How to handle large number of models?

You can put models under another user defined folder, just namespace correctly.

Taylor says

Models typically live in the app directory, but you are free to place them anywhere that can be auto-loaded according to your composer.json file. 

Also, some of the database tables where there are no relations just use the querybuilder. Just place

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\DB;

in controller.

Do not use DB on your controller, since your intention is to have a large number of files, this will cause your controllers to grow faster. My advice is to create a folder Models and fill it all with models, exactly as @jlrdw 's first suggestion.

/app
    /Models
        // other models
        FooModel.php
        BarModel.php

Remember to change namespaces.

Thank you for your suggestions @jlrdw and @ricardovigatti . So I guess all models should be inside ONE parent folder; and not multiple folders.

In that case, I think it'd better to have them in their default position.

nothing to stop you having app/Models/Job/Job.php and having a folder per category of model

It just depends if it makes it easier for you to group them or just have an alphabetical list

@Snapey - But will I lose the ability to create models with Artisan? What files or specific changes will be required to make stuff work with Laravel's tools?

you can use artisan...just include the namespace relative to "app" (on my mac anyway).

artisan make:model Test/Test

creates /app/Test/Test.php model

And it namespaces it automatically as App\Test.

You can also create it like artisan make:model Test\\Test (escaping the slash with a slash) and it will create the same as above. I prefer the first method because in my mind I'm creating a directory and file, and the other way with 2 backslashes is more like creating a namespace, which seems weird from the cli.

So I guess all models should be inside ONE parent folder; and not multiple folders.

No that is not what I said, I showed what Taylor has in the docs, you can have 50 different model folders if you wish, just namespace them correctly.

Some of our applications also have a large number of models, but with a strict naming concept it's no problem to handle it. But sure, it depends on your needs.

So I guess all models should be inside ONE parent folder; and not multiple folders.

You can use multiple level of folders if necessary.

/app
    /Models
        Auth
            UserModel.php
            UserRelatedModel.php
        FooModel.php
        BarModel.php