Renovation work is where I see the most confusion between two genuinely different Revit tools — Phasing and Design Options — used for two genuinely different jobs. Mixing them up creates documentation that misrepresents what's existing, what's demolished, and what's proposed, which is exactly the kind of error that causes site disputes.
Phasing: for "what exists when," not "what we're choosing between"
Phasing tracks the actual chronological state of a building — Existing, Demolished, New Construction — and Revit uses this to automatically generate demolition plans and existing-condition documentation from the same model. Set each element's "Phase Created" and "Phase Demolished" correctly, and Revit handles the graphics (existing elements in halftone, demolished elements with demo patterns) without you manually overriding anything.
Design Options: for "which version are we still deciding between"
Design Options exist for genuinely alternative proposals within the same phase — say, two different lobby layouts you're presenting to a client for sign-off. Once a decision is made, the chosen option gets accepted into the "main model" and the rejected options are deleted. Design Options are not meant to represent chronological building states — using them for that purpose (instead of Phasing) is the single most common misuse I see, and it makes the eventual handover model a mess to untangle.
The renovation workflow that actually works
| Step | What to do |
|---|---|
| 1. Model existing conditions | Set Phase = "Existing" on all current building elements, ideally from survey/scan data |
| 2. Mark demolition | Set "Phase Demolished" on elements being removed; Revit auto-generates demo plan graphics |
| 3. Model new work | Set Phase = "New Construction" on all proposed elements |
| 4. Use Design Options only for undecided alternatives | Within the New Construction phase, not as a substitute for phasing |
| 5. Set up phase filters per view | Existing, Demo, and New Work views each need the correct phase filter applied |
Common mistakes that wreck renovation documentation
- Forgetting to set "Phase Created" on existing-condition elements — they default to the current phase and won't appear correctly halftoned in existing-condition views.
- Using Design Options across phases — creates graphics that don't match what Phasing expects and confuses anyone reviewing the model later.
- Not setting a phase filter on each view — without it, every view shows everything from every phase overlapping, which is unreadable.
Why this matters for clash detection too
If you're running clash detection on a renovation project and phasing isn't set correctly, you'll get false-positive clashes between elements being demolished and new work that's actually fine — because both appear "live" in the model simultaneously to Navisworks unless phase filters are respected in the exported view. Getting phasing right upstream saves real coordination time downstream.
Renovation-specific workflows like phasing and existing-condition documentation are part of the applied project work in our Structure plan. Full details on the Programs page.
