the wall panels look good to me. is it possible to vary the dimensions of the high and the low parts?
as for polycounts, i have not the foggiest. i know too little of 3d progs. as said, the only prog i can manage is sketchup which works good for houses and interiors and i can manage very high detail although i found out that i had to draw some parts separately and combine them in a final drawing as the prog reacted very, very slowly if i did not. a little cottage i drew in detail, including pantiles (instead of a texture) proved too much to handle. don't know how to work around that yet.

"The light at the end of the tunnel may be an oncoming train"