Bryan Shuck - The Budding Commercial Marijuana Industry

The assessment profession demands adaptability. We've seen it with e-commerce warehouses, data centers, and solar farms. But perhaps no industry has tested our collective agility quite like legalized marijuana.

Bryan Shuck, Personal Property Manager for Cleveland County, Oklahoma, offers a masterclass in how assessors can rapidly develop expertise in entirely new territory. His journey from construction professional to marijuana valuation expert reveals fundamental truths about our profession that extend far beyond cannabis facilities.

The Speed of Change Demands Professional Agility

Oklahoma's marijuana industry exploded with unprecedented velocity. Voters approved medical marijuana in June 2018; by October, dispensaries were operational. By the time assessors could react, a multi-billion dollar industry had materialized almost overnight.

"We went from passing it in June to operational in October. Went way too fast with very little oversight," Shuck reflects. The state now hosts roughly 12,000 business licenses, comparable to California's numbers despite a fraction of the population.

This breakneck pace created an assessment emergency. Traditional approaches to developing valuation expertise, waiting for guidance from state agencies, attending established training programs, learning from veteran assessors, simply didn't exist. The industry was writing its playbook in real-time, and assessors had to keep pace.

Building Expertise from Zero

Shuck's approach to mastering marijuana facility assessment offers a blueprint for tackling any emerging industry. Starting with zero knowledge ("not only had I never inhaled, I'd never even seen marijuana"), he built expertise through systematic field research.

His methodology was straightforward but intensive:

• Visit facilities constantly, learning equipment and processes firsthand
• Attend industry conferences to understand business operations
• Network with operators who were eager to showcase their facilities
• Connect with assessors in states with more mature programs

"I learned the most about the industry from immersing myself in it," Shuck notes. This boots-on-the-ground approach revealed critical valuation factors that no manual could capture. Grow facilities require lighting systems generating 4-5 times normal heat loads, demanding massive HVAC investments. Processing facilities resemble "mad scientist laboratories" with six-figure extraction equipment. These insights only emerge through direct observation.

The Three Pillars of Cannabis Operations

Through hundreds of facility visits, Shuck identified three universal equipment categories that drive value in grow operations:

Lighting Systems: The lifeblood of indoor cultivation, these aren't simple fluorescents but sophisticated LED or high-pressure sodium arrays precisely calibrated for plant growth cycles.

Environmental Controls: With plants sensitive to minute temperature and humidity variations, HVAC systems in grow facilities dwarf typical commercial installations. "If the humidity or temperature gets off, it can cause them to go into shock and then ultimately die."

Irrigation Systems: From simple drip lines to automated hydroponic networks, water delivery systems represent significant capital investments.

Understanding these core systems transforms assessment from guesswork to systematic analysis. When reviewing personal property returns, assessors can immediately spot red flags, a grow facility reporting no lighting equipment is like a restaurant claiming no kitchen equipment.

Embracing Technology and Change

Perhaps Shuck's most vital insight concerns the profession's relationship with change. Early in his career, he enthusiastically presented new assessment technologies to colleagues, only to face fierce resistance. "There's no way that technology can do it better or more accurately than we're doing it with our pencil and paper," they insisted.

This resistance nearly derailed improvements that could have enhanced accuracy and efficiency. The marijuana industry, with its rapid evolution and novel challenges, simply doesn't permit such inflexibility. Assessors clinging to familiar methods while facing 14,000 new licenses would have drowned in the workload.

"Be flexible, be open-minded to that change," Shuck advises. "If the answer to why we do something is 'because we've always done it that way,' I have a real problem with that."

When Uniformity Meets Reality

The marijuana assessment challenge illuminates a core tension in our profession. We strive for uniformity and consistency, yet real-world industries rarely develop uniformly. Oklahoma's facilities range from backyard sheds with 20 plants to 50,000-square-foot operations with tens of thousands of plants. Equipment varies from basic grow lights to million-dollar extraction systems.

This diversity demands assessment approaches flexible enough to capture value accurately across the spectrum while maintaining the uniformity taxpayers deserve. It's not enough to develop a one-size-fits-all depreciation schedule or cost manual. The profession needs frameworks adaptable to rapidly evolving industries.

Building Trust Through Transparency

Throughout his marijuana industry education, Shuck discovered operators eager to showcase their facilities and explain their processes. This openness created opportunities for assessors to build relationships while gathering crucial valuation data.

"They all had their market niche that nobody else had," he recalls. "They were all proud of their operations and wanted to show them off." This pride translated into transparency about costs, equipment, and operations, invaluable intelligence for accurate assessment.

The lesson extends beyond marijuana. When assessors approach new industries with genuine curiosity rather than enforcement mindsets, property owners often become educational partners rather than adversaries.

Key Takeaways

Start with boots on the ground: No amount of desk research replaces facility visits. When facing new industries, get into the field immediately and often.

Build networks within the industry: Attend their conferences, read their publications, understand their challenges. Industry expertise enhances assessment credibility.

Document equipment patterns: Identify the universal equipment categories that drive value. This creates frameworks for both valuation and compliance monitoring.

Embrace systematic change: New industries demand new approaches. Resistance to methodology updates guarantees obsolescence.

Remember the public trust: Whether valuing traditional real estate or marijuana facilities, uniform and accurate assessment upholds the property tax system's integrity.

The marijuana boom tested Oklahoma assessors in unprecedented ways. But Shuck's journey from novice to expert in five years proves our profession's capacity for rapid adaptation when we embrace change rather than resist it. As new industries emerge, from cryptocurrency mining to vertical farms, his playbook offers a proven path forward.