Pick up where you left off.
Course Content
The Quote Is Over Budget
Most over budget tenders are not design problems, so the drawings are the wrong place to start.
Diagnosing the gap, reading the quote, reducing cost in the right order and getting paid for the reconciliation. How to tell an untested budget, a moving market and priced uncertainty from a design that really costs too much, find where the money sits, protect the design idea, and run one scoped, priced round instead of weeks of unpaid redesign.
Secure card checkout. Tax invoice emailed.
4 modules, 2 case studies, final quiz and certificate.
Introduction and objectives
Why reduction is a design skill, and the four things you will be able to do after a tender comes in high.
Reading the Gap Before You Touch the Design
Tell a design problem from an untested budget, a moving market and priced uncertainty, and size the gap honestly.
Where the Money Actually Is
Read the trade breakdown, preliminaries and the perimeter for where the cost really sits.
Reducing Cost in the Right Order
Work from invisible to visible: specification, junctions, repetition and deferral before the plan.
Running It Without Unpaid Redesign
Scope one priced round, settle who pays, hold the compliance floor and reissue the documents.
The roof form and the three rounds
A house that lost its idea for almost no saving, and a fit-out that ran out of rounds.
Key takeaways
Six habits to carry into the next tender that comes in high.
Final quiz and certificate
Ten practice scenarios. Pass and the certificate goes straight into your dashboard.
Intermediate. For architects who document and tender projects. Covers diagnosing an over budget tender, reading a quote, the order of cost reduction and running a paid reconciliation. It is practice management education, not cost advice or legal advice, quotes no rates or benchmarks, and names no product, supplier or cost publication.
Written for the people the client calls when the price comes in.
Registered Architect
Your design is on the table, and the first cuts proposed are rarely the ones that save money.
Practice Principal
You carry the fee, so unpaid redesign comes straight off the practice’s margin.
Project Architect
You read the quote and draw the savings, usually against the clock.
Contract Administrator
You see agreed savings come back as variations when the documents were never reissued.
Residential Designer
Your clients set budgets from a rate they heard somewhere, and you take the call.
Where this hour goes on your record.
National Standard of Competency for Architects (NSCA 2021) performance criteria this course aligns with:
Client requirements and project objectives
Project development options
Resolving and presenting detailed design for approval
Reporting and varying scope of services
Client and stakeholder communication
| If you are | How it is recorded |
|---|---|
| An architect | 1 formal CPD point. Aligned with NSCA 2021 performance criteria PC19, PC24, PC40, PC6 and PC7. |
| A practice principal or contract administrator | 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 residential designer | 1 hour of CPD on cost diagnosis, design reduction and fee scope, recorded on your certificate for your registration body or accreditation 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 Do I Get Paid for the Extra Work the Client Keeps Asking For?
The fee side of the same problem: scoping, pricing and recording additional services.
Contracts & Risk Management for Architects and Designers
The agreement and the building contract behind allowances, variations and who pays.
Presenting Design Value So You Stop Competing on Price
Holding the design idea in the conversation that decides what gets cut.
Before you enrol.
Close the gap without losing the design or a month of fees, in one self-paced hour.
$99, 60 minutes, certificate on completion.