption, de-humidification, or plant count. We were simply given a basic floor plan with limited systems, and a copied & pasted purchase-list at 30,000 CAD suggesting importing items from him in Canada (he is a salesman preeminently). It was not helpful; we are sourcing everything locally/from Asia so he asked us to “please” find our own equipment. However, we hired him for expertise sourcing equipment globally, he refused to assist or evaluate our choices.
5. He was not familiar with Netafim, the #1 global irrigation co. & gold standard in cannabis fertigation. When we heard him say it "rings a bell" only, we were sad. Feeding regulators are needed, he does not deny that he feeds plants irregularly. Industry standards see his method as wasteful, non-standard & unprofessional.
6. He thinks that ducts cannot be used to evenly spread contained, conditioned air, since they will pull in air from outside. Ducts can be used with indoor "returns" to pull from within the room. Thus his understanding is wrong. Industry best-practices spread air gently over a canopy.
7. When we asked him to fix the design to evenly distribute air on each side of the room by two aircons, nothing was done. He left 3 in a corner.
8. He refused to integrate our existing equipment including the 60,000 BTU aircon that we have + basic equipment for monitoring (Trolmaster). When asked, he said that monitoring temperature is "boring” & he did not recommend measuring metrics at the canopy nor root zone.
9. Claims to "keep up to date with latest tech" & "truly next level automated growing systems" could not be further from the truth. There was no advice about using modern, reliable ag-tech which was one of the main features we sought from a designer. He claims to offer it in his marketing/sales, but unfortunately, has zero success in that, & could only recommended to NOT use modern tech/automation due to his lack of success.
10. Judging from his Linkedin profile, he lacks experience in commercial growing facilities. He does not recommend rolling benches or extra wide doors for smooth work-flow.
11. Despite promising to provide SOPs, he does not provide written standards as promised
12. He sought to charge us for a number of square meters including a dispensary area. We were told there would be a design, but all we got was a square that said “sales floor” on it, with an existing window. Where is the design?
Daniel tried, clearly he spent about 5 hours for the 8000 CAD we paid. However, he simply lacks the team, integrity & modern industry standards + best practices needed. He is a salesman with invoicing that is dishonest, misleading & shockingly, his website is full of false marketing about: pulling codes, licensed engineering & technical expertise.
