electrical service
Commercial Lighting & LED Retrofits
Retrofit aging fluorescent and HID lighting to LED — better light, lower energy use, fewer ladder trips — scoped around how your building operates.
What a retrofit is actually for
The best commercial lighting projects start with an operating problem, not a product: a warehouse where re-lamping HID bays means a lift rental every time, an office with flicker and mismatched color from decades of piecemeal lamp swaps, a retail floor where the lighting works against the merchandise, or a parking area where dark zones are a liability question. Name the problem and the design follows.
The walkthrough
A useful retrofit scope comes from the building, so we start there: fixture counts and types, ceiling heights and conditions, existing controls, how spaces are actually occupied through the day, and access realities — lifts, locked tenant spaces, clean areas. From that comes a design that addresses light levels and uniformity, color consistency, controls that match how the space is used, and the electrical condition of the circuits feeding it all. Aging ballasts and brittle wiring found during a retrofit are better handled in the same scope than discovered afterward.
Title 24, handled inside the scope
California’s Title 24 energy code applies to most commercial lighting alterations, and it can require controls you didn’t plan on — occupancy sensing, daylight-responsive dimming near glazing, multi-level control. We flag what your scope triggers during design, price it into the project honestly, and include the documentation the inspection needs. Budget surprises at inspection are a planning failure, and they’re avoidable.
Phasing around your operation
Occupied-building work is a sequencing exercise: which areas can be worked live, which need off-peak windows, where staging can live, and how each day’s work ends with the space usable. Multi-tenant buildings add notice and access coordination. Bring your operating constraints to the first conversation and the schedule is designed around them, not negotiated after mobilization.
Questions about this service
Retrofit kits or full fixture replacement — which is right?
It depends on the fixture condition, ceiling type, and what Title 24 triggers for your scope. Retrofit kits reuse sound fixture bodies at lower cost; replacement makes sense when housings are degraded or the space needs a different light layout. A walkthrough settles it faster than a catalog.
Does a lighting retrofit really require permits and code compliance?
In California, most commercial lighting alterations fall under Title 24 energy requirements, which can pull mandatory controls — occupancy sensors, daylighting, multi-level switching — into the scope. Pretending otherwise until an inspector notices is the expensive route.
Can the work happen without shutting down my business?
Lighting retrofits phase well — by area, by circuit, by floor. Tell us your operating pattern and blackout dates, and the work plan is built around them.
