I’m going to put together a guide on the Meth Lab, which is considered the second most efficient biker business in GTA 5.
Contents
- How to Obtain / Location Recommendations / Preparation
- How to Obtain
- Location Recommendations
- PreParation
- Upgrades
- Equipment Upgrade
- Staff Upgrade
- Security Upgrade
- Supplies / Sales
- Supplies
- Sales
How to Obtain / Location Recommendations / Preparation
How to Obtain
The Meth Lab is a type of Biker business, so it can only be operated while you are a Motorcycle Club President. To become an MC President, you must first purchase a Clubhouse. If you don’t own one yet, the Great Chaparral Clubhouse is recommended.
You can register as an MC President via “M – Register as Boss – Motorcycle Club President”, then use the laptop inside your Clubhouse to purchase a Meth Lab.
Location Recommendations
Meth Lab locations, listed in order of price, are Grand Senora Desert ($910,000), Paleto Bay ($1,024,000), Terminal ($1,365,000), and El Burro Heights ($1,729,000). In terms of value for money and overall location, I recommend opting for the most affordable option in the Grand Senora Desert.
I’ll attach photos below in the same order, so you can use them as a reference when deciding which one to buy.
Preparation
When you first purchase a Meth Lab, the interior is empty, so you need to acquire equipment through a setup mission. The mission can be started from the laptop inside the Meth Lab, and it is very straightforward—simply transport a truck back to the lab, making it a relatively easy mission.
Upgrades
Upgrades for the Meth Lab can be purchased through the laptop inside the lab, which you used during the setup process. There are three types of upgrades: Equipment, Staff, and Security. Among these, the upgrades that directly affect productivity are Equipment and Staff, so I strongly recommend purchasing these two upgrades.
Equipment Upgrade
The Equipment Upgrade doubles the amount of product produced from the same amount of supplies and also increases the selling price. With this upgrade, refilling supplies by purchasing costs $187,500, but without the upgrade, it costs $375,000, making it highly inefficient not to upgrade. The selling price also increases by about 15%.
When comparing before and after the upgrade, you can see that the equipment materials improve, and the quantity of equipment increases.
Staff Upgrade
The Staff Upgrade increases both production speed and selling profit. Selling profit increases by 15%, and production speed becomes roughly twice as fast. With the upgrade applied, it takes about 6 hours for the product to fill.
When comparing before and after the upgrade, you can see that the number of staff members has increased by around two times.
Security Upgrade
The Security Upgrade reduces the risk of your business being attacked, but it is not strictly necessary. Attacks do not occur if you avoid staying in the MC President status, and even if an attack does happen, it simply becomes a mission where you defeat enemies. If you fail, you can simply redo the setup, so this upgrade can be safely skipped.
Supplies / Sales
Supplies
You can restock supplies through resupply missions, which come in two types: buying supplies and stealing supplies. If you do not have the Equipment Upgrade, I recommend not buying supplies.
When purchasing supplies, each bar costs $15,000, with a maximum purchase of $75,000. The supplies arrive after 10 minutes of real time, and you will receive a message indicating that production has started immediately.
In the case of stealing supplies, there are two types of missions: package delivery and vehicle missions. Package delivery fills one bar of supplies, while vehicle missions fill two bars. You can tell which mission it is at the start if you see the message “This job requires a driver”, it is a vehicle mission.
Sales
There are two ways to sell accumulated product: sell missions and street dealer sales.
First, sell missions are the standard method and offer two options: near delivery and far delivery. If your Meth Lab is located in Blaine County, the far delivery location will be Los Santos, and if it is in Los Santos, the far delivery location will be Blaine County. Selling to a nearby location can earn up to $297,500, while selling to a far location can earn up to $446,250, which is roughly 1.5 times more profit.
If a mission is too difficult or results in significant stock loss, you can force-close the session and restart the mission. However, this will result in a small loss.
Street dealer sales involve selling products to NPCs that spawn randomly on the map. Each dealer has specific items they are willing to buy at a higher price, which are marked with a star icon. If you see this icon, it’s always recommended to sell to that dealer.
If you’d like to find more GTA-related information, feel free to check it out here.