Pick up where you left off.
Course Content
When the Spec Doesn’t Say Enough
The spec says double glazed, light roof, or equivalent. None of it is a number your model can use.
Reading a specification as evidence. Sort every line into what it proves and what it only promises, convert insulation, colour and glazing words into the values the engine reads, test or equivalent against a written range, and write the request and the certificate note that keep each input defensible at audit and at frame stage.
Secure card checkout. Tax invoice emailed.
4 modules, 2 case studies, final quiz and certificate.
Introduction and objectives
Why a thin specification costs more hours than a missing one, and the four things you will be able to do by the end.
What a Specification Line Has to Prove
Sort each line as prescriptive, performance or reference, and apply the evidence test: a number, a source and a place in the documents.
Insulation, Construction and Colour
Read which R-value a line means, allow for compression and filled cavities, give a reflective layer its numbers, and turn colour words into absorptance.
Glazing: the Line That Never Says Enough
Work a double glazed throughout schedule through the window rules, including the three conditions for substituting a custom window.
Or Equivalent, the Request and the Record
Give or equivalent a test, write a ranked request that gets a usable answer, and put the substitution range on the certificate.
Case Studies
A volume builder’s standard specification and an architect’s performance specification, read line by line.
Summary and Key Takeaways
The five habits to carry into your next thin specification.
Final quiz and certificate
Ten project scenarios. Pass and the certificate goes straight into your dashboard.
Intermediate. For assessors who already model Class 1 houses on the NatHERS pathway, and the designers and certifiers who write or check what they model. Covers specification lines, insulation, reflective layers, colour, glazing, or equivalent substitutions, clarification requests and certificate notes. It teaches no software operation, names no products, and does not replace the NatHERS Technical Note.
Written for the people who turn a specification into a rating.
NatHERS Energy Assessors
You get a specification that exists but says too little, and every guess you make becomes the rating.
Building Designers
Your specification is what the assessor models, and a line they cannot use comes back to you as a request.
Architects
A performance specification only works when each number carries its currency and the certificate carries the range.
Building Surveyors
At frame stage you test the built house against the certificate, and its additional notes should tell you how.
Builders and Estimators
An or equivalent swap on site can void the rating unless it stays inside the range the certificate sets.
Where this hour goes on your record.
National Standard of Competency for Architects (NSCA 2021) performance criteria this course aligns with:
Building codes and standards
Integrating thermal and environmental systems
Accurate, complete, constructible documentation
Performance standards for materials and components
Defects, rectification and approved substitutions
| If you are | How it is recorded |
|---|---|
| An energy assessor | 1 hour of technical CPD on the NatHERS Technical Note and building envelope inputs. Your certificate, the learning outcomes, the module outline and your quiz result are kept in your dashboard for your accrediting organisation’s records. |
| An architect | 1 formal CPD point. Aligned with NSCA 2021 performance criteria PC12, PC33, PC37, PC45 and PC56. |
| A building designer, surveyor, builder or estimator | 1 hour of CPD on specification and NatHERS documentation practice, recorded on your certificate for your registration body or state scheme. |
CPD On Demand is not a registered training organisation and courses are not accredited by any registration body. Each course is aligned with the relevant competency frameworks and gives you the records to evidence it. CPD rules differ by registration body and state, so check with yours if you are unsure.
Pairs well with.
Thermal Bridging in Residential Design
What the model does when the frame is the item the specification leaves blank.
What to Expect From a NatHERS Audit
The records an auditor asks for, and why every non-default input needs a source.
Getting NatHERS Right Before It Goes to the Assessor
The designer’s side: a set that carries what the assessor needs the first time.
Before you enrol.
Turn a thin specification into inputs you can defend, in one self-paced hour.
$99, 60 minutes, certificate on completion.