Pick up where you left off.
Course Content
Non-Conforming Building Products
Approve a substitute by email as ‘equivalent’ and the failed product can become your problem.
Specification risk, evidence of suitability and documentation defence. How non-conforming products enter a project, where your liability sits between specifying and verifying, how the NCC Part A5 evidence pathways work, what NCC 2025 changes, and the records that protect you when a product is later found to fail.
Secure card checkout. Tax invoice emailed.
4 modules, 2 case studies, final quiz and certificate.
Introduction and objectives
Why product risk has moved onto the designer since the cladding crisis, and the four objectives for the hour.
What Makes a Building Product Non-Conforming
Tell non-conforming from non-compliant and counterfeit, and see how substitution and cost pressure bring them onto site.
The Designer’s Specification Responsibility Under NCC Part A5
Use the Part A5 evidence of suitability pathways and know what each one does, and does not, prove.
NCC 2025: What’s Confirmed and What’s Still Coming
What NCC 2025 changes in A5G1 to A5G3 and expert judgement, and what is still only proposed.
Documentation Defence: What to Record and Why
Record product decisions as you make them, handle substitution requests in writing and set responsibility boundaries.
A cladding panel and a waterproofing membrane
A cladding substitute approved by email, and a membrane swapped on site without the designer’s approval.
Key takeaways
The specification and record-keeping habits that protect your practice.
Final quiz and certificate
Ten questions on non-conforming products, evidence of suitability and documentation defence. Pass and the certificate goes straight into your dashboard.
Intermediate. For designers who specify products and are asked to approve substitutions. Covers non-conforming products, specification risk, NCC Part A5 evidence of suitability, the NCC 2025 changes and documentation practice. It is not legal advice and does not assess individual products or certification schemes.
Written for everyone whose name is on the specification when a product fails.
Architects
You write the specification and approve equivalents, and the record of why is your defence.
Building designers
You specify products on every set and get asked to approve substitutes on a brochure and a partial test report.
Building surveyors
You check the evidence of suitability behind the products in the documents you assess.
Builders
You face supply delays and cost pressure, and a substitution made without approval shifts the risk onto you.
Certifiers
You rely on certificates and test reports that need scrutiny, version control and a clear chain of responsibility.
Where this hour goes on your record.
National Standard of Competency for Architects (NSCA 2021) performance criteria this course aligns with:
Regulatory obligations of practice
Advice under building codes and standards
Risk management and mitigation
Materials and construction systems in documentation
Performance standards for materials and systems
| If you are | How it is recorded |
|---|---|
| A building designer | 1 CPD point in specification risk and documentation practice. Your certificate, the learning outcomes, the module outline and your quiz result are kept in your dashboard, so you can show what you studied if your CPD is audited. |
| An architect | 1 formal CPD point. Aligned with NSCA 2021 performance criteria PC1, PC12, PC16, PC39 and PC45. |
| A building surveyor, builder or certifier | 1 hour of CPD on product compliance and evidence of suitability, 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.
How the NCC Actually Works: Structure, Responsibility & Compliance Pathways
Where evidence of suitability sits in the NCC, and who is responsible for providing it.
Fire Safety in Residential Design: Understanding Passive and Active Systems
Fire-rated assemblies rely on tested systems: documenting them so they are built as specified.
The Waterproofing Time Bomb: Defending High-Risk Balconies and Podiums
The membrane case study’s wider context: the NCC 2025 water management rules.
Before you enrol.
Specify products you can defend and keep the record that proves it, in one self-paced hour.
$99, 60 minutes, certificate on completion.