Offices, hallways and commercial interiors

In an office nobody thanks you for the savings. They notice the hum stopping and the glare going away.

Easiest retrofit to do cheaply, easiest one to get wrong. The measure of success is whether people stop complaining. These are the three complaints.

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Commercial interiors and ceilings, shot on the day

Warm white LED under cabinet lighting in a kitchen remodel in Edmonton — Warm white under cabinet in a kitchen remodel. Same crew, smaller job.

Commercial LED roofline lighting on a hotel exterior at night in Edmonton — Hotel roofline at night. The same fixture package a bylaw can reject three towns over.

LED high bay lighting in an industrial shop in Alberta — High bay in an industrial shop. Fewer fixtures, and the aisles still read.

LED high bay lighting over a CNC machining shop in Alberta — CNC machining shop. Task light on the bench, not lumens on the ceiling.

LED high bay lighting in a heavy fabrication shop with an overhead crane, Alberta — Heavy fabrication under an overhead crane. Fixture height set by the crane, not the roof.

LED garage bay lighting upgrade in Alberta — Garage bays. Instant on in an unheated space, which fluorescent will not do.

Outdoor LED area lighting over an industrial yard in Edmonton — Industrial yard. Full cutoff optic, because the light belongs on your gravel.

Swipe. Interior ceiling work first. No office grid photo in here yet, and I am not going to borrow somebody else's.

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What business customers say

Nobody has left us a review on a lighting retrofit yet, so I am not going to show you one. These two are real, from a business customer and a repeat electrical customer.

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“I highly recommend Dima for any electrical work! He's professional, knowledgeable, and goes above and beyond to make sure the job is done right. Whether it's solar, EV charger installs, or other electrical needs, Dima takes the time to explain everything clearly and deliver top-quality work. He's reliable, efficient, and someone you can really trust to take care of your home or business. If you're looking for great service and peace of mind, Dima is the guy to call!”

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“Raydn Renewables is an amazing company. Their attitude and attention to detail as well as their quality of service stands out above every electrical and solar company we've worked with in the entire Alberta area. It's been a pleasure working with Raydn for their professionalism, organization and politeness. Look forward to working with them soon again in the future.”

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You hear it

Ballast hum

Loudest in a quiet room

You squint at it

Glare on screens

Wrong diffuser, wrong angle

You stare at it

One flickering tube

In the hallway, for months

All three cost more in goodwill than the fixture is worth. Dmitry Naboka, Master Electrician #13824, 14 years in the trade.

110 to 132 Wa four lamp troffer todaySame fixture, same four tubes, 20 percent apart depending on the ballast factor. That is why the calculator gives you a range instead of a number.Great Lakes Energy lighting wattage guide

4000 Knot 5000 KWhere people sit at a desk all day. 5000 K belongs in warehouses and yards. Getting this wrong makes a nice office feel like a clinic.IES recommended light levels compilation

347 Vis most commercial hereAnd STANDATA 24-ECB-030 restricts double ended lamp retrofits at 347 V. It is the reason I often recommend a new fixture in an office tower.Alberta STANDATA 24-ECB-030

Where the watts actually go, office

4 lamp T8 troffer

110 to 132 W a fixture

Plus the ballast hum in a quiet room.

LED tube, ballast removed

60 W a fixture

Cheapest path that kills the hum.

New LED fixture, 4000 K

50 W a fixture

4000 K, not 5000 K. 5000 K is the complaint I get called back on.

One for one. I do not thin out an office grid to hit a number.

A four lamp troffer, drawn to scale

4 lamp T8 troffer132 W

LED tube, ballast removed60 W

New LED fixture, 4000 K50 W

One for one. I do not thin out an office grid to make a number look better.

A troffer swap, drawn honestly

55 to 62%

less power a fixture

50 to 60 W against 110 to 132 W. In an office the hum going away is the thing people actually notice first.

The office spec

Four things that decide whether people like it

4000 K, and the same 4000 K everywhere

Warmer than a warehouse, and consistent. A hallway at 5000 K running into offices at 4000 K reads as one of them being broken. Pick it once, specify the same product for the fixtures you add later.

Glare on screens is the actual complaint

Everybody in an office is looking at a lit screen under a lit ceiling. The wrong diffuser puts a reflection of your fixture in the middle of somebody spreadsheet all day. This is a fixture selection issue, not a wattage issue.

Ballast hum is why they called you

A quiet room and an aging magnetic ballast are a bad combination, and it gets worse every year. Removing the ballast removes the hum. Leaving it in on a Type A retrofit does not.

347 V changes the recommendation

Most Alberta commercial and office buildings are 347 V.

Alberta STANDATA 24-ECB-030 treats a double ended lamp luminaire on a ballast over 150 V to ground that is disconnected and reconnected as a new luminaire requiring disconnecting means, and extends that to energy conservation retrofits.

So in a 347 V building the honest recommendation is usually a complete certified LED fixture, which also sidesteps the retrofit kit certification problem in STANDATA 24-ECB-002 entirely.

Alberta STANDATA 24-ECB-030 Alberta STANDATA 24-ECB-002 CSA C22.2 No. 250.1

The paths, on an office building

What each one does to your hum, your bill and your ceiling

Installed, all in, on a four lamp troffer. Bands, not quotes.
Path	A fixture	Load after, on 104	What you actually notice
LED tube on the existing ballast	$105 to $135	7.3 kW	The hum stays, because the ballast stays. Saves the least.
LED tube, ballast removed	$179 to $215	6.2 kW	Hum gone, nothing left to fail. Restricted at 347 V.
New LED panel, one for one	$241 to $275	4.2 to 5.7 kW	Best light quality, biggest cut, and the right answer on 347 V.
Daylight harvesting near the glazing	Quoted per job	A further cut on what is left	The row of fixtures beside the windows running at full output at noon in June is money burning.PNNL-21923 lighting control field study

The parts nobody quotes

Three real costs that show up on my quote and not on the low bid

$405permit on a $28,000 jobPlus a $16.20 Safety Codes Levy on the Edmonton 2026 schedule. Converting fluorescent to LED is an improvement, not maintenance, so it takes a permit.City of Edmonton commercial electrical permits Edmonton 2026 Planning and Development Fee Schedules, Appendix D

$1.00a tube at the Eco StationCommercial fee schedule. On 104 four lamp fixtures that is 416 tubes. It is not a big number but it is a real one and it belongs on the quote.Edmonton Eco Station accepted items and fees

Class 9UN2315, if your ballasts are pre 1980PCB waste, and the building owner is legally responsible. I count them, photograph the labels, manifest them and route them through Aevitas in Edmonton under EPEA approval 134-05-00.Environment and Climate Change Canada, PCB rules for electrical contractors Alberta PCB checklist Aevitas Edmonton, EPEA approval 134-05-00

Proof, and what is not in it

Example buildings, real fixture counts, real prices

Two example buildings, drawn at the fixture count I quote

104 fixtures, an example Edmonton shop

94 fixtures, an example dealership showroom

Every square is one fixture. Example buildings at the counts and prices I actually quote, not round numbers.

Connected lighting load on the example shop, before and after

Before, T12 on magnetics20.0 kW

After, new fixtures5.2 kW

Same shop, same ceiling, same aisles. Four priced options, and the middle one is the one I would do.

104 fixturesExample, Edmonton shopFour priced options on one page, $11,443 to $26,242 all in at my prices. Connected lighting load 20.0 kW down to 5.2 kW on the new fixture option. The middle option is the one I would do.

94 fixturesExample dealership showroom$21,026.25 all in at my prices, about $213 a fixture. A showroom is the hardest room to light because the customer is judging paint colour under it.

Lot lightingExample commercial lot, EdmontonCommercial lot lighting, priced as an example. Pole work, bonding per CEC Rule 30-1024(1), and a photometric layout instead of a guess at fixture count.

Dmitry Naboka, Master Electrician #13824, 14 years in the trade. Co owner Kyle V., Journeyman. Five person crew, no subcontractors. Raydn Renewables has been trading since August 2025.

Who is actually on your roof and in your ceiling

What the low bid leaves out on an office

Five things that are true, cost you money, and are missing from almost every office lighting quote

There is no LED rebate in Alberta right now

Energy Efficiency Alberta was wound up in 2020. The Emissions Reduction Alberta Energy Savings for Business program is closed and fully allocated. SEMI is industrial only. If a competitor payback calculation has a rebate line in it, that payback is made up. My calculator has no rebate field, and that is deliberate.

ERA Energy Savings for Business program overview ERA Energy Savings for Business FAQ EnergyRates.ca on the wound up Alberta business program

The write off is real, though

Commercial lighting normally lands in capital cost allowance Class 8 at 20 percent declining balance, and Class 8 qualifies for the accelerated first year allowance through 2027. Talk to your accountant about that, not to me. I am an electrician.

CRA capital cost allowance classes

The 347 volt trap, and why the cheap swap stops being cheap

Alberta STANDATA 24-ECB-030 says a luminaire with double ended lamps on a ballast rated over 150 volts to ground, disconnected and reconnected, counts as a new luminaire and needs disconnecting means. It extends that to energy conservation retrofits. Most Alberta warehouses and commercial buildings are 347 volt. So the cheap ballast bypass lands inside that sentence. A new fixture with no double ended lamps does not.

Alberta STANDATA 24-ECB-030

Field modifying a certified fixture voids its certification

A proper retrofit uses a certified retrofit product and a new label on every single fixture, per CSA C22.2 No. 250.1, and the retrofit kit has to be certified for the fixture it goes into per STANDATA 24-ECB-002. I price the label. Most low bids do not, and the building owner inherits that at insurance or resale time.

CSA C22.2 No. 250.1 Alberta STANDATA 24-ECB-002

The row of fixtures beside the windows is burning money at noon in June

Daylight harvesting on the glazing row cuts what is left after the retrofit, not what you started with. It is quoted per job because it depends on your glazing and your ceiling, and most office quotes never mention it exists.

All six of the general ones, plus the pricing The full guide

Straight answers

What I get asked on offices and commercial interiors

Should I use 4000 K or 5000 K in an office?

4000 K. 5000 K belongs in warehouses, shops and yards where you want contrast and alertness. In a room where people sit at a desk all day, 5000 K reads as clinical. Whatever you pick, use the same one everywhere including the fixtures you add later.

Will an LED retrofit stop the buzzing in my ceiling?

Only if the ballast comes out. The hum is the ballast. Putting an LED tube on top of the existing ballast, which is the cheapest option, leaves the buzzing exactly where it was.

My building is 347 V. What changes?

Alberta STANDATA 24-ECB-030
treats a double ended lamp luminaire on a ballast over 150 V to ground that is disconnected and reconnected as a new luminaire needing disconnecting means
And it extends that
to energy conservation retrofits
In practice
that pushes a 347 V office toward complete certified LED fixtures rather than a tube retrofit

And that also sidesteps the retrofit kit certification problem in STANDATA 24-ECB-002.

Can you do the work after hours?

Yes, and in an office that is usually the right call. We work zone by zone. A 100 fixture retrofit is normally two to four days with the five person crew.

The rest of the LED work

Next step

Book the walkdown

Free. About an hour.You get a written scope with the option prices side by side.

What I measure while I am there

1
I count the fixtures
2
I meter one
3
I listen for ballast hum room by room
4
I confirm your supply voltage
5
I check what the ceiling grid will take before I show up

In an office the complaint list matters more than the fixture count, so bring it.

Run the calculator Call a Master Electrician Honest quote in 24 hours

I do the walkdown myself. I meter a fixture, count what is actually up there, read your municipal lighting bylaw before I show up, and hand you a written scope with the option prices side by side. No pressure, and no rebate that does not exist.

Dmitry Naboka, Master Electrician #13824, 14 years in the trade