diff --git a/src/applications/differential/editor/DifferentialTransactionEditor.php b/src/applications/differential/editor/DifferentialTransactionEditor.php
--- a/src/applications/differential/editor/DifferentialTransactionEditor.php
+++ b/src/applications/differential/editor/DifferentialTransactionEditor.php
@@ -1577,8 +1577,21 @@
         // revision state. See T13027 for discussion.
         $this->queueTransaction($xaction);
       } else if ($is_failed) {
-        // TODO: Change to "Changes Planned + Draft", notify the author (only)
-        // of the build failure.
+        // When demoting a revision, we act as "Harbormaster" instead of
+        // the author since this feels a little more natural.
+        $harbormaster_phid = id(new PhabricatorHarbormasterApplication())
+          ->getPHID();
+
+        $xaction = $object->getApplicationTransactionTemplate()
+          ->setAuthorPHID($harbormaster_phid)
+          ->setMetadataValue('draft.demote', true)
+          ->setTransactionType(
+            DifferentialRevisionPlanChangesTransaction::TRANSACTIONTYPE)
+          ->setNewValue(true);
+
+        $this->queueTransaction($xaction);
+
+        // TODO: Notify the author (only) that we did this.
       }
     }
 
diff --git a/src/applications/differential/xaction/DifferentialRevisionActionTransaction.php b/src/applications/differential/xaction/DifferentialRevisionActionTransaction.php
--- a/src/applications/differential/xaction/DifferentialRevisionActionTransaction.php
+++ b/src/applications/differential/xaction/DifferentialRevisionActionTransaction.php
@@ -147,10 +147,23 @@
     $actor = $this->getActor();
 
     $action_exception = null;
-    try {
-      $this->validateAction($object, $actor);
-    } catch (Exception $ex) {
-      $action_exception = $ex;
+    foreach ($xactions as $xaction) {
+      // If this is a draft demotion action, let it skip all the normal
+      // validation. This is a little hacky and should perhaps move down
+      // into the actual action implementations, but currently we can not
+      // apply this rule in validateAction() because it doesn't operate on
+      // the actual transaction.
+      if ($xaction->getMetadataValue('draft.demote')) {
+        continue;
+      }
+
+      try {
+        $this->validateAction($object, $actor);
+      } catch (Exception $ex) {
+        $action_exception = $ex;
+      }
+
+      break;
     }
 
     foreach ($xactions as $xaction) {
diff --git a/src/applications/differential/xaction/DifferentialRevisionPlanChangesTransaction.php b/src/applications/differential/xaction/DifferentialRevisionPlanChangesTransaction.php
--- a/src/applications/differential/xaction/DifferentialRevisionPlanChangesTransaction.php
+++ b/src/applications/differential/xaction/DifferentialRevisionPlanChangesTransaction.php
@@ -96,9 +96,16 @@
   }
 
   public function getTitle() {
-    return pht(
-      '%s planned changes to this revision.',
-      $this->renderAuthor());
+    if ($this->isDraftDemotion()) {
+      return pht(
+        '%s returned this revision to the author for changes because remote '.
+        'builds failed.',
+        $this->renderAuthor());
+    } else {
+      return pht(
+        '%s planned changes to this revision.',
+        $this->renderAuthor());
+    }
   }
 
   public function getTitleForFeed() {
@@ -108,4 +115,8 @@
       $this->renderObject());
   }
 
+  private function isDraftDemotion() {
+    return (bool)$this->getMetadataValue('draft.demote');
+  }
+
 }