Pick up where you left off.
Course Content
The Builder Wants to Substitute a Product
Approving a substitution moves responsibility for that product to you, whatever the builder calls it.
Product substitution requests, evidence of suitability and the decision that stays on your file. How to read a request against the specification and the contract, test the evidence against the forms the Code accepts, see where a swapped product breaks a tested system, and write a reply with conditions that still protects you years later.
Secure card checkout. Tax invoice emailed.
4 modules, 2 case studies, final quiz and certificate.
Introduction and objectives
Why most substitution requests are reasonable, why approving one is still a transfer of responsibility, and the four things you will be able to do.
What You Are Actually Being Asked
Find the driver, reread what the clause required, and confirm who holds the authority to approve.
Evidence of Suitability, and What Counts
Read certificates, test reports and technical statements for what they actually prove.
Where Equivalence Breaks
Fire rated construction, membranes, glazing, fixings and the vapour path, where a swapped part breaks the system.
Documenting the Decision
A five part reply, conditions someone checks, telling the certifier, and declining accurately.
The membrane and the door set
An equal or better membrane on a podium deck, and a fire rated door set nobody re-tested.
Key takeaways
The habits that keep the next substitution off your professional indemnity file.
Final quiz and certificate
Ten practice scenarios. Pass and the certificate goes straight into your dashboard.
Advanced. For architects who already specify and administer contracts. Covers substitution requests, evidence of suitability under the National Construction Code, tested systems and the written decision. It is professional risk education, not legal advice, and it names no product, supplier or certification body.
Written for the people who are asked to say yes.
Registered Architect
Your name is on the specification, so an approval you give is a decision you own.
Project Architect
You get the Friday email, and the builder needs an answer before the pour.
Contract Administrator
You decide or advise under the contract, where authority either exists or does not.
Specification Writer
You wrote the clause, so you know what property it was really protecting.
Building Surveyor
You see the evidence at the end, and you see what happens when it was never asked for.
Where this hour goes on your record.
National Standard of Competency for Architects (NSCA 2021) performance criteria this course aligns with:
Defects, rectifications and substitutions
Materials and performance standards
Material and construction system selection
Contract administration and instructions
Record keeping and document control
| If you are | How it is recorded |
|---|---|
| An architect | 1 formal CPD point. Aligned with NSCA 2021 performance criteria PC56, PC45, PC39, PC57 and PC55. |
| A contract administrator or specification writer | 1 CPD point. 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. |
| A building surveyor | 1 hour of CPD on evidence of suitability, tested systems and substitution records, 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.
Non-Conforming Building Products: Specification Risk, Evidence of Suitability, and Documentation Defence
The specification side of the same risk: what to write so a non-conforming product never gets in.
Fire Safety in Class 2 to 9 Buildings for Architects
The fire resisting construction a swapped lining or door set can quietly undo.
Contracts & Risk Management for Architects and Designers
The agreement and the building contract that decide who may approve a change.
Before you enrol.
Say yes to a substitution only when the evidence does, in one self-paced hour.
$99, 60 minutes, certificate on completion.