Well if he hasn't bought them yet then yes, it could hurt, his wallet. Personally, for veg, i use a single 125w envirolight cfl. They cost like £20 if that, and will happily veg a whole bunch of small plants or comfortably veg out a monster scrog.
I'd say a 250w metal halide would work best. but between cfl and led I'd go led if its a decent one you can also use t5 or t8 flouresents or even regular florescent shop lights but t5's are the best for flourescents but a mh will dominate all.