Revit vs SketchUp for Interior Design and Working Drawings

For layout options and presentation images, SketchUp can be a practical choice, especially if your team already works in it. For recurring interior projects with plans, elevations, tags and schedules, Revit lets you organise those deliverables around one model. The choice depends on the complete drawing package and how you handle revisions.

Start with your deliverables

List what you need to deliver. For a job limited to layout options and presentation images, weigh the preparation involved in switching software against your speed in a familiar application.

If the package includes furniture plans, interior elevations, door tags and schedules, examine how those documents relate to one another. When sizes and quantities change often, you need to be able to check that the model and its data still agree.

Task	SketchUp	Revit
Explore form	Direct editing of faces, groups and components	Modelling tools and families with defined behaviour
Prepare drawings	Model views can be used in LayOut documents	Plans, sections, elevations and sheets belong to the project
Repeat objects	Components and their properties	Families, types and instance parameters
Obtain quantities and data	Component attributes can be reported	Schedules use categories and available parameters
Review a revision	Check the model and associated documents	Check views, schedules and manual annotations

SketchUp supports documentation and data

SketchUp components can carry attributes, and Generate Report can export that information. LayOut can produce documents using model views. Tool availability depends on the product and licence in use. See SketchUp's documentation for attribute reports and LayOut documents.

If your practice has prepared components and drawing conventions, this process may already work well. Check how much manual work each revision requires and whether the documents meet the job's requirements.

In Revit, define the information you need

Revit can use element parameters in schedules. You still need to choose the categories, fields and modelling approach. A chair model in an unsuitable category may be absent from the furniture schedule you expected. Manually entered text does not automatically become a reliable description of the object.

Start with a small schedule. Decide which elements it counts, which dimensions it needs and how those dimensions relate to the geometry. Test a change on one object.

This is particularly useful for an interior practice producing similar drawing packages repeatedly. Prepared families and a template let the team reuse a project structure it has already established.

Compare one revision in both applications

Use a completed room and a revision your practice has already made. Start from the same approved layout in each application, using your normal components or families. Apply the same change, then update the affected plan, elevation and furniture list.

Check where you must enter information again, which dimensions update and which parts need manual correction. Measure the complete revision, including the sheets. The speed of creating the first model alone does not show how quickly you can deliver the project.

Revit views and schedules use model information, but manual notes, separate lines and some settings still need checking. Those connections only work where you have configured them.

If you choose Revit

Prepare a library around interior tasks. Begin with objects whose dimensions and arrangements change frequently. The kitchen families and wardrobe families let you test modelling and quantities in one room.

The BIMCORE full set can provide that starting library if you want familiar families across different parts of an interior. Test the adjustments you need and the resulting drawings first. Use those results to decide which categories you need for the next project.

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