Choosing the Right LOD for Your Project
Level of Development (LOD) defines how much geometric and information detail a model element carries at a given stage. Modeling everything to LOD 400 from day one is rarely the right call — it slows early design exploration and inflates cost for information nobody needs yet.
A practical approach is to set LOD targets per phase: rough massing at LOD 100–200 for early design, coordination-ready detail at LOD 300 once systems are locked, and fabrication-level LOD 400 only for elements that are actually being fabricated from the model.
Being explicit about LOD targets in your BIM execution plan avoids the most common friction point between design teams and modeling partners: mismatched expectations about what 'done' looks like.
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