This is one of the most common questions we get on a residential brief, and the honest answer is: it depends on whether you're presenting one building or a whole development. Here's how the two scales actually compare.
1:200 — Multi-Unit Estates
1:200 is our most common scale for residential estate models, and for a specific reason: it's detailed enough that a buyer can locate their exact unit and read its relationship to neighbours, amenities, and the road network — without the overall model becoming too large for a sales gallery to display comfortably.
We built a 1:200 model for a 120-unit residential estate in Lekki, Lagos — a mix of 3-bedroom terrace houses and 4-bedroom semi-detached units across a phased site. The model became the centrepiece of the developer's sales gallery, and 90% of Phase 1 units were reserved within 90 days of the gallery opening. At 1:200, the model showed the full estate — every unit, the amenity pool, the road network, the landscaping — on a base that stayed a manageable 1800mm × 1200mm.
If we'd built that same 120-unit estate at 1:100, the base would have needed to be roughly four times the footprint to show the same buildings at the larger scale — a size that stops being practical for most sales gallery spaces, and a cost increase to match.
1:100 — Single Buildings
1:100 is where we go when the presentation is about one building rather than a whole site. At this scale, facade rhythm, glazing patterns, and material character become genuinely visible — the kind of detail that matters for a corporate headquarters or a standalone architectural showcase. We've built corporate headquarters and commercial towers at 1:100, where the closer scale let us represent things like a blue-glass façade system with the clarity and rhythm the design called for.
Making the Call
Quick Guide
Choose 1:200 if: you're presenting a multi-unit estate or development where buyers need to see the whole site and locate their unit within it.
Choose 1:100 if: you're presenting a single building where facade detail, material character, or architectural design quality is the point of the presentation.
A mixed approach is also possible — some clients commission a 1:200 masterplan-level model of the full estate alongside a 1:100 model of a single flagship building or show unit, using each scale for what it does best.
For more on how scale choices apply beyond residential projects, see our guides on architectural model scales explained and how to choose the right scale. See our residential model page for more on what we build, or the full case study on the 120-unit Lekki estate.