How much does BIM modeling cost for a house?
BIM models are priced per square foot of floor area, by level of development, with a minimum per model. What LOD 200 and LOD 300 mean for a house, why the minimum often decides the price, and how to compare two quotes.
By Jovan Milivojević, founder and lead designerPublished 6 min read
BIM modeling is usually priced per square foot (or square meter) of floor area, at a rate set by the level of development (LOD), with a minimum per model. For a single-family house, the minimum often decides the price, because a house is small next to the buildings most BIM rates are written for. At CAD ART studio, a LOD 200 model costs $0.19 per ft² ($2.00 per m²) with a minimum of $1,200, and a LOD 300 model $0.44 per ft² ($4.70 per m²) with a minimum of $1,500. This guide explains what those levels mean for a house, what else moves a quote, and how to compare one quote with another. It's written by the team behind our production support for studios and builders, and our own prices are included.
The short answer
| What you're buying | How it's usually priced | Our starting price |
|---|---|---|
| A LOD 200 model of a house | Per ft² of floor area, with a minimum | $0.19 per ft², minimum $1,200 |
| A LOD 300 model of a house | Per ft² of floor area, with a minimum | $0.44 per ft², minimum $1,500 |
| A model from scans, a PDF set or a point cloud | Quoted from the files | A free fixed quote within 2 business days |
| Open-ended model work | By the hour or a monthly seat | A free fixed quote within 2 business days |
Our starting prices cover models of one- and two-family homes from clear inputs, such as a dimensioned DWG set or a settled design. Anything that has to be reconstructed first is quoted from your files.
What LOD 200 and LOD 300 mean for a house
The level of development says how far each element of a model can be relied on. The usual reference is the BIMForum LOD Specification, which builds on the AIA's definitions. At LOD 200, an element is a generic placeholder with approximate quantity, size, shape, location and orientation. At LOD 300, it is a specific element whose quantity, size, shape, location and orientation are defined.
On a house, the difference tends to look like this:
| Element | LOD 200 | LOD 300 |
|---|---|---|
| Walls | Generic walls at about the right thickness | Walls modeled as their actual assemblies, at their real thickness |
| Floors and roofs | Generic slabs and roof planes | Real assemblies, with the actual thickness, pitch and overhangs |
| Doors and windows | Openings of approximately the right size | Specific units at their real sizes and sill heights |
| Stairs | A generic stair in the right place | The stair with its real rise, run and landings |
| Rooms | Rough spaces | Rooms with areas that can be scheduled |
LOD describes elements, not a whole model, so a good quote sets it element by element: the walls at LOD 300, say, and the furniture at LOD 200 or left out. A quote that says only "LOD 300 model" leaves both sides to guess.
LOD 200 suits early design, massing studies and models that mainly feed renderings. LOD 300 suits a model that drawings, schedules and consultants will rely on.
Why a house often pays the minimum
A model has a fixed cost before the first wall goes in: setting up your template, levels, materials and library, and checking the result. That cost is roughly the same for a 1,500 ft² house as for a 3,000 ft² one, which is why per-square-foot rates come with a minimum.
At our rates, the LOD 200 minimum covers a house of several thousand square feet, so most single-family homes pay the minimum and nothing more; the per-square-foot rate applies above it. Our prices show the exact area each minimum covers. When you compare quotes, compare the total for your house, not the rate per square foot.
What else moves a BIM quote
- The inputs. A clean DWG set or a settled design models fastest. Vector PDFs need checking, scans need redrawing, and a point cloud needs interpreting. Our guide to PDF to CAD conversion explains why each takes longer.
- The element scope. Which elements are in, at which LOD, and which are out. Most house models cover the architecture; structure, services, site and furniture are a scope of their own when they're needed.
- Your template. The first job includes working in your template and standards; repeat work reuses that setup.
- Drawings from the model. Plans, sections, elevations and schedules placed on sheets are a separate deliverable from the model itself.
- Changes after modeling. A change to the design once the model is built changes the model, so it's priced as a change, before the work is done.
- Timing. Priority work adds 25% and starts within 2 business days; small scopes of up to 8 hours can be back the next business day for 50% more, subject to capacity.
What the market charges
Published BIM prices are rare, and most of those you'll find come from scan-to-BIM firms, which model existing buildings from laser scans. One such guide, published by Arrival 3D in March 2025, puts small residential projects at about 2,500–5,000 US dollars at LOD 200 and about 5,000–8,000 at LOD 300–400. Those prices cover field scanning, point-cloud registration and modeling (Arrival 3D's guide), so they are not directly comparable to a model built from a clean drawing set.
Hourly rates vary as widely. In the bands we compared in September 2026, low-cost offshore BIM modeling ran at about 30–60 US dollars an hour; our guide to what outsourced CAD drafting costs sets out the bands by delivery model and the true cost of an in-house hire.
How to compare two BIM quotes
Put both quotes on the same footing before you look at the totals:
- Area. Which floor area does the rate apply to, and does it include garages, basements and covered outdoor areas?
- LOD by element. Which elements are at LOD 200, which at LOD 300, and which are left out?
- Inputs. Is the quote based on the files you actually have, or on clean inputs you'd still have to produce?
- Deliverables. IFC, native files, PDF sheets: which, in which version, and are drawings from the model included?
- Revisions. How many rounds of markups are included, and how is a design change priced?
- Checking. Who checks the model before it reaches you, and against what?
- Hours. How much of your working day overlaps with your partner's, so questions are answered the same day?
Our checklist for outsourcing CAD drafting turns the last three into a process, from the NDA to the markup loop.
A model or CAD drawings?
A model pays off when you need plans, sections and elevations that stay consistent with each other through every change, schedules of doors, windows and rooms, renderings from the same geometry, or an IFC file for consultants. When all you need is sheets updated from your markups, CAD drafting is usually faster and cheaper: drawing sheets start from $180 and redline updates from $60 per sheet.
Our prices, and how to start
CAD ART studio models one- and two-family homes in Archicad, in your template, to an agreed element scope at LOD 200 or LOD 300, and delivers IFC with PDF sheets; native files are agreed in the quote. Every package is checked by a senior lead before it reaches you. If your office works in Archicad, see our Archicad BIM modeling services; for every price, see our drafting and BIM outsourcing prices. Send us your drawings for a free quote; we reply within one business day, with questions or a fixed price.
