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Acumen practice notes
  • Practice
    • Practice

      Guidance and advice on the day-to-day running of an architectural practice including an overview of business types, risk management, insurance and legislation requirements, managing staff, tailored marketing tips for the profession and office procedures and manuals.

    • Alternative dispute resolution
      • Fee disputes
      • Evidence and court procedure
    • Business structure and planning
      • Business continuity and disaster planning
      • Business planning
      • Buying a practice
      • Partnerships
      • Proprietary companies
      • Sole practitioners
      • Succession planning
      • Valuing or selling a practice
    • Ethics
      • Codes of conduct
      • Conduct toward other architects
      • Online ethics
      • Pro bono or reduced fee services
    • Fees
      • Low fees - implication for practices
      • Payment of architect fees
      • Profit and profitability
    • Human resources
      • Continuing professional development
      • Gender equity
      • Leave entitlements and obligations
      • Managing people
      • Managing time in practice
      • Mental health in the profession
      • Pathways to registration as an architect in Australia
      • Recruitment and employment
      • Superannuation
      • Transfer of business
    • Indigenous matters in architectural practice
      • Indigenous cultural authorship and intellectual property
    • Legislation
      • Architects Acts
      • Copyright
      • Disability Discrimination Act (DDA)
      • Goods and services tax (GST)
      • Modern slavery
      • Moral rights
      • Privacy legislation - coverage and exemptions
      • Security of payment (SOP)
      • Taxable payments annual report (TPAR)
    • Marketing and communications
      • Brand creation and implementation
      • Event design and planning
      • Publicity management
      • Social media
      • Website design and best practice
    • Office administration and manual structure
      • Archiving
      • Cloud computing
      • Communications
      • Meetings
      • Filing systems
    • Quality management
      • Australian Standards
      • Quality control checklist
      • Quality Management System (QMS) certification
    • Risk management and insurances
      • Architects' liability
      • Architects standard of care
      • Asbestos
      • Common risks for architects
      • Damages
      • Insurances
      • Projects in bushfire-prone areas
      • Qualifying advice
    • Understanding work health and safety (WHS) legislation
      • Safety during construction
      • Safety in design FAQs
      • Safety in design guide
      • Victoria: OHS Safe Design Requirements
      • Safe design legislation
  • Project
    • Project

      Guidance and advice on managing a project, from briefing and agreements to contracts, procurement methods, engagement of consultants and core services. Includes downloadable reference copies of the ABIC contracts and the Institute's Architect–Specialist Consultant Agreement, and digital versions of the Institute's Client Architect Agreement and the Client Architect Agreement for Limited Services.

    • Agreements
      • Agreements - principles
      • Agreements for office and retail tenancy work
      • Architect-Specialist Consultant Agreement 2017
      • Avoiding personal contracts
      • Client and architect agreements
      • Client-generated agreements
      • Fitness for purpose
      • Legal person
      • Novation
      • Principles for balanced and insurable client-architect agreements
      • Variation to services
    • BIM – Building information modelling
    • Brief
      • Room data sheet
      • The briefing team
    • Building contracts
      • ABIC contracts
      • Australian Standards contracts
      • Building contract - execution
      • Building contract deposits
      • Building contract insurances
      • Contract preparation
      • Contractual liability
      • Cost-plus contracts: Considerations
      • Particular persons
      • Special Conditions for HIA Alterations Additions Renovations
      • Special Conditions for HIA New Homes Contracts
      • Termination rights and insolvency events
    • Client and architect relationship
    • Core architectural services
      • Pre-design
      • Concept design
      • Design development
      • Design considerations
      • Material considerations
      • Planning/Development application
      • Construction documentation
      • Contractor selection
      • Contract administration
      • Partial services
      • Regulatory requirements
      • Post construction
    • Other architectural services
      • As-built documentation
      • Expert witness
      • Facilities management
      • Illustration
      • Inspections
      • Master planning
      • Project feasibility
      • Project management and project managers
      • Record documents
      • Trade package documentation
      • Value management
      • Working as an architect-builder
    • Procurement
      • Architects working together
      • Co-design
      • Design and construct
      • Fast-tracked projects
      • Financing of projects
      • Guaranteed maximum price
      • Joint ventures
      • Procurement - alternative methods
      • Procurement - critical considerations
      • Procurement options - checklist
      • Project alliancing
      • Public Private Partnerships (PPP)
    • Project bid
      • Architect selection and commissions
      • Fee calculation
    • Project control
      • Digital transfer considerations
      • Project budget management
      • Project records
      • Project time management
    • Specialist consultants
      • Selection and engagement
      • Specialist consultant scope and responsibility
      • Specialist consultants - types
    • Time records
  • Resources
    • Resources

      Resources to assist your day-to-day practice and management of projects, including extensive Guide letters for all stages of a project, Client information notes (designed to share with your client), Access design considerations, topical guidance and access to the free legal reference service.

    • Access design guide
      • Access guides for best practice and inclusive design
      • Access guides for fit out
      • Access requirements in the National Construction Code (NCC)
    • Client information notes
      • Client note: Architects' fees
      • Client note: Contingency sums
      • Client note: Contractor variations resulting in a credit
      • Client note: Copyright in architecture
      • Client note: Insurance for work to existing buildings
      • Client note: Managing your project costs
      • Client note: Opening up and testing the works
      • Client note: Practical completion and the final certificate
      • Client note: Progress payments during construction
      • Client note: Project supply chain and labour impacts
      • Client note: Selecting an architect
      • Client note: The independent role of the project manager
      • Client note: Variations to construction scope
      • Client note: What are an architect's moral rights?
      • Client note: Your brief to your architect
    • Construction industry legal comment
    • COVID-19 project considerations
      • COVID-19 contract related FAQs
      • COVID-19 risks and contract options
      • COVID-19 site inspection considerations
    • Free legal reference service (FLRS)
    • Guide letters
      • Guide letter 1: Advice to client - conditions of engagement
      • Guide letter 2: Confirmation to client
      • Guide letter 3: Advice to client - specialist consultants
      • Guide letter 4: Request to specialist consultants
      • Guide letter 5: Advice to client
      • Guide letter 6: Request to client for confirmation
      • Guide letter 7: Confirmation - appointment of consultant
      • Guide letter 8: Briefing of specialist consultant
      • Guide letter 9: Recommendation to client - additional fees
      • Guide letter 10: Site - request to client for information
      • Guide letter 11: Advice to client - architects' fees due
      • Guide letter 12: Secondary consultants' fee accounts
      • Guide letter 13: Advice to client on authority conditions
      • Guide letter 14: Advice to client at stage completion
      • Guide letter 15: Advice to client - pre-contract progress
      • Guide letter 16: Advice to client on implications of changes
      • Guide letter 17: Recommendation to client - clerk of works
      • Guide letter 18: Advice to client - building contract
      • Guide letter 19: Confirmation to client - contract
      • Guide letter 20: Pre-tender information
      • Guide letter 21: Confirmation to client - tender details
      • Guide letter 22: Tender assessment and report
      • Guide letter 23: Successful tenderer - letter of acceptance
      • Guide letter 24: Successful tenderer
      • Guide letter 25: Unsuccessful tenderers - advice
      • Guide letter 26: Insurance - request to contractor
      • Guide letter 27: Clerk of works – employment advice
      • Guide letter 28: Advice to client - execution of contract
      • Guide letter 29: Recommendation to client - variations
      • Guide letter 30: Advice to client - expenditure
      • Guide letter 31: Advice to client - building progress
      • Guide letter 32: Advice to client - contractor's breach
      • Guide letter 33: Advice to client - works nearing completion
      • Guide letter 34: Advice to contractor - practical completion
      • Guide letter 35: Confirmation to client - defects
      • Guide letter 36: Advice to contractor - defects
      • Guide letter 37: Advice to client - final certificate
      • Guide letter 38: Completion - thanking contractor
      • Guide letter 39: Documenting a project from another practice
    • Glossary of Terms
  • Environment
    • Environment

      A database of over 175 peer-reviewed design notes covering guidance, tools and case studies of built environment sustainability for the architectural profession, including designing for resource and climate change considerations, and best practice regenerative and biophilic design.

    • Case studies
      • Urine-separation and dry composting toilet trial
      • Bay Pavilions Arts + Aquatic
      • Building T, Deakin University
      • Commercial
      • Conversion of a heritage-listed industrial building
      • Kelvin Grove Urban Village
      • Marrickville Library
      • Newcastle CSIRO Energy Centre
      • Post occupancy evaluation of evaporative cooling
      • QUT Peter Coaldrake Education Precinct
      • Residential
      • The Erskine Building, Christchurch
      • Urine-separation and dry composting
    • Energy
      • Cutting lifetime residential greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
      • Embodied carbon in buildings
      • Drivers of energy and water efficiency in commercial office buildings
      • Energy saving design
      • Energy saving technologies
      • Implementing energy efficiency
      • Life cycle energy analysis
      • Designing, managing and retrofitting non-residential buildings to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
      • Revisiting energy efficiency in commercial buildings
      • Ventilation
    • Environment glossary
    • Equity
      • Co-housing – an introduction
      • Co-housing – the Australian context
      • Designing to heal – part A
      • Designing to heal – part B
      • Enabling play friendly places
      • Social sustainability
      • Socially responsible planning and urban design
      • Supporting social value through the design process
    • Health and happiness
      • Biophilic design: an introduction for designers
      • Design for minimal radiation exposure
      • Designing user-friendly passive buildings
      • Green buildings and productivity
      • Health and productivity in sustainable buildings
      • Indoor environment quality
      • Light pollution
      • Mental landscapes
      • Protecting against solar UVR
      • The shade audit
      • Urban air quality
    • Materials
      • Building materials selection – greenhouse strategies
      • Comparative service life assessment of window systems
      • Concrete and sustainability
      • Green specifying
      • Lead hazards in construction – a designer's guide
      • Life cycle assessment (LCA)
      • Low CO2 Concrete
      • Phase change materials – overview
      • Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) – its use in construction
      • Strategies and resources for material selection
      • Straw bale construction
      • Sustainable housing using lightweight cellular concrete
      • The environmental impact of building materials
      • Timber and wood
      • Waste management
    • Place
      • Climate
      • GIS and remote sensing for transport
      • Habitat and ecology
      • Infrastructure and transportation
      • Land use
      • Physical activity links to healthcare costs and productivity
      • Planning for transit oriented development
      • Predicting transport greenhouse gases
      • Remote area building and sustainable development
      • Sustainable metropolitan transport
    • Process
      • Beyond carbon neutrality
      • Building environmental performance assessment
      • Domestic building energy assessment
      • Marketing ecologically sustainable design skills
      • Optimising environmental performance
      • Rating systems
      • Regenerative design approaches
      • Residential retrofitting
      • Section J and commercial building facade design: NCC 2022
      • Sustainability and building information modelling (BIM)
      • Sustainability framework for practice
      • Sustainable design – a client briefing
      • Systems thinking
      • The role of emotion and logic in sustainable design
      • Understanding buildings in operation
      • Understanding quantification
    • Water
      • Embodied water in construction
      • On-site domestic wastewater treatment and reuse
      • Practice of water sensitive urban design
      • Raingardens and bioretention tree pits
      • Sustainable water use
      • Water conservation and harvesting in Adelaide
      • Water sensitive urban design – an overview
      • Water sensitive urban design thus far
      • Wetlands, storage and reuse system
  • Notepacks
    • Notepacks

      Curated content across the Acumen database that puts topic-related notes in one convenient place.

    • Budgets and cost control notepack
      • Budget estimates – influencing factors
      • Budget estimates – methods
      • Budget estimates - overview
      • Budget estimates - staging
      • Client note: Contingency sums
      • Client note: Managing your project costs
      • Contingency sum
      • Project budget management
      • Value management
    • Building procurement notepack
      • Architectural competitions
      • Guide letters
      • Novation
      • Partial services
      • Procurement
      • Procurement - critical considerations
      • Procurement options - checklist
      • Project management and project managers
      • Project management services – liability for
      • Working as an architect-builder
    • Business continuity
      • Business Continuity and Disaster Planning
      • Business cycles
      • Buying a practice
      • Common risks for architects
      • General practice insurance
      • Partnerships
      • Strategic planning
      • Succession planning
      • Transfer of business
      • Valuing or selling a practice
    • Construction documentation notepack
      • ABIC contracts - statutory approvals
      • Accessible adult change facilities
      • Approval processes for planning and construction
      • Australian Standards
      • Condensation in Buildings Handbook
      • Construction drawings
      • DDA - the Premises Standards, BCA and alternative solutions
      • External stairs and ramps
      • Managing teams
      • National Construction Code (NCC)
      • Non-complying building products
      • Quality control checklist
      • Referencing standard documents
      • Safety in design FAQs
      • Safety in design guide
      • Section J and commercial building facade design: NCC 2022
      • Specification writing
      • Termite management
      • Trade package documentation
    • COVID-19 notepack
      • Client note: Project supply chain and labour impacts
      • COVID-19 contract related FAQs
      • COVID-19 project considerations
      • COVID-19 risks and contract options
      • COVID-19 site inspection considerations
      • Delays in the supply of materials
      • Flexible working arrangements
      • Guide letter 16: Advice to client on implications of changes
      • Health and happiness
      • Leave entitlements and obligations
      • Mental health in the profession
    • Disaster response notepack
      • Bushfire or pro bono work – special conditions CAA2019
      • Common risks for architects
      • Designing to heal – part A
      • Designing to heal – part B
      • Development in bushfire prone areas
      • Heat stress resistant residential design in Australia
      • Pro bono or reduced fee services
      • Projects in bushfire-prone areas
      • Site planning and design for bushfire
    • Embodied energy notepack
      • Comparative service life assessment of window systems
      • Residential appliances and equipment
      • Cutting lifetime residential GHG emissions
      • Design for disassembly
      • Ecological waste
      • Embodied carbon in buildings
      • Life cycle energy analysis
      • Material selection for waste minimisation
      • Sustainability and building information modelling (BIM)
      • Thermal mass in building design
    • National Construction Code (NCC) 2022 notepack
      • Accessible adult change facilities
      • Accessible entry
      • Airtightness and thermal bridging in buildings
      • Residential appliances and equipment
      • Cutting lifetime residential GHG emissions
      • National Construction Code (NCC)
      • Performance Solutions
      • Performance Solutions in fire engineering
      • Residential sustainability rating tools
      • Section J and commercial building facade design: NCC 2022
      • Site planning and design for bushfire
      • When to engage a fire safety engineer
    • NSCA 2021 notepack
      • Stakeholders and communities
    • Office manual notepack
      • Branding notepack
      • Business planning notepack
      • Company profile notepack
      • Contracts notepack
      • Digital data processes notepack
      • Environment notepack
      • Fee notepack
      • Financial administration notepack
      • Human resources (HR) notepack
      • Information technology (IT) notepack
      • Insurances and liability notepack
      • Letters notepack
      • Marketing material notepack
      • New work notepack
      • Premises and practice organisation notepack
      • Project documentation notepack
      • Projects notepack
      • Quality management notepack
      • Risk notepack
      • Specialist consultant notepack
      • Work health and safety (WHS) notepack
    • Selecting products and materials
      • Embodied carbon in buildings
      • Embodied water in construction
      • Liability for manufactured products
      • Materials
      • Modern slavery
      • Non-complying building products
      • Substitutions
    • Social media notepack
      • Communications
      • Copyright and architectural photography
      • Online ethics
      • Social media
      • Social media and the workplace
    • Starting a practice notepack
      • Architect selection and commissions
      • Architects Acts
      • Brand creation and implementation
      • Business structure and planning
      • Fees
      • Insurances
      • Marketing and communications
      • Office administration and manual structure
      • Profit and profitability
      • Project bid
      • Starting a practice
    • Student SONA notepack
      • First job notepack
      • Client management
      • Super Studio 2024
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  1. Notepacks
  2. Office manual notepack
  3. Project documentation notepack
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Project documentation notepack

One of a series of notepacks in the Office manual notepack collection. Read this notepack in conjuction with the note Office administration and manual structure.

Client note: Practical completion and the final certificate

22/11/2017

Construction drawings

28/02/2017

Contract administration

06/07/2020

Core architectural services

01/02/2012

Guide letter 20: Pre-tender information

20/12/2011

Guide letter 22: Tender assessment and report

29/08/2012

Guide letter 23: Successful tenderer - letter of acceptance

29/08/2012

Guide letter 24: Successful tenderer - RFI

20/12/2011

Guide letter 25: Unsuccessful tenderers - advice

20/12/2011

Guide letter 37: Advice to client - final certificate

21/12/2011

Practical completion

06/12/2011

Quality control checklist

01/10/2020

Specification writing

23/06/2022

Staged practical completion

17/08/2017

Tenders - calling

23/06/2020

Tenders - receiving and selecting

04/08/2015
Home
  • Practice
    • Alternative dispute resolution
      • Fee disputes
      • Evidence and court procedure
    • Business structure and planning
      • Business continuity and disaster planning
      • Business planning
        • Asset planning
        • Business cycles
        • Starting a practice
        • Strategic planning
      • Buying a practice
      • Partnerships
        • Partners agreements
      • Proprietary companies
      • Sole practitioners
      • Succession planning
      • Valuing or selling a practice
    • Ethics
      • Codes of conduct
        • Australian Institute of Architects Code of Conduct
        • NSW Code of conduct
        • Queensland Code of conduct
        • SA Code of conduct
        • Victorian Architects Code of Professional Conduct
      • Conduct toward other architects
      • Online ethics
      • Pro bono or reduced fee services
    • Fees
      • Low fees - implication for practices
      • Payment of architect fees
      • Profit and profitability
        • Profit
        • Profitability
    • Human resources
      • Continuing professional development
      • Gender equity
      • Leave entitlements and obligations
      • Managing people
        • Email policy
        • Flexible working arrangements
        • Implementing WHS in the workplace
        • Managing teams
        • Pay increases for employees
        • Social media and the workplace
        • Staff performance
      • Managing time in practice
      • Mental health in the profession
      • Pathways to registration as an architect in Australia
      • Recruitment and employment
        • Casual or permanent employment
        • Employment agreements
        • Graduates - practical experience
        • Induction of staff
        • Minimum wages and award rates
        • Student employment
        • Work experience and internships
        • Work experience for school students
      • Superannuation
      • Transfer of business
    • Indigenous matters in architectural practice
      • Indigenous cultural authorship and intellectual property
    • Legislation
      • Architects Acts
      • Copyright
        • Architects and copyright
        • The value of copyright in architect designs
        • Copyright and architectural photography
      • Disability Discrimination Act (DDA)
        • DDA – Existing Buildings not undergoing building work
        • DDA - the Premises Standards and building certification
        • DDA - the Premises Standards, BCA and alternative solutions
        • DDA overview - building access
      • Goods and services tax (GST)
      • Modern slavery
      • Moral rights
        • Client commissions and moral rights
        • Consent and moral rights infringement
        • Moral rights FAQs
        • Moral rights guide and template letters
        • Waivers of moral rights and indemnities
      • Privacy legislation - coverage and exemptions
      • Security of payment (SOP)
        • Administering security of payment claims
        • Security of payment – ACT
        • Security of payment - NSW
        • Security of payment – NT
        • Security of payment – Qld
        • Security of payment - SA
        • Security of payment - TAS
        • Security of payment - VIC
        • Security of payment - WA
        • Security of payment for architects - WA
      • Taxable payments annual report (TPAR)
    • Marketing and communications
      • Brand creation and implementation
      • Event design and planning
      • Publicity management
      • Social media
      • Website design and best practice
    • Office administration and manual structure
      • Archiving
        • Archiving legacy architectural records
        • Document retention and destruction
        • Electronic document management
      • Cloud computing
      • Communications
        • Electronic communications
        • Email disclaimers
        • Report writing
      • Meetings
      • Filing systems
    • Quality management
      • Australian Standards
        • Library of Standards
        • Standards - risk management
      • Quality control checklist
      • Quality Management System (QMS) certification
    • Risk management and insurances
      • Architects' liability
        • Duty to disclose liability
        • Public liability
        • Duty to correct and warn
        • Proportionate liability legislation
        • Project management services – liability for
        • Liability for negligence
        • Limitation of liability
      • Architects standard of care
      • Asbestos
        • Professional indemnity insurance cover and asbestos
      • Common risks for architects
        • Risks of free design services
        • Requests for issuing certificates
        • Handing over project files
      • Damages
      • Insurances
        • Professional indemnity insurance for architects
        • Directors insurance
        • General practice insurance
      • Projects in bushfire-prone areas
      • Qualifying advice
    • Understanding work health and safety (WHS) legislation
      • Safety during construction
      • Safety in design FAQs
      • Safety in design guide
      • Victoria: OHS Safe Design Requirements
      • Safe design legislation
  • Project
    • Agreements
      • Agreements - principles
      • Agreements for office and retail tenancy work
        • Commissioning tenancy works
      • Architect-Specialist Consultant Agreement 2017
      • Avoiding personal contracts
      • Client and architect agreements
        • 2024 Client Architect Agreement (CAA2024)
        • 2019 Client Architect Agreement (CAA2019)
        • Client Architect Agreement for Limited Services (CAALS2024)
        • 2019 Client Architect Agreement for Limited Services
        • AS 4122
        • Collateral warranties
        • Warranties in client and architect agreements
      • Client-generated agreements
      • Fitness for purpose
      • Legal person
      • Novation
      • Principles for balanced and insurable client-architect agreements
      • Variation to services
    • BIM – Building information modelling
    • Brief
      • Room data sheet
      • The briefing team
    • Building contracts
      • ABIC contracts
        • ABIC contracts – Australian Capital Territory
        • ABIC contracts – New South Wales
        • ABIC contracts – Northern Territory
        • ABIC contracts – Queensland
        • ABIC contracts – South Australia
        • ABIC contracts –Tasmania
        • ABIC contracts – Victoria
        • ABIC contracts – Western Australia
        • ABIC contracts - statutory approvals
        • ABIC Basic Works BW 2018
        • ABIC Commercial Cost Plus CP-2014 C
        • ABIC contract works insurance
        • ABIC SW 2018 H Schedule 2a – staged payments
      • Australian Standards contracts
      • Building contract - execution
      • Building contract deposits
      • Building contract insurances
      • Contract preparation
      • Contractual liability
      • Cost-plus contracts: Considerations
      • Particular persons
      • Special Conditions for HIA Alterations Additions Renovations
        • HIA ACT Residential Alterations and Additions
        • HIA NSW Residential Renovations and Additions
        • HIA NT Residential Alterations and Additions
        • HIA Qld Alteration, Addition and Renovation
        • HIA SA Alterations and Additions
        • HIA Tasmanian Residential Building
        • HIA Victorian Alterations, Additions and Renovations
        • HIA WA Lump Sum Alterations and Additions
      • Special Conditions for HIA New Homes Contracts
        • Special Conditions for HIA New Homes: ACT
        • Special Conditions for HIA New Homes: NSW
        • Special Conditions for HIA New Homes: NT
        • Special Conditions for HIA New Homes: QLD
        • Special Conditions for HIA New Homes: TAS
        • Special Conditions for HIA New Homes: VIC
        • Special Conditions for HIA Lump Sum: WA
      • Termination rights and insolvency events
    • Client and architect relationship
    • Core architectural services
      • Pre-design
      • Concept design
        • Design workshops (charrette)
        • Office fit-out projects
      • Design development
        • Condensation in Buildings Handbook
        • Contaminated land investigation
        • Designing for building health
      • Design considerations
        • Contaminated land
        • Heritage places
        • Indoor air quality (IAQ)
        • Site surveys and survey types
        • Slip resistance compliance and testing
        • Slip resistance design considerations
        • Sub-soil conditions
        • Termite management
        • Waterproofing
        • Working on or near boundaries
      • Material considerations
        • Delays in the supply of materials
        • Liability for manufactured products
        • Non-complying building products
        • Partition system acoustics
      • Planning/Development application
      • Construction documentation
        • Construction drawings
        • Errors, ambiguities or omissions
        • Guarantees and warranties
        • Preparation of contract documents - contaminated land
        • Referencing standard documents
        • Shop drawings
        • Specification writing
      • Contractor selection
        • Negotiated contracts
        • Tenders – calling
        • Tenders - receiving and selecting
      • Contract administration
        • Certificates
        • Clerk of works
        • Contract administration versus supervision
        • Contractor's role in construction
        • Extensions of time
        • Latent conditions
        • Mandatory inspections
        • Practical completion
        • Prevention Principle and the implied duty of cooperation
        • Progress payments
        • Remote sites - contract administration
        • Security – bank guarantees and cash retention
        • Substitutions
      • Partial services
        • Architects engaged as secondary or subconsultants
        • Partial services - agreements
        • Partial services - fees
      • Regulatory requirements
        • Approval processes for planning and construction
        • Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB)
        • Building Act (Tasmania) certification
        • Certificates of title
        • National Construction Code (NCC)
        • Noise from building sites
        • Performance Solutions
        • Protection of adjoining property
      • Post construction
        • Defects
        • Post-occupancy evaluation (POE)
        • Final completion and certificate
    • Other architectural services
      • As-built documentation
      • Expert witness
      • Facilities management
      • Illustration
      • Inspections
        • Inspection checklists
      • Master planning
      • Project feasibility
      • Project management and project managers
        • Project management - planning, program and administration
        • Project management - responsibilities, liabilities and fees
        • Project manager - working with
      • Record documents
      • Trade package documentation
      • Value management
      • Working as an architect-builder
    • Procurement
      • Architects working together
      • Co-design
      • Design and construct
      • Fast-tracked projects
      • Financing of projects
      • Guaranteed maximum price
      • Joint ventures
      • Procurement - alternative methods
      • Procurement - critical considerations
      • Procurement options - checklist
      • Project alliancing
      • Public Private Partnerships (PPP)
    • Project bid
      • Architect selection and commissions
        • Architectural competitions
        • Promotion via proposals and tenders
        • Quality-based selection
        • Student commissions
      • Fee calculation
        • Charge-out rate
        • Determining fees for small projects
        • Salaries and overheads
    • Project control
      • Digital transfer considerations
        • Electronic data transfer - client and architect agreement
        • Electronic data transfer - third-party agreement
      • Project budget management
        • Budget estimates - overview
        • Contingency sum
        • Insolvent contractor
        • Measurement of buildings
        • Prime cost items and provisional sums
        • Replacement costs
      • Project records
      • Project time management
        • Float – adjustment of time
        • Managing time during construction
        • Program as a contract document
        • Project time management in design and documentation
        • Time performance warranties
    • Specialist consultants
      • Selection and engagement
        • Architect's liability for specialist consultants
        • Specialist consultants - agreements
        • Specialist consultants - payment
        • Specialist consultants - selection
        • Subconsultant or secondary consultant engagement
      • Specialist consultant scope and responsibility
        • Specialist consultants during design and documentation
        • Specialist consultants during construction
        • Specialist consultants post construction
      • Specialist consultants - types
        • Fire safety engineering vs fire services engineering
        • Performance Solutions in fire engineering
        • The role of the fire safety engineer in the design team
        • When to engage a fire safety engineer
    • Time records
  • Resources
    • Access design guide
      • Access guides for best practice and inclusive design
        • Access to heritage places
        • Design for hearing impairment
        • Design for vision impairment
        • External stairs and ramps
        • Junior ambulant toilets - Design Guide
        • Lighting guide for inclusive design
      • Access guides for fit out
        • Accessible auditorium / lecture room
        • Accessible change cubicle
        • Accessible fitting cubicle
        • Accessible parenting / baby change room
        • Accessible reception counter
        • Accessible tea point
        • Accessible ticket office
        • Accessible utility room
        • Accessible waiting room
        • Drinking fountains and water filling points
      • Access requirements in the National Construction Code (NCC)
        • Accessible adult change facilities
        • Accessible entry
        • Visual emergency warning systems
    • Client information notes
      • Client note: Architects' fees
      • Client note: Contingency sums
      • Client note: Contractor variations resulting in a credit
      • Client note: Copyright in architecture
      • Client note: Insurance for work to existing buildings
      • Client note: Managing your project costs
      • Client note: Opening up and testing the works
      • Client note: Practical completion and the final certificate
      • Client note: Progress payments during construction
      • Client note: Project supply chain and labour impacts
      • Client note: Selecting an architect
      • Client note: The independent role of the project manager
      • Client note: Variations to construction scope
      • Client note: What are an architect's moral rights?
      • Client note: Your brief to your architect
    • Construction industry legal comment
    • COVID-19 project considerations
      • COVID-19 contract related FAQs
      • COVID-19 risks and contract options
      • COVID-19 site inspection considerations
    • Free legal reference service (FLRS)
    • Guide letters
      • Guide letter 1: Advice to client - conditions of engagement
      • Guide letter 2: Confirmation to client
      • Guide letter 3: Advice to client - specialist consultants
      • Guide letter 4: Request to specialist consultants
      • Guide letter 5: Advice to client
      • Guide letter 6: Request to client for confirmation
      • Guide letter 7: Confirmation - appointment of consultant
      • Guide letter 8: Briefing of specialist consultant
      • Guide letter 9: Recommendation to client - additional fees
      • Guide letter 10: Site - request to client for information
      • Guide letter 11: Advice to client - architects' fees due
      • Guide letter 12: Secondary consultants' fee accounts
      • Guide letter 13: Advice to client on authority conditions
      • Guide letter 14: Advice to client at stage completion
      • Guide letter 15: Advice to client - pre-contract progress
      • Guide letter 16: Advice to client on implications of changes
      • Guide letter 17: Recommendation to client - clerk of works
      • Guide letter 18: Advice to client - building contract
      • Guide letter 19: Confirmation to client - contract
      • Guide letter 20: Pre-tender information
      • Guide letter 21: Confirmation to client - tender details
      • Guide letter 22: Tender assessment and report
      • Guide letter 23: Successful tenderer - letter of acceptance
      • Guide letter 24: Successful tenderer
      • Guide letter 25: Unsuccessful tenderers - advice
      • Guide letter 26: Insurance - request to contractor
      • Guide letter 27: Clerk of works – employment advice
      • Guide letter 28: Advice to client - execution of contract
      • Guide letter 29: Recommendation to client - variations
      • Guide letter 30: Advice to client - expenditure
      • Guide letter 31: Advice to client - building progress
      • Guide letter 32: Advice to client - contractor's breach
      • Guide letter 33: Advice to client - works nearing completion
      • Guide letter 34: Advice to contractor - practical completion
      • Guide letter 35: Confirmation to client - defects
      • Guide letter 36: Advice to contractor - defects
      • Guide letter 37: Advice to client - final certificate
      • Guide letter 38: Completion - thanking contractor
      • Guide letter 39: Documenting a project from another practice
    • Glossary of Terms
  • Environment
    • Case studies
      • Urine-separation and dry composting toilet trial
      • Bay Pavilions Arts + Aquatic
      • Building T, Deakin University
      • Commercial
        • Albert Road, South Melbourne
        • Australian Ethical Investment Headquarters
        • Daramu House
        • Integrated design process of Council House 2
        • James Street Market, Brisbane
        • Lighting at Australian Greenhouse Offices, Canberra
        • Office building retrofit at 55 St Andrews Place
        • Santos Headquarters, Adelaide
      • Conversion of a heritage-listed industrial building
      • Kelvin Grove Urban Village
      • Marrickville Library
      • Newcastle CSIRO Energy Centre
      • Post occupancy evaluation of evaporative cooling
      • QUT Peter Coaldrake Education Precinct
      • Residential
        • Clovelly house
        • Energy performance of new project homes
        • Filter house
        • George Street apartments
        • Nightingale 2.0 - Fairfield
        • The Armstrong-Mobbs house
        • The Pemberton house
        • The Prasad house
        • Welcome to the Jungle House
      • The Erskine Building, Christchurch
      • Urine-separation and dry composting
    • Energy
      • Cutting lifetime residential greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
      • Embodied carbon in buildings
      • Drivers of energy and water efficiency in commercial office buildings
      • Energy saving design
        • A guide to daylighting of buildings
        • A solar atlas for Tasmania
        • Airtightness and thermal bridging in buildings
        • Best practice in lighting
        • Construction details for cool temperate climates
        • Daylighting of buildings
        • Double-skin facades
        • Evaluating advanced facade systems for commercial buildings
        • Passivhaus: low energy buildings in Australasia
        • Properties and rating systems for glazings, windows and skylights (including atria)
        • Residential passive design for temperate climates
        • Thermal mass and insulation for temperate climates
        • Thermal mass for cool temperate climates
        • Thermal mass in building design
        • Thermal performance in a dry temperate climate
      • Energy saving technologies
        • Artificial lighting design
        • Adjusting building thermostats for environmental gains
        • Building thermostats – issues
        • Building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV)
        • Chilled ceilings and beams
        • Considerations for residential appliances and equipment
        • Low-energy hot water systems
        • Operating a building
        • Photovoltaic cells – how they work
        • The legal right to solar access
      • Implementing energy efficiency
      • Life cycle energy analysis
      • Designing, managing and retrofitting non-residential buildings to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
      • Revisiting energy efficiency in commercial buildings
      • Ventilation
        • Circulating fans for summer and winter comfort and indoor energy efficiency
        • Emerging technologies in ventilation
        • Natural ventilation in passive design
        • Single-sided ventilation
    • Environment glossary
    • Equity
      • Co-housing – an introduction
      • Co-housing – the Australian context
      • Designing to heal – part A
      • Designing to heal – part B
      • Enabling play friendly places
      • Social sustainability
      • Socially responsible planning and urban design
      • Supporting social value through the design process
    • Health and happiness
      • Biophilic design: an introduction for designers
      • Design for minimal radiation exposure
      • Designing user-friendly passive buildings
      • Green buildings and productivity
      • Health and productivity in sustainable buildings
      • Indoor environment quality
        • Adaptive comfort
        • Applying the adaptive model of comfort
        • Impact of indoor environment quality in office buildings
        • Indoor environment quality and facility design
      • Light pollution
      • Mental landscapes
      • Protecting against solar UVR
      • The shade audit
      • Urban air quality
    • Materials
      • Building materials selection – greenhouse strategies
      • Comparative service life assessment of window systems
      • Concrete and sustainability
      • Green specifying
      • Lead hazards in construction – a designer's guide
      • Life cycle assessment (LCA)
        • Life cycle assessment for wood products
        • Life cycle assessment of buildings
      • Low CO2 Concrete
      • Phase change materials – overview
      • Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) – its use in construction
      • Strategies and resources for material selection
      • Straw bale construction
      • Sustainable housing using lightweight cellular concrete
      • The environmental impact of building materials
      • Timber and wood
        • An introduction to mass timber
        • Applications and ESD decision making
        • Environmentally certified products – background
        • Environmentally certified products – in Australia
        • Environmentally certified products – overview
        • Timber use in residential construction and demolition
      • Waste management
        • Design for disassembly – themes and principles
        • Ecological waste
        • Material selection for waste minimisation
    • Place
      • Climate
        • Climate change adaptation for building designers
        • Climate change and sustainability
        • Climate responsive design
        • Development in Australian bushfire prone areas
        • Heat stress resistant residential design in Australia
        • The climate-adaptive vernacular architecture of Asia-Pacific
      • GIS and remote sensing for transport
      • Habitat and ecology
        • Biodiversity and the built environment
        • Birds and buildings
        • Ecological connectivity design strategies
        • Green roofs – understanding their benefits for Australia
        • Green roofs for energy efficiency
        • Living walls – a way to green the built environment
        • Measuring site biodiversity for sustainable development
        • Architecture’s role in the repair of the natural environment
        • Roof and facade gardens
        • Vegetation and habitat conservation – a strategic framework
      • Infrastructure and transportation
      • Land use
        • Architecture, planning and food
        • Erosion and sediment control
        • Lend Lease and sustainability
        • Land resource assessment
        • Permaculture introduction and urban farming
        • Permaculture principles and application
        • Planning the green city
        • Site planning and design for bushfire
        • Sustainability in metropolitan planning
        • Sustainable communities
        • Towards sustainable urbanism
        • Urban planning for sustainability
      • Physical activity links to healthcare costs and productivity
      • Planning for transit oriented development
      • Predicting transport greenhouse gases
      • Remote area building and sustainable development
      • Sustainable metropolitan transport
    • Process
      • Beyond carbon neutrality
      • Building environmental performance assessment
      • Domestic building energy assessment
      • Marketing ecologically sustainable design skills
      • Optimising environmental performance
      • Rating systems
        • Non-residential sustainable building rating tools
        • Predicted vs actual performance of green buildings
        • Residential sustainability rating tools
        • Urban assessment tools for application in Australia
      • Regenerative design approaches
        • A case study of Seacombe West through LENSES
        • Design for building services
        • Design for environmental services
        • Positive development
      • Residential retrofitting
      • Section J and commercial building facade design: NCC 2022
      • Sustainability and building information modelling (BIM)
      • Sustainability framework for practice
      • Sustainable design – a client briefing
      • Systems thinking
        • Beyond codified comfort
        • Design for adaptability
        • Persuasive design and building user engagement
      • The role of emotion and logic in sustainable design
      • Understanding buildings in operation
      • Understanding quantification
    • Water
      • Embodied water in construction
      • On-site domestic wastewater treatment and reuse
      • Practice of water sensitive urban design
      • Raingardens and bioretention tree pits
      • Sustainable water use
      • Water conservation and harvesting in Adelaide
      • Water sensitive urban design – an overview
      • Water sensitive urban design thus far
      • Wetlands, storage and reuse system
  • Notepacks
    • Budgets and cost control notepack
      • Budget estimates – influencing factors
      • Budget estimates – methods
      • Budget estimates - overview
      • Budget estimates - staging
      • Client note: Contingency sums
      • Client note: Managing your project costs
      • Contingency sum
      • Project budget management
      • Value management
    • Building procurement notepack
      • Architectural competitions
      • Guide letters
      • Novation
      • Partial services
      • Procurement
      • Procurement - critical considerations
      • Procurement options - checklist
      • Project management and project managers
      • Project management services – liability for
      • Working as an architect-builder
    • Business continuity
      • Business Continuity and Disaster Planning
      • Business cycles
      • Buying a practice
      • Common risks for architects
      • General practice insurance
      • Partnerships
      • Strategic planning
      • Succession planning
      • Transfer of business
      • Valuing or selling a practice
    • Construction documentation notepack
      • ABIC contracts - statutory approvals
      • Accessible adult change facilities
      • Approval processes for planning and construction
      • Australian Standards
      • Condensation in Buildings Handbook
      • Construction drawings
      • DDA - the Premises Standards, BCA and alternative solutions
      • External stairs and ramps
      • Managing teams
      • National Construction Code (NCC)
      • Non-complying building products
      • Quality control checklist
      • Referencing standard documents
      • Safety in design FAQs
      • Safety in design guide
      • Section J and commercial building facade design: NCC 2022
      • Specification writing
      • Termite management
      • Trade package documentation
    • COVID-19 notepack
      • Client note: Project supply chain and labour impacts
      • COVID-19 contract related FAQs
      • COVID-19 project considerations
      • COVID-19 risks and contract options
      • COVID-19 site inspection considerations
      • Delays in the supply of materials
      • Flexible working arrangements
      • Guide letter 16: Advice to client on implications of changes
      • Health and happiness
      • Leave entitlements and obligations
      • Mental health in the profession
    • Disaster response notepack
      • Bushfire or pro bono work – special conditions CAA2019
      • Common risks for architects
      • Designing to heal – part A
      • Designing to heal – part B
      • Development in bushfire prone areas
      • Heat stress resistant residential design in Australia
      • Pro bono or reduced fee services
      • Projects in bushfire-prone areas
      • Site planning and design for bushfire
    • Embodied energy notepack
      • Comparative service life assessment of window systems
      • Residential appliances and equipment
      • Cutting lifetime residential GHG emissions
      • Design for disassembly
      • Ecological waste
      • Embodied carbon in buildings
      • Life cycle energy analysis
      • Material selection for waste minimisation
      • Sustainability and building information modelling (BIM)
      • Thermal mass in building design
    • National Construction Code (NCC) 2022 notepack
      • Accessible adult change facilities
      • Accessible entry
      • Airtightness and thermal bridging in buildings
      • Residential appliances and equipment
      • Cutting lifetime residential GHG emissions
      • National Construction Code (NCC)
      • Performance Solutions
      • Performance Solutions in fire engineering
      • Residential sustainability rating tools
      • Section J and commercial building facade design: NCC 2022
      • Site planning and design for bushfire
      • When to engage a fire safety engineer
    • NSCA 2021 notepack
      • Stakeholders and communities
        • A case study of Seacombe West through LENSES
        • Client and architect relationship
        • Co-design
        • Enabling play friendly places
        • Nightingale 2.0 - Fairfield
        • Supporting social value through the design process
    • Office manual notepack
      • Branding notepack
        • Brand creation and implementation
        • Business planning
        • Marketing and communications
        • Publicity management
      • Business planning notepack
        • Business cycles
        • Business planning
        • Business structure and planning
        • Marketing and communications
        • Strategic planning
        • Website design and best practice
      • Company profile notepack
        • Business structure and planning
        • Marketing and communications
        • Starting a practice
      • Contracts notepack
        • ABIC contracts
        • Agreements - principles
        • AS 4122
        • Australian Standards contracts
        • Avoiding personal contracts
        • Building contracts
        • Client-generated agreements
        • Contractual liability
        • Cost-plus contracts: Considerations
        • Fitness for purpose
        • Legal person
      • Digital data processes notepack
        • BIM – Building information modelling
        • Cloud computing
        • Digital transfer considerations
        • Electronic data transfer - third-party agreement
      • Environment notepack
        • Sustainability and building information modelling (BIM)
        • Sustainable design – a client briefing
        • The role of emotion and logic in sustainable design
      • Fee notepack
        • 2024 Client Architect Agreement (CAA2024)
        • Client and architect agreements
        • Client note: Architects' fees
        • Determining fees for small projects
        • Fee calculation
        • Fees
        • Goods and services tax (GST)
        • Guide letter 1: Advice to client - conditions of engagement
        • Guide letter 11: Advice to client - architects' fees due
        • Guide letter 2: Confirmation to client
        • Guide letter 9: Recommendation to client - additional fees
        • Low fees - implication for practices
        • Partial services - fees
      • Financial administration notepack
        • Charge-out rate
        • Fee calculation
        • Fees
        • Minimum wages and award rates
        • Profit and profitability
        • Salaries and overheads
        • Time records
      • Human resources (HR) notepack
      • Information technology (IT) notepack
        • Archiving
        • Archiving legacy records
        • Cloud computing
        • Electronic document management
        • Filing systems
        • Library of Standards
      • Insurances and liability notepack
        • Architects' liability
        • Contractual liability
        • Directors and officers insurance
        • Duty to disclose liability
        • Employee private commissions and liability
        • Engagement of contract staff
        • General practice insurance
        • Liability for manufactured products
        • Liability for negligence
        • Limitation of liability
        • Professional indemnity cover exclusions
        • Professional indemnity insurance basics
        • Professional indemnity insurance for architects
        • Proportionate liability legislation
        • Public liability
        • Risk management and insurances
      • Letters notepack
        • 2019 Client Architect Agreement for Limited Services
        • 2024 Client Architect Agreement (CAA2024)
        • Guide letters
        • Moral rights guide and template letters
      • Marketing material notepack
        • Copyright and architectural photography
        • Event design and planning
        • Report writing
        • Social media
        • Website design and best practice
      • New work notepack
        • Architect selection and commissions
        • Architectural competitions
        • Client commissions and moral rights
        • Pro bono or reduced fee services
        • Project bid
        • Promotion via proposals and tenders
        • Graduate and student commissions
        • Tenders - calling
      • Premises and practice organisation notepack
        • Archiving
        • Archiving legacy records
        • Asset planning
        • Document retention and destruction
        • Electronic document management
        • General practice insurance
      • Project documentation notepack
        • Client note: Practical completion and the final certificate
        • Construction drawings
        • Contract administration
        • Core architectural services
        • Guide letter 20: Pre-tender information
        • Guide letter 22: Tender assessment and report
        • Guide letter 23: Successful tenderer - letter of acceptance
        • Guide letter 24: Successful tenderer - RFI
        • Guide letter 25: Unsuccessful tenderers - advice
        • Guide letter 37: Advice to client - final certificate
        • Practical completion
        • Quality control checklist
        • Specification writing
        • Staged practical completion
        • Tenders - calling
        • Tenders - receiving and selecting
      • Projects notepack
        • Brief
        • Construction documentation
        • Construction drawings
        • Guide letters
        • Meetings
        • Program as a contract document
        • Project control
        • Quality control checklist
        • Quality management
        • Room data sheet
        • Safe design legislation
        • Shop drawings
      • Quality management notepack
        • Quality control checklist
        • Quality management
      • Risk notepack
        • Architects' liability
        • Architects standard of care
        • Australian Institute of Architects Code of Conduct
        • Ethics
        • Professional indemnity insurance for architects
        • Risk management and insurances
        • Victorian Code of Conduct
      • Specialist consultant notepack
        • Architects engaged as secondary or subconsultants
        • Selection and engagement
        • Specialist consultants
        • Specialist consultants - agreements
        • Specialist consultants - payment
        • Subconsultant or secondary consultant engagement
      • Work health and safety (WHS) notepack
        • Safety in design FAQs
        • Safety in design guide
        • Understanding WHS legislation
    • Selecting products and materials
      • Embodied carbon in buildings
      • Embodied water in construction
      • Liability for manufactured products
      • Materials
      • Modern slavery
      • Non-complying building products
      • Substitutions
    • Social media notepack
      • Communications
      • Copyright and architectural photography
      • Online ethics
      • Social media
      • Social media and the workplace
    • Starting a practice notepack
      • Architect selection and commissions
      • Architects Acts
      • Brand creation and implementation
      • Business structure and planning
      • Fees
      • Insurances
      • Marketing and communications
      • Office administration and manual structure
      • Profit and profitability
      • Project bid
      • Starting a practice
    • Student SONA notepack
      • First job notepack
      • Client management
      • Super Studio 2024
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Acknowledgement of Country

The Australian Institute of Architects acknowledges First Nations peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the lands, waters and skies of the continent now called Australia.

We express our gratitude to their Elders and Knowledge Holders whose wisdom, actions and knowledge have kept culture alive.

We recognise First Nations peoples as the first architects and builders. We appreciate their continuing work on Country from pre-invasion times to contemporary First Nations architects, and respect their rights to continue to care for Country.

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