What a controlled shed costs to build
The capital number is the one everybody asks for and the one nobody should quote. Here is how the cost is built up, so you can price your own shed honestly.
Every article about poultry farming in Pakistan quotes a rupee figure for a controlled shed. Almost all of them are out of date, and most of them were someone else’s quote for someone else’s site.
Steel, cement, imported equipment and the exchange rate have all moved sharply in recent years. A number from two years ago is not a number. What survives is the structure of the cost, and that is what this page gives you.
The capital line items
| Line | What drives it | | --- | --- | | Land | Location. Varies more than everything else combined | | Civil structure | Steel trusses, columns, foundation, flooring, brickwork — driven by steel and cement prices | | Insulation | Roof and walls. The thing that makes a controlled shed controlled | | Ventilation | Tunnel fans, air inlets, controllers | | Evaporative cooling | Pads, pumps, plumbing | | Heating | Brooders and the fuel system | | Feeding system | Pan lines, hoppers, augers — automatic or manual | | Drinking system | Nipple lines, regulators, tank | | Lighting | LED, dimmable | | Electrical | Wiring, panel, and the connection itself | | Generator | Not optional. A controlled shed in a power cut is lethal | | Water source | Borehole, pump, storage | | Feed store | Covered, rodent-proof, dry | | Biosecurity | Perimeter, gate, dip, changing area | | Approach road, levelling, drainage | Consistently underestimated |
How to price it without a stale number
Price it per bird of capacity, not per shed. A shed is sized by how many birds it will hold, and every quote you collect should be normalised to that so you can compare them.
The honest method is three steps:
- Decide capacity. Working from bird numbers and stocking density gives you the floor area you actually need.
- Get three current local quotes — civil, and equipment. Shed builders and equipment suppliers quote readily, and current quotes beat any published figure.
- Add 15–20% contingency. Sites always cost more than the quote. Levelling, drainage, electricity connection and the approach road are where it goes.
The cost everybody forgets
Working capital for the first cycle is a separate requirement from the build, and running out of it is the commonest way a new farm fails.
You need chicks, feed for the whole cycle, medication, fuel, electricity and labour, before a single bird is sold. Feed alone is roughly two-thirds of that. A farm that spends its last rupee on the building has built a shed it cannot fill.
Budget the full cycle cost, and then budget the possibility that the first cycle loses money — because on a new site, with a new team, it often does.
Does it pay back?
That depends on three things the shed does not control: the broiler Rate · priceریٹrateBorrowed and universal — ‘aaj ka rate kya hai?’Glossary →, the feed price, and how well you run it.
What the controlled shed buys you is the summer. It converts the months that cost open-house farms mortality and lost growth into productive months, at the price of electricity and capital. In Multan or Sindh that is a much larger prize than in a milder district.
It also raises your fixed costs permanently. A controlled shed standing empty because the rate is bad still owes the same instalment.
Open house vs controlled shed →
Before you commit
- Get quotes, current, in writing, itemised
- Visit at least three working sheds of the design you intend to build
- Price the generator as part of the shed, never as an accessory
- Check the electricity connection is actually available, before you build
- Know your break-even price per kilogram before the first chick arrives