How to: Default Project Phases
Written By Timothy Murenzi
Last updated 9 days ago
Set up the phases your studio uses on every project — once, in Settings — and Workroom will pre-load them on every new project, every estimate, every invoice line item, and every timelog entry. No more re-typing "Concept Development → Schematic → Design Dev → CDs" on each project.
Where to find it
Settings → Project Settings → Project Phases
You'll see a list of your current phases with drag handles, an order, and the option to add, edit, or remove rows.
Setting up your phase list
Each phase has two fields:
Add a phase
Click + Add phase.
Type the name.
Drop it into position by dragging the handle on the left, or set its Order number directly.
Repeat for every phase your studio uses end-to-end.
Edit a phase
Click into the name field and retype. Drag the row to reorder. Changes save automatically.
Remove a phase
Click the trash icon at the right of the row. Workroom will warn you if any project, estimate, invoice, or timelog is currently using that phase before removing.
Common phase lists
Residential interior design:
Discovery
Concept Development
Schematic Design
Design Development
Construction Documents
Procurement
Installation
Project Close-out
Commercial / hospitality:
Programming
Schematic Design
Design Development
Construction Documents
Bidding & Negotiation
Construction Administration
Punch List
FF+E only:
Specifications
Client Presentation
Approvals
Procurement
Receiving
Installation
You can copy any of these as a starting point and edit from there.
Where Default Project Phases show up
Once saved, your phase list is the source of truth across the app:
Projects
New project → the phase list is pre-populated on the project record.
Project Overview → Phases card shows progress per phase.
Gantt / timeline views → each row is anchored to one of your phases.
Estimates & Invoices
Adding a service or product line → the Phase dropdown shows your default list.
Phase-grouped totals on the PDF use these names.
Purchase Orders
Line items can be tagged with the phase they belong to so installation timing rolls up correctly.
Timelogs
Logging time against a project → Phase dropdown matches this list.
Phase-grouped time reports + per-phase profitability rely on these names matching consistently.
Reports
Profit + Loss, Project Reports, and Tax Reports all roll up by phase. If the names drift, the rollups split — keeping a clean default list keeps the reports clean.
Client Portal
The phase progress bar your clients see uses the same list.
Good to know
Phases are account-wide. Every project on the account starts from this list. You can still add or remove phases on an individual project after creation — those changes stay local to that project.
Order matters. Workroom uses the Order value to sort phases everywhere they appear. Drag-to-reorder updates the Order automatically.
Renaming a phase is safe. Existing projects, estimates, invoices, and timelogs that reference that phase update to the new name. Reports stay consistent.
Removing a phase is gated. Workroom blocks the delete and tells you how many records still reference it. Reassign or close those out first, then come back.
No nesting / sub-phases. Project Phases is intentionally a flat list. If you need sub-tasks within a phase, use Tasks on the project record.
When to update your phase list
You've onboarded a new project type (e.g. adding hospitality work to a residential studio).
Your billing model changed (e.g. moving from milestone-based to phased retainers).
You're standardizing terminology across the studio after a process audit.
Don't change the list mid-project unless you're prepared to re-tag historical data. Phase renames flow through, but reordering can confuse rollups if reports were already exported under the old order.
Troubleshooting
"My new project doesn't show the phases I just saved." Refresh the project page. The phase list is loaded when the project record opens; an already-open tab needs a reload to pick up the Settings change.
"The phase dropdown on Estimates is empty." That means no phases are saved on the account. Open Settings → Project Settings → Project Phases and add at least one row.
"My report grouping looks wrong." A phase was probably renamed mid-project. Check the Profit + Loss filters — if the old name is still listed under the dropdown, an estimate or timelog never picked up the rename. Open that record and re-select the current phase name.
"I can't delete a phase." At least one project / estimate / invoice / timelog still references it. Workroom won't orphan records. Reassign those entries first, then delete.