Tertius, Online Marketplace for Construction Inspections, Now Includes Special Inspections and Improves Oversight
 In November, the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA) launched Tertius, an online marketplace for construction inspections. Tertius, Latin for “third,” is an innovative platform that easily connects residential and commercial property owners and managers with certified and approved inspectors at their convenience and within their budget.
Tertius Improves DCRA Oversight Capabilities
While Tertius presents more convenient options for customers and generally shortens the timeline to complete inspections, it also provides a platform to conduct and report inspection activity and brings more transparency into the third-party inspections program. This helpful tool is critical to the oversight process, which when lacking, contributed to the types of building failures that we have seen recently.
Tertius Now Includes Special Inspections
Special Inspections provide a higher degree of scrutiny for aspects of construction associated with certain, complex work. This includes, but is not limited to, certain soil suitability, fabrication and installation of structural steel, certain concrete and masonry construction, fabrication and installation of certain wood structural elements. Special Inspections are required in addition to regular inspections that are part of the routine building process.
Customers can now find professionals certified to conduct these important inspections in Tertius.
The Inspection Process: A Reminder of How It Works
Safe construction takes a team of building professionals in partnership with government. The information below will help customers understand how both private sector and government agency inspections are critical to the process.
 
Keeping You Safe: Increased Safety Enhancement Measures Taken By DCRA This Past Year
In addition to inspections currently required, DCRA took action this past year to enhance safety reviews of multifamily and commercial properties in the District.
These actions — such as mandating proactive reporting of unsafe structural conditions, increasing the scrutiny of engineering, and implementing real-time reporting of required inspections are in response to the recent increase in concerns over structural integrity of buildings. More specifically, DCRA:
- Instituted an administrative bulletin requiring all building owners and engineering firms to report and notify DCRA of unsafe structural conditions – proactively identifying buildings before they become unsafe sites.
- Legally requires multifamily residential building owners to file structural assessment reports and remediation plans, drafted by a licensed engineer, for any repairs to unsafe structural conditions prior to permit application.
- Through Teritus, provided digitized special inspections that are conducted by private companies and engineers-of-record with real-time tracking of periodic and continuous inspections – ensuring potential safety issues are caught quickly.
- Created training for plan reviewers to refresh and instill knowledge on shear wall construction.
- Retroactively reviewed all new, multifamily, light-framed wood-construction buildings permitted within the District over the last three years for adequate shear wall designs.
- Procured new engineering software that models, performs advanced and complex structural analysis, and standardized structural reviews in critical building design elements.
New Enhancements Also Added
Additionally, in response to collaboration with our customers, Tertius now includes:
- Increased options when searching projects and payments – you can now search by permit number, address, and client.
- Greater flexibility for agencies when invoicing customers for inspection payments – upload your own invoice, invoice for a single inspection or a multiple inspections.
- Automatic charging using the payment method on file – available to agencies if a client invoice is not paid after 45 days*.
- Invoices and receipts enhanced to include company name, address, permit number, Stripe number, and inspection events.
- Additional payment information within the application; and
- Enhanced exportable CSV files to include client name, address and permit number.
*automatic payment dates vary based on the pricing and invoicing plan selected
Resources To Assist Users
Information Sessions and Training
If you are interested in learning more about Tertius, please attend one of the following virtual events. You may access the sessions by clicking on the links below. All sessions are expected to last one hour.
Introduction and Training Sessions:
Informational and Support Open Forums:
User Guides and Overview Videos
While there is a great deal of information in Tertius, we also invite you to check out the user guides and overview videos.
If you are undertaking a building project and ready to schedule inspections, we invite you to try Tertius today!
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