AutoCAD versus Revit Architecture for 3D Rendering

I am in the initial stages of building a small house as my first CAD project

I want to model the entire project on the computer, even before the first shovel of dirt is shovelled. That is model every aspect of the project from the slope of the landscape to each component and stage of the building process.

For example, using layers to represent building stages, I will model the landscape first, the excavation of the foundation next, then the each "wall" of the foundation, then the laying of the bricks and on and on.

Basically I want to be able to plan stuff to the minutest detail so that at every stage I know what I am supposed to be doing and can be able to show the workers or foreman. It's a personal project I have always wanted to undertake . . . . just to prove to myself and that it can be done. Not unlike the design process of a car or plane where the entire product is modeled and tested on computer even before the first clay model is produced.

The objective being that even before the first brick is laid, my wife and I should be able to model the entire process (maybe in 3DMax) and house and walk through a detailed 3D rendering of the house on the laptop, modifying stuff and making changes to colours, walls, materials etc.

Which product would you guys recommend? Would Autocad be the best or would Revit Architecture be able to do that. I suspect Autocad can but I am not so sure that Revit architecture can model and then assemble bits like each footing of the pier foundation, then the beam et al. On the other hand I am not so sure that Autocad can cost the project as granularly as Revit Architecture

Kindly advise a long winded newbie

Not sure what rendering engine Revit uses but I think that all versions of ACAD past 2007 use the Mental Ray rendering engine. I have seen some pretty good images from straight autocad.