Pick up where you left off.
Course Content
Growing a Design Practice: From Sole Trader to Studio
Too much work for one person, and no plan for the day you hire someone to share it.
How to take your practice from a one-person operation to a compliant, design-led studio. Recognise when the workload justifies a first hire, choose the business structure that fits the growth you plan, and meet the Fair Work, tax, superannuation, safety and insurance obligations that start with your first employee. Then put the templates, reviews and sign-offs in place that keep design quality consistent once the work is shared across a team.
Secure card checkout. Tax invoice emailed.
4 modules, final quiz and certificate.
Introduction and objectives
Why growth is a strategic milestone rather than just more work, and what unstructured expansion costs in quality, compliance and wellbeing.
From Solo Architect to Studio Founder
Read the workload, cash flow and deadline signals that say it is time to hire, and register for PAYG, super and workers compensation before your first employee starts.
Understanding Business Structures
Compare sole trader, partnership, company and trust on liability, tax, control and succession, and choose the structure that suits the practice you plan to become.
HR and Compliance Essentials
Hire under the Fair Work Act with the right contract, award and entitlements, onboard properly, and meet your safety, insurance and supervision duties as a registered architect.
Scaling Projects Without Losing Design Quality
Set up templates, QA checklists, design reviews and sign-offs that keep documentation consistent, and see how one growing studio cut rework through systems thinking.
Summary & Key Takeaways
Place your practice on the growth path and pick one structural and one operational change to make first.
Final quiz and certificate
Ten multiple choice questions on hiring, business structures, employment obligations and quality systems. Pass and the certificate goes straight into your dashboard.
Beginner. For sole practitioners and small practice owners who are about to hire, or have just hired, their first staff. Covers the timing of a first hire, business structures, registration, Fair Work and NES obligations, superannuation, WHS, insurance, supervision of staff and quality systems for a growing team. It is practice management education, not legal, tax or financial advice.
Written for everyone taking a practice from one person to a team.
Architects
Your workload has outgrown one person, and every deadline now depends on you alone.
Graduate Architects
You are the first hire in a small practice, or planning your own, and want to know how it should be set up.
Small Practice Owners
You are weighing a first employee against the cash flow, the paperwork and the risk it brings.
Design Studio Leaders
Your team is growing faster than the systems that keep its drawings and decisions consistent.
Practice Managers
You handle the contracts, payroll, super and insurance that each new hire adds to the practice.
Where this hour goes on your record.
National Standard of Competency for Architects (NSCA 2021) performance criteria this course aligns with:
Regulatory and insurance obligations
Practice resources and quality assurance
Project and staff planning and resource costs
Client architect agreements and partial services
Risk management and appropriate insurances
| If you are | How it is recorded |
|---|---|
| An architect | 1 formal CPD point in practice management. Aligned with NSCA 2021 performance criteria PC1, PC2, PC4, PC5 and PC16. |
| A small practice owner or design studio leader | 1 hour of CPD on growing and running a practice, recorded on your certificate for your registration body or your own records. |
| A graduate architect or practice manager | 1 hour of CPD on business structures, employment and scaling, recorded on your certificate and kept in your dashboard. |
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.
Building a Profitable Design Studio: Financial Essentials
The cash flow and margin numbers that tell you whether you can afford the first hire.
Contracts & Risk Management for Architects and Designers
The agreements and risk controls a bigger practice needs once more people carry the work.
Digital Transformation for Design Practices
The shared files, workflows and tools that let a growing team work as one.
Before you enrol.
Grow from sole trader to studio without losing control of quality or compliance, in one self-paced hour.
$99, 60 minutes, certificate on completion.