The Methamphetamine Lab is one of the five businesses you gain access to once you own a Motorcycle Club.

These businesses don't necessarily create as much income as other content, such as the Cayo Perico Heist, and despite what some people say they're not exactly passive income, but they do accomplish a lot of the work passively, making for a quick influx of cash after just a few sell missions.

For some of these businesses the rate on investment, both of time and money, is well worth it. The Methamphetamine Lab is one of them, along with the Counterfeit Cash Factory and the Cocaine Lockup. In this article we’ll tell you everything you need to know about how to set up the Methamphetamine Lab in GTA V Online, from locations to upgrades to max payout and more so read on!

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GTA V Online Methamphetamine Lab Best Location

As with all GTA V Online businesses, the only things that really make one location better than another are price and convenience. The businesses themselves are exactly the same no matter the location.

Here's a list of all the Methamphetamine Lab locations and their prices in GTA V Online:

  • Grand Senora Desert (GTA$ 910,000)
  • Paleto Bay (GTA$ 1,024,800)
  • Terminal (GTA$ 1,365,000)
  • El Burro Heights (GTA$ 1,729,000)

Our recommendation is to just choose the least expensive one: The Grand Senora Desert location. The nice thing about this is it has a convenience factor as well: If you plan to also purchase the Counterfeit Cash Factory and the Cocaine Lockup, the Grand Senora Desert Methamphetamine Lab is close to both of them, as well as the cheapest Motorcycle Clubhouse location.

That means you can complete all of your sell missions in a row without having to drive all over San Andreas (at least, not quite as much). If you also purchase a close-by Bunker location then you're really set for some profitable bulk sell mission sessions.

How To Set Up A Methamphetamine Lab in GTA V Online

For each of the MC Club businesses you'll need to complete an initial setup mission.

In the case of the Methamphetamine Lab, you need to steal a truck full of supplies and bring it back to the lab. This is pretty easy but if you're not sure what to do, follow these steps:

  1. Once you purchase the business, drive to it and go inside.
  2. Access the laptop and select Set Up.
  3. Drive to the location indicated and get in the truck.
  4. At this point, if you're in a public session, you'll become visible to other players and they may try to destroy or steal your supplies. If you don't want to deal with that be sure to start this setup in a private session.
  5. Once you get the truck back to your Methamphetamine Lab, the mission will be complete.

Once you're done with the setup mission you'll be ready for business! However, we wouldn't recommend getting started quite yet. This business really only becomes worthwhile once you've made a few upgrades.

GTA V Online Methamphetamine Lab Upgrades

Once you've completed the setup mission you can go back to the laptop inside your Methamphetamine Lab to purchase upgrades. See the options, and their prices, below.

Methamphetamine Lab Upgrades

  • Equipment Upgrade (GTA$ 1,100,000) - Speeds up production rate, increases product value, makes supplies last longer.
  • Staff Upgrade (GTA$ 331,500) - Speeds up production rate, increases value of product.
  • Security Upgrade (GTA$ 513,000) - Reduces chance of raids or attacks.

We highly recommend both the Equipment Upgrade and the Staff Upgrade as soon as possible. This will greatly increase the payout potential (see the grid below for details). The Security Upgrade is not really necessary. Raids and Attacks are pretty rare, but when they do happen they're pretty annoying so it's up to you whether you want a little bit of extra protection.

GTA V Online Methamphetamine Lab Max Payout

The grid above shows you exactly how your payout will change when you change different variables of your business.

To get absolute max payout you'll want the following things:

  • Equipment and Staff Upgrades
  • Sell Remote
  • Steal Supplies

However, if you want the maximum value for your time, we recommend one change: Don't steal the supplies. These missions are annoying and can take a while. If you're really hurting for that $15,000, earn it in a quicker mission like the Sightseer or Headhunter missions, then go purchase your supplies.

How to Run a Methamphetamine Lab In GTA V Online

In case it's not clear, here's how all MC Club businesses, as well as the Bunker, work:

  1. Get supplies (by buying or stealing)
  2. Wait for product to be made
  3. Sell product
  4. Repeat

As mentioned above, some people consider this to be a passive income business because the product creation part is passive. (There are some actually passive ways to make money in GTA V Online. Check out our article on it, How to Get Completely Passive Income in GTA V Online.

Most people will start out a gaming session by making sure their supplies are maxed out. Then they'll do whatever they feel like, be it working on the Cayo Perico Heist or maybe gathering some Daily Collectibles, etc. Some players even just go afk to wait for their businesses to produce.

It will take 6 hours for your Methamphetamine Lab product to be fully stocked, but if you're playing solo you'll want to sell earlier than that. This is because if you have too much stock you'll have quite a few vehicles full of stock to deliver and will likely run out of time before you can deliver it all.

If you're in a private session, and thus don't have to worry about other players slowing you down, you can probably sell at least half the maximum amount of product by yourself successfully.

If you're not sure how to complete a sell mission, it's pretty much the same as Bunker sell missions, except the scenarios will be different and in general they are much simpler. Check out our article on How to Complete Bunker Sell Missions (Gunrunning) in GTA Online for general guidance on how to properly execute a sell mission.

Here's some more fun info: If you own a Nightclub you can run this business through there, making it an even more hands-off experience. Or if you prefer to look at all of your businesses in one places, you can purchase the Master Control Terminal upgrade for the Arcade and handle all of your businesses from there.

Is The Methamphetamine Lab Worth It In GTA V Online

The Methamphetamine Lab is the second best MC Club business, after the Cocaine Lockup. The payout potential makes it definitely worth it.

The total setup cost of this property, including upgrades and the Grand Senora Desert location, is GTA$ 2,341,500. Within 39 hours you can make this much money back with the business. Once you make that money back the rest is pure profit.

The Methamphetamine Lab should be the second MC Club business you purchase as you put together your collection of partially-passive businesses.

Why Is My GTA V Online Methamphetamine Lab Not Producing?

In case your Methamphetamine Lab stops working, here's some help that Rockstar Support offers to get it producing product again.

Question: What should I do if my Motorcycle Club business is not producing any product?

Answer: Whether you are managing your business through the Nightclub, the Master Control Terminal, or from your Motorcycle Club laptop, here are a few things to check to be sure your business can produce product:

Make sure all of the following conditions are met:

  • The Set-Up Mission for the business has been completed
  • The Business has supplies available
  • If you are managing the Business from the Nightclub, a Nightclub Technician must be assigned to the desired product
  • You are playing while registered as a Motorcycle Club President

Depending on the product, you should see your product level increase after 30 to 50 minutes of play if all of the above conditions are met.

If the business continues to not produce any product despite confirming everything written above, try the following steps:

  1. Shut down the Business.
  2. Play online in a public session for more than 30 minutes.
  3. Re-open the Business and play as a Motorcycle Club President, making sure the conditions above are met.