lol 6k sq ft is pretty damn big. that’s going to take a lot of lights. is always go with the “daylight” led lights not sure in a led 8ft fluorescent style. but they usually come out to 30w. work great but i’d just ask home depot or some were local if the lights your going to buy if they are compatible with the ballast you have in the current light.

Andrew, yes it is. The shop space will be about 5200 sq. Ft. The rest will be about 600 of office and lobby, with restroom. My only real concern is the shop area. Want the guys to have good light to work in and not to mention the need for energy savings.

So with led tubes you wouldn't go any less than 5500 k?
I was hoping to get a few more takes on what others have done for they're shops. I know that I will also paint the interior of ship area. I will also place some 4ft. drops over work areas and cut/sew area. Looking for any feedback on lumens and color... or brand even.

can you use the existing lighting for the shop and a low hanging led over each machine and table? COSTCO is selling 4ft led lights for $20. hope this helps.

I would read up Here lots of professional advice

Wow that's a big space. I Just changed my shop to led tubes and I absolutely love them, but I'm in a 22 x 24 garage.

This is what I used for my lights. Maybe they would work for your main work and office area. Customers always want to look at samples in natural light, and I have to say that these are fairly close. Although nothing can replace natural light. Maybe you could add some sky lights and a few more windows to let in the natural light. LED's are very cost effective, but sunlight is free.

I have 2500 sq feet and removed the old ballasts/florescents and plugged in some 8 foot VLED bulbs.
Removing the ballasts is the only way to go. Mine are the Vled which is 2 rows of LED aiming a little away from each other which gives double the output on each light. 72w each bulb with 6000k cool white color. Daylights are too yellow IMO.
Dont beat yourself up about saving over 50% of electricity cost btw. I spent around $475 on 25 bulbs or something like that. 5 year warranty.

Not sure it would be up to a big building like you have- but I love the costco LED strips & replacement LED tubes.
I had 4 4' strip lights in my 25x25 garage/shop, they would always eat the fluorescent bulbs... usually about a year was the max i'd get out of a bulb. Was pretty expensive so i never added any more fixtures. Then I changed over to the costco retrofit LED bulbs- and wow what a difference. Super bright, Instant on, no hum, no cold weather flicker, and already been more than a year without eating any bulbs.
I picked up 4 more of their 4' LED strip light fixtures from the same MFG and put them up on a different switch.
I love it- its like working in an operating room now.

I'm going to buy a couple more and put up in my attic soon.

One thing to consider is how the lights will be wired. Some fixtures allow you to plug into one another which makes for easy wiring. Also consider which lights will go on which switches. If you're looking to save money on your electric bill keep in mind there is no sense in lighting areas that you're not working in at the time. At my shop, I only light the bay that I'm working in.

You can buy the ones that Costco sells. They piggy back off of each other. To make it cheaper, try to salvage for 14-2 cable above so that you will not have to buy a new roll. Its really easy to wire up lights.

Considering LEDS...
anything below 5000k starts turning yellow
5000k is usually the clearest
5000k-6500k is daylight temperature (brightest)...
anything over 5000k starts turning blue

I have a daylight fluorescent in my garage... still haven't upgraded to led... My sewing machine has a daylight led bulb LOL.

Check out Big Ass Fans led lights