An AR system to assist with installation of wire harnesses identifies landmarks in the installation environment and continuously orients 3D models of the wire harness components with reference to the landmarks in 3D space. The 3D models are rendered in an AR device to correspond to the placement in 3D space with respect to the landmarks. The installation process is broken down into steps and sub-steps. An installer may install the wire harness according to predefined steps and be presented with higher granularity instructions upon request. The higher granularity sub-steps may include additional 3D models.