Commerce Township, Michigan
Looking for a Commerce Township home inspector? We do certified home, commercial, mold and radon inspections in Commerce Township, seven days a week. Home inspection reports come back in 24 hours.
Schedule your inspectionCall 734-331-3269
Services
For buyers, sellers, and homeowners keeping an eye on the place they already own. On new construction we also do pre-drywall inspections and 11-month builder’s warranty inspections. Our certified inspectors walk every major system in your Commerce Township home and tell you plainly what they found — then put it in a photo-rich digital report within 24 hours.
Following the InterNACHI Standards of Practice:
Included free with every home buyer inspection— and none of them require us to sell your information.
SatisfactionIf you are unhappy with your inspector on the day of the inspection, before you have seen your report, tell us and we will make it right — or you owe us nothing.
30-Day WarrantyA free 30-day Guard home warranty trial, negotiated for you with no obligation. Activate it whenever you are ready.
$100 OffThe buyer’s protection guarantee: if the first home we inspect for you does not make it to the closing table, for any reason, we take $100 off any further home buyer inspection within 30 days of the original.
Optional services at an additional cost — not part of a standard inspection. Tap one to see what it covers.
A camera down the main sewer line, watching its condition from the inside — roots, breaks, bellies and blockages no visual inspection can find. More about sewer scope inspections
The wood-destroying organism report VA buyers are typically asked to provide, on the federal NPMA-33 form. Carried out during the same visit. More about Veterans WDO inspections
Up to five air samples sent to an accredited laboratory, added to the same appointment rather than booked as a second visit. More about mold inspection and testing
View a sample report
Offices, retail, multifamily and warehouses in Commerce Township and across Oakland County. Know what condition a building is in before you sign — or stay ahead of problems in the one you already own. Reports in 24 to 72 hours depending on size.
Following the CCPIA commercial standards:
Commonly added to a commercial inspection at additional cost.
Commercial laterals are longer, older and carry more. A camera is the only way to see the condition of the one you are buying. More about sewer scope inspections
Air samples to an accredited laboratory, which matters most in buildings that have sat empty or had a roof or plumbing leak. More about mold inspection and testing
View a sample report
Add either to a Commerce Township home or commercial inspection, or book it on its own. We test and we never remediate, so there is nothing to sell you on the back of a result — the number you get is just the number.
Radon measured in house on a professional continuous monitor; mold samples to an accredited laboratory:
The other things worth testing while somebody is already there.
Carried out after remediation on the treated area and the areas next to it, to confirm what was found. More about mold inspection and testing
A damp basement can have several causes, and the buried sewer line is the one a visual inspection cannot check. A scope rules it in or out. More about sewer scope inspections
View a sample reportCommerce Township housing stock
Commerce Township has roughly 17,241 housing units and about 76% of them are single-family detached. Homes built in a single stretch tend to wear out in the same places at the same time. That is why when somewhere was built is the first thing worth knowing about it.
The busiest stretch of building here was the 1990s: 3,707 homes, about 22% of everything standing today.
The median owner-occupied home here is valued at $316,300. 87% are owner-occupied, which is high even for this area. There are around 964 manufactured and mobile homes in Commerce Township. Those are a different inspection — the questions are about the frame, the anchoring and the skirting rather than a basement.
None of this says anything about the specific house you are buying. It is the shortlist a Commerce Township home inspector works through in a home of this age, and every item on it gets photographed and written up whichever way it turns out.
Housing figures: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2022 five-year estimates.
When Commerce Township was built
92% of homes here run on utility gas, and 5 still heat with oil. If yours is one of them, the tank is the thing to ask about — where it is, and whether it was ever buried. Another 128 use bottled or LP gas.
Local knowledge
One rule here matters more than anything else on this page, and it catches people at the worst possible moment — during the transfer itself.
If a property has an existing septic system, Commerce Township requires a certified evaluation of that system at the time of sale. It is not optional, it is not something the buyer can arrange casually, and it has a deadline attached. The detail is below, because getting it wrong delays closings.
The housing itself is modern. Of roughly 17,241 units, about 22% date from the 1990s and 19% from the 2000s, with a median build year of 1990 and around 76% single-family detached. There is older stock too — roughly 10% from the 1950s and 15% from the 1970s — so the township spans several eras rather than one.
A house from 1990 is now over thirty years old, which is past the expected service life of an original roof covering, furnace, air conditioning condenser and water heater. Which of those have been renewed is not something a build year can tell you.
Before you buy
Septic at sale
This is the most consequential local requirement we have come across for a property on septic, and it is worth reading carefully.
From 1 October 2023, septic inspection forms are required to be submitted with all Property Transfer Affidavits for residential and commercial properties that have existing septic systems. The Township’s code of ordinances requires any parcel with an existing septic system to provide a certified evaluation of that system at the time of sale. The evaluation must be carried out by a septic evaluator registered with Commerce Township, and it must be submitted within 15 days of being performed. The Township publishes both the inspection form and a current list of registered evaluators, and notes that certain exceptions to the requirement exist in the ordinance.
Three things follow for a buyer. Find out early whether the property is on septic or on public sewer, because the whole requirement turns on that. Use an evaluator from the Township’s list rather than assuming any contractor qualifies. And schedule it with time to spare, because a fifteen-day submission window inside a transaction timeline is tighter than it sounds.
To be clear about what this is not: it is not a general municipal inspection of the house. Commerce Township does not, as far as we could establish, require a point-of-sale inspection of a property on public sewer. The septic evaluation covers the septic system, not the roof, the furnace or the wiring.
Two different jobs
These get conflated, and it costs people money when they assume one has done the work of the other.
A septic evaluation is a specialist assessment of the on-site sewage disposal system, carried out by a registered evaluator on the Township’s list and submitted to the Township on its form. It is about the tank, the field and whether the system is functioning. It is not a report on the building.
A home buyer inspection is the other half: the roof, structure, foundation, drainage, electrical, heating and cooling, plumbing and the accessible interior, photographed and written up with how urgent each finding is. We do not perform the septic evaluation and we will not pretend a standard inspection substitutes for one — where a property is on septic, that is a separate appointment with a separate specialist, and in this township a separately regulated one.
If a property is on a private well as well, that is a third specialist evaluation again. Tell us what serves the property when you book so nothing is assumed and nothing is missed.
Water
Two further things the Township publishes that are worth a look before you commit.
The first is flood information, held alongside the building, water and sewer pages. Whether a particular property sits in a mapped flood area is a question for the Township and your insurer rather than for a home inspection, and we would not suggest otherwise. It is worth checking early on a lot near water.
The second is a cross-connection control program. A cross connection is a piping arrangement that could allow contamination into the drinking water supply through backflow, and in a house the usual candidates are irrigation systems, water-driven backup sump pumps, unprotected hose connections and water treatment equipment plumbed straight to a drain. We are not the cross-connection inspector, but those are all things we see during a normal inspection and report on.
What we assess outside is how the property manages water: accessible grading, gutters and downspouts and where they discharge, foundation conditions, the basement or crawlspace and sump equipment where present, documented as found.
The buried line
Not every property here is on septic, and the ones on public sewer have their own invisible component.
The private lateral runs underground from the house to the public system, and no visual inspection can see inside it whatever the build year. In a township spanning several decades of construction, some of those lines have been in the ground for seventy years and some for twenty. We will not name a material from a build year, because no authoritative source establishes what Commerce Township laterals are generally made of.
A sewer camera inspection records what is actually inside — roots, cracks, displaced joints, bellies or blockages where they exist, and a clear run where they do not. It is added to the same visit rather than booked separately.
Alongside it, commercial building inspections follow the CCPIA standard for offices, retail, multifamily and warehouse property, and radon testing or mold inspection and testing can be added to a residential or commercial visit.
Local information from Commerce Township — septic systems and evaluations at sale · Commerce Township — Building, Water & Sewer · Commerce Township — applications, forms and handouts. Municipal requirements change — verify current details with the municipality.
Radon in Oakland County
Zone 2 is the middle EPA category — the predicted average indoor level across the county sits between 2 and 4 pCi/L. What a zone cannot tell you is anything about one house: 29% of tests actually run in Oakland County still came back at or above the EPA’s 4 pCi/L action level. A zone is an average taken across a whole county, and no house is an average.
We place a continuous monitor for 48 hours and read the result on site — no mail-in kit, no lab wait. How radon testing works · Oakland County radon and inspection coverage
Zone from the EPA Map of Radon Zones. Elevated-result share from the Michigan Indoor Radon Program.
Why choose us
Five reasons people here pick us as their Commerce Township home inspector.
Family owned since 2009, more than 16,000 inspections completed and over 2,000 five-star reviews across Michigan. We also handle home buyer inspections, commercial building inspections, mold testing and radon testing.
We do not sell mold remediation or radon mitigation, so there is nothing to gain from a result that comes back bad. The number you get is just the number.
Radon, mold, sewer scope and wood-destroying organism inspections go on the same appointment as the home inspection rather than costing you a second morning.
Most people do, and it is the most useful hour of the whole purchase. Ask anything while we are standing in front of it.
InterNACHI and CCPIA certified, with four Certified Master Inspectors and National Home Inspector Examination passes on the team — none of which Michigan requires. The standards we inspect to are published and you can hold the work against them.
Including weekends, because inspection windows sit on closing dates and closing dates do not care what day it is.
Reviews
Mitch was great to work with for home inspection on an older home we are considering buying. He was very thorough and provided a lot of pictures. He spent time talking with us with additional information about the areas of concern. We would highly recommend.
Catherine CCommerce Township, MII recently hired Trademark for a full home inspection on a new purchase, including sewer scope and radon testing. It was a phenomenal experience from beginning to end. Our inspector, Mitch, did a fantastic job explaining all the findings, and the digital report with photos and videos was superb. Would definitely recommend without hesitation.
Salina HamiltonOak Park, MIWe had Mitch inspect our prospective house and he was amazing. He was thorough, patient to answer my questions and provide feedback on what areas he would recommend having a follow up expert and why. The office was responsive and I was able to book multiple services to be done in the same visit (inspection, radon test, sewer scope).
Chris PlaweckiOak Park, MIWhat happens
Questions
Yes, where the property has an existing septic system. Since 1 October 2023, septic inspection forms must be submitted with all Property Transfer Affidavits for residential and commercial properties with existing septic systems. The Township’s code of ordinances requires any parcel with a septic system to provide a certified evaluation at the time of sale, the evaluation must be completed by an evaluator registered with Commerce Township, and it must be submitted within 15 days of being performed. The Township notes that certain exceptions exist in the ordinance, so check the position for your particular transfer.
No. The evaluation must be completed by a septic evaluator registered with Commerce Township, and the Township publishes a current licensee list along with the inspection form and an evaluator registration form. Using someone from that list is the straightforward route. Bear in mind the 15-day submission window once the evaluation is performed — inside a transaction timeline that is tighter than it sounds, so it is worth scheduling early rather than in the closing week.
No, and assuming it does is an expensive mistake. A septic evaluation is a specialist assessment of the on-site sewage disposal system — the tank, the field, whether the system functions — carried out by a registered evaluator and submitted to the Township. It says nothing about the roof, the structure, the furnace, the wiring or the plumbing inside the house. A home buyer inspection covers those. Where a property is on septic you need both, and if it is also on a private well that is a third specialist evaluation again.
We found no general residential point-of-sale inspection requirement. The requirement that does exist is specific to properties with an existing septic system, and it covers the septic system rather than the building. So on a property connected to public sewer, the inspection you commission is the one examining the house on your behalf. Confirm the position for a specific address with the Building, Water and Sewer department.
Mostly modern, but with a real spread. Of roughly 17,241 housing units, about 22% date from the 1990s and 19% from the 2000s, with a median build year of 1990 and around 76% single-family detached — but there is also older stock, roughly 10% from the 1950s and 15% from the 1970s. A house from 1990 is now over thirty years old, which is past the expected service life of an original roof covering, furnace, air conditioning condenser and water heater, so the useful question is which have been renewed rather than what the build year was.
On a property connected to the public sewer, it is worth considering. The private lateral is buried and no visual inspection can see inside it regardless of age, and in a township spanning several decades of construction some of those lines have been in the ground for seventy years and others for twenty. We would not guess a material from a build year and no authoritative source establishes what Commerce Township laterals are generally made of. Putting a camera down the line answers the condition question directly and is added to the same appointment. On a septic property the equivalent question is answered by the Township-registered septic evaluation instead.
Yes. You can book a Commerce Township home inspector with us seven days a week, and we cover the rest of Oakland County too.
A home inspection report reaches you within 24 hours. Commercial buildings are 24 to 72 hours depending on size, a radon result comes at the end of the 48-hour test, and mold samples come back from the lab in one to three business days.
More on cost, timing and what is included on the FAQ page.
Police, fire, rescue, military and educators — our way of saying thank you for your service. Enter code HERO at checkout.
Claim the Hero DiscountNeed a Commerce Township home inspector and not sure we reach you? Call 734-331-3269 and we will tell you.
Permits, assessing and property records for Commerce Township are handled by the Charter Township of Commerce, not by us.
From the blog
October 22, 2017
Your local Commerce Township home inspector, seven days a week. Home inspection reports in 24 hours.
