managing prims in a big build

I am currently embarking on my first sizeable building and am wondering if anybody has any rule-of-thumb guidance on allocating prims to different bits of the build?

what percentage of prims is reasonable for the basic building and what percentage for other items like furniture? How many should I leave as spare?

I am sure it all "depends" on lots of things, but how do you more experienced builders make sure you are "still ok for prims" at different stages of a build?

I tend to go by the "Crap, that's too many prims" method...

I don't build most of my stuff for other people so I tend to be high on prims for my homes and furniture.

I honestly think there are not set rules or guidleines. It really does depend more so on the individual builder as firstly a builder, secondly a designer and how they are going to texture the end product.

Some creators design their own textures and therefore can minimise prim usage. Others that are not so fortunate rely solely on in world textures which will undoubtedly add to your prim count.

As you are about to embark on building your first sizeable house, you will encounter numerous problems and will most likely post more threads here.

If you are familiar with the SL tools then reducing the prim count will be down to your skill at shaping, cutting, moulding etc, imagination and texture availability.

With regards to spare prims etc, you will have to take into account the size of land that will be required to house your build. You will not be able to predict each individuals taste and desires as each and everyone of us will want to furnish a house in diferent ways.

Just remember the amount of prims available on each plot of land. As a rule of thumb guide for every 512sqm multiply by 117.
So for example building a house that sits on a 512sqm plot can have a maximum base size of 30m x 15m. Now you could build a house that takes 90 prims, but you could not really advertise it to fit a 512sqm plot as this would only leave the owner 27 prims to furnish it. Thats would be a decent chair with a couple of pose balls at best.

I wish you luck.

Also, if you are taking building seriously, then you will most definitely need to invest in some form of rezzing sytem to erect and position your builds. You will also require various scripts to make things happen, ie; doors open and close are the basic and to assist you with building, prim alignment tools will also help and speed up the process.

I go by the size and quality of the build I'm doing.

If it's going to be a very high quality building, with a unique shape, then it will take quite a few more than a basic box building.

Essentially, I'd say work it out on papr or in your mind if you can, and see where its possible to use one prim for multiple walls and such, or see if it's possible to do the design in a reasonable amount of prims.

You should be able to do most buildings, withut deco items in under 75 prims (My Home is three stories, has a good roof, and is 40x30 and fits within this)

The main problem for prims that I've found is when you bring in outside items. If you build everything, you'll hvae your limits in mind, so you should be able to do things that look good but don't cost too many prims (e.g. use part of the furniture for poses, not a poseball prim).

Using this way of doing things, I have never run out of prims before getting to my desired finish, except when my current client kept going out and buying things (That I could have built with less prims..seriously that gets annoying) and placing them.

I try to leave 1/4 to 1/3 of the available prims in a parcel free for furnishings and other items that will get added after the building itself is completed.

For the most part I try to be as economical on prims as I can without sacrificing quality or usability. Using custom textures can drop the prim counts a lot.