October 2022
Dear Team,
Today is our first day, operating as the Department of Buildings (DOB). Since the Department of Buildings Establishment Act of 2020 became law a year ago, there has been much preparation for this day and it is my sincere pleasure to welcome you to one of the District's newest agencies.
On Friday, Mayor Muriel Bowser appointed me as the Acting Director of DOB and I am thrilled to continue on this journey with you as the DC Council considers a permanent appointment.
Our mission going forward is to protect the safety of residents, businesses, and visitors and advance the development of the built environment through permitting, inspections, and code enforcement and through our work, we fully intend to change the landscape of the District.
There will be more to come soon, but for now, on behalf of the 712,000 residents of the District of Columbia that we serve, I'd like to thank you in advance for all that you continue to do everyday to ensure that we are successful.
I look forward to working with each of you. Have a great first day of operation.
Stay Safe.
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 Ernest Chrappah
Acting Director
This past Friday, we ended our work day as one agency and today, we stand ourselves up proudly as the Department of Buildings with no interruption in service for our customers.
As an agency that provides our access to our services through digital platforms, we are proud to launch a new website as an informative entry point for our customers to learn more about the agency and how to obtain our services.
In building dob.dc.gov, our intention was to improve efficiency, make frequently used services and applications prominent, and ease the path for reporting safety concerns for our customers. We also increased the prominence of our live chat feature to encourage customers to take advantage and get answers to their questions faster, and provided a stronger overview of our applications and platforms so that customers understand how each is used.
If you have not had the opportunity to do so, we encourage you to take a look. We hope you like it.
 In the impact of the law establishing the agency, changes to our divisions and program areas and reporting structure are included. We encourage staff to review the agency organizational chart, as well as the listing of divisions and program areas so that we are informed, and consistent, when interacting with one another and customers and stakeholders.
Office of the Director
The Office of the Director includes the following functions: administrative services including human resources, support services, procurement and contract administration, risk management, agency financial operations and records management; agency performance and data management; customer service and account management; legislative affairs; legal; communications; and information technology.
Office of Construction and Building Standards
The Office of Construction and Building Standards is responsible for permitting, construction compliance, building inspections, green building, and third-party inspections. This division conducts building and structure assessments for emergency and disaster response, and includes the Surveyor’s Office. This division contains the following six activities:
Permitting – serves as the District’s central application intake and issuance center for building permits and certificates of occupancy; conducts technical building plan reviews to ensure code compliance, and approves and issues building permits;
Construction Compliance – drives policy in support of legislation and code enacted by the DC Council, provides input to and administrative support for the Construction Code Coordinating Board (CCCB), and coordinates revisions to the District’s building and trade codes to meet current demands for adequate and safe construction as outlined by the International Code Council family of model codes;
Building Inspections – manages permit-based construction inspection requests including illegal construction inspections, issues appropriate orders and notices to ensure compliance with the District’s building codes and zoning regulations and provides emergency building damage assessments in support of ESF14 requirements for emergency and disaster response in coordination with the Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency;
Green Building – regulates construction in the District of Columbia that falls under the regulations of green codes including the Green Building Act, Green Construction Code, and Energy Conservation Code. The activity operates within the structure of DOB’s permitting and inspection activities, with work including reviewing construction documents; conducting building inspections; and collaborating with sister agencies, the building industry, and the community to further the efforts to build a more sustainable DC;
Surveyor – produces and maintains legal records of all land plots and subdivisions of private and District government property within the District of Columbia; processes condominium recordation and conducts wall checks validations; and
Third-Party Inspections – authorizes nongovernmental persons or entities, with specialized knowledge and certification, to perform regular and special inspections and plan reviews to certify that work complies with the District of Columbia Construction Codes; provides oversight of approved third-party plan review and inspection companies; drafts and enforces policy manuals for each of those functions; Inspects and performs oversight of boiler and elevator installations within the District.
Office of Strategic Code Enforcement
The Office of Strategic Code Enforcement is responsible for code enforcement, civil infractions, and fine assessment. This division develops and implements enforcement strategies and procedures, monitors violations, enforces the collection of fines, and tracks the status of both, and other duties. This division also provides alternatives to resolve civil infractions outside of the courtroom like settlements when proof of abatement is provided. This division contains the following two activities:
Code Enforcement – develops and implements enforcement strategies and procedures; and
Civil Infractions and Fine Assessment – processes all civil infractions with the Office of Administrative Hearings, collects fines, and places property liens on unpaid fines.
Office of Residential Inspections
The Office of Residential Inspections is responsible for inspecting and classifying vacant and blighted properties, conducting rental housing inspections, and promoting housing rehabilitation through abatement and enforcement activities. This division contains the following three activities:
Vacant and Blighted Property – registers vacant properties in the District of Columbia, processes requests for vacant property tax exemptions, and inspects vacant and blighted properties to ensure compliance with vacant property maintenance standards, registration, and provides occupancy status to the Office of Tax and Revenue (OTR) for tax classification purposes;
Rental Housing Inspections – inspects residential properties and issues citations of housing code violations; and
Housing Rehabilitation - abates property maintenance code violations, manages abatement contracts, and issues special assessments for unpaid abatement costs.
Office of Zoning Administration
The Office of Zoning Administration is responsible for administering and determining compliance with the Zoning Regulations.
With today's transition into DOB, we want to provide information on how to change your email signatures in Outlook and Kustomer so that we are presenting ourselves professionally and aiding our customers in clearly understanding the new agency with which they are interacting.
Please ensure that you have updated your signature.
How to Set a New Signature In Microsoft Outlook
From Outlook, select:
- File/Options/Mail/Signatures/New
- Copy from the templates sent via email on Thursday morning from AFTER you have customized with your own information and paste into the window within Outlook
- Select Ok
Use the templates below:
- Please enter your email address and hit return so that it populates with the email address embedded. Email addresses should reflect no capitalized letters in the displayed text.
- Please ensure that that fonts and sizes shown below are maintained so that the entire agency has a consistent and established presence.
- Note: links for the agency, and its social media platforms are already embedded in the template.
- Phone numbers should use periods between numbers to establish a contemporary feel.
- The display name of your email address should use all lower-case letters. To edit when using the templates below, right click, select “edit link” and edit as necessary.
 How To Set Up Your Signature In Kustomer
 How to Set Up Signatures on Cell Phones
- Open Outlook
- Select your profile picture
- Select the gear icon
- Select signature
- Copy and Paste the information, excluding logos and icons (it is easy if you email yourself after doing the above steps and copy from the email)
When using Kustomer, note that you must select the correct "from" email address when sending an email so that you reflect the correct agency.
While we remain in a remote posture as our workspace is being prepared to serve the new agencies, we want to share a bit of a glimpse of what the second floor will look like when we return.
Our Floors
DOB will occupy the 4th and 5th floors exclusively while we will share the 2nd floor with the Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection. As of this writing, it is expected that the 2nd floor will be ready to serve customers seeking to use our Digital Service Assistance Centers on October 24, 2022.
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 Our Return to the Office
While staff providing in-person service to customers have been onsite through the reconfiguration, the reconfiguration of the 4th and 5th floors is anticipated to be completed so as to allow all staff to return to the office on Monday, December 5, 2022.
We will keep you informed if these dates change.
Administrative Impact in PeopleSoft
We recognize that the transition has created many administrative shifts for staff. Here is what staff can expect going forward in PeopleSoft. Employees:
- Should be able to see their pay stubs and leave balances in PeopleSoft,
- Can submit training requests for approval,
- Will not be able to see and access their performance documents, and
- Managers will not be able to see their direct reports until Sunday, October 09, 2022, the beginning of the first pay period following the transition.
Note: This will not affect time and attendance reporting.
Issuance of New Badges and Shields
Inspectors can pick up their new badges and shields at Support Services located on the 5th floor beginning today. If you need additional support once you are in the building, Support Services may be reached at (202) 442-4300.
Other DOB staff will receive their new badges once we return to the office later this fall.
As part of DOB's commitment to providing access to information and ensuring a strong cyber security, we want to ensure that all of our systems are up-to-date with the latest security updates. Most of these updates are applied automatically to your computer, but require a reboot of your system in order to take effect.
We encourage everyone to restart their DC-issued computer on a daily basis. Since this may not always be possible, please restart your computer at least once a week. In addition to ensuring that security is up-to-date, a restart will also improve how your computer performs.
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