Ferndale, Michigan
Looking for a Ferndale home inspector? We do certified home, commercial, mold and radon inspections in Ferndale, 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 Ferndale 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 Ferndale 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 Ferndale 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 reportFerndale housing stock
Ferndale has roughly 10,865 housing units and about 80% of them are single-family detached. Age is the most useful single fact about a house before anyone has seen it. It narrows down what is worth checking first, and it is why two places of much the same size can need quite different inspections.
If the town has a defining decade it is the years before 1940, which accounts for 4,728 homes, around 44% of the housing stock.
The median owner-occupied home here is valued at $218,000. Around 893 homes sit in two-to-four unit buildings, where a shared roof, a shared wall and sometimes a shared furnace mean the report has to be clear about where one unit stops.
Treat this as a starting list, not a diagnosis. A Ferndale home inspector checks these things early in a home of this age and then records what is genuinely there, which is often not what the era would suggest.
Housing figures: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2022 five-year estimates.
When Ferndale was built
87% of homes here run on utility gas. Another 150 use bottled or LP gas.
Local knowledge
Ferndale is one of the oldest housing stocks in this region, and it is unusually open about what that means for its water service lines.
Of roughly 10,865 housing units, about 44% were built before 1940, with another 17% in the 1940s and 17% in the 1950s — close to 78% before 1960 — and a median build year of 1944. Around 80% are single-family detached. A typical house here has been standing for eighty years.
That age shapes both halves of this page. Above ground, everything with a service life shorter than eight decades has been replaced, repaired or left running, usually in some combination nobody has a full record of. Below ground, the City has published detailed figures on how many of its service lines contain lead — and, importantly, the context needed to read those figures properly.
Before you buy
Water
This is a case where the numbers and the explanation have to travel together, and the City provides both.
Ferndale states that it has a total of 10,031 service line connections, with an estimated 30% — approximately 3,000 — constructed with lead or lead-containing materials, and that it is in the process of replacing all full and partial lead service lines. That is a more specific disclosure than most communities in this region make.
It also reports its sampling results. During the 2020 monitoring period the Department of Public Works collected samples from 31 properties with known lead service lines; five exceeded the 15 parts per billion Action Level, and the City’s 90th percentile value was 30 ppb. Read alone, that sounds worse than the City’s own explanation supports.
Here is the context, in the City’s terms. The Michigan Safe Drinking Water Act changed sampling requirements in January 2019, requiring communities with lead service lines and older housing to sample far more rigorously — Ferndale went from testing five properties a year to thirty. The City states that the new method produced higher results for some communities not because the water source or quality changed, but because of the stricter procedures; that the Action Level is not a health-based standard but a level that triggers further action; that the exceedance affects only properties with lead service lines; and, under its own heading, that Ferndale’s water source and quality is unchanged and safe. The City responded by increasing both monitoring frequency and the number of sites tested, and by inventorying service lines under state rules.
Those figures date from the 2020 monitoring period, so check the current position with the City rather than treating them as today’s numbers. And note what none of it tells you: whether one specific property has a lead line. A home inspection does not determine service line material, and we will not imply otherwise — the City holds the inventory.
Eighty years on
With 44% of the housing built before 1940 and a median build year of 1944, most of what we inspect here predates modern wiring, modern heating and modern insulation practice.
That is not a criticism. A great many of these houses are well built, and the framing and masonry are of a standard that would be expensive to reproduce. What it does mean is that everything with a shorter service life — roof, furnace, water heater, windows, electrical service, supply plumbing — has been dealt with somehow across eight decades, and rarely with a surviving record of all of it.
We will not reason from the build year to what is installed, because on housing this old that reasoning is unreliable in both directions. Some prewar Ferndale houses have been thoroughly modernized; others have original components still in service. A home buyer inspection reports what is visible and accessible now, with photographs and a clear statement of how urgent each finding is, and says plainly what could not be reached.
Rentals and permits
Ferndale requires all rental properties to be registered with its Community and Economic Development Department, and requires all residential rentals to maintain a valid Certificate of Compliance. Inspections run on a bi-annual cycle, and the City publishes a rental inspection checklist setting out the most common property maintenance violations so owners can prepare.
For owner-occupied purchases, the City’s building, code enforcement and rental services operate the permit and inspection process for construction and alterations. We did not identify a residential point-of-sale inspection requirement of the kind several Downriver communities operate — confirm the position for a specific address with the City rather than relying on that.
On a house of this age, permit history is worth checking alongside the inspection, with the caution that always applies: a permit does not establish that work is in good condition today, and nothing on file does not establish that it was done badly. The City also publishes guidance on short-term rentals, which is a separate matter again if that is your plan for a property.
The buried line
Ferndale is working through its lead water service lines. The sanitary lateral is a different pipe running the other way, and nobody is replacing that one for you.
It runs underground from the house to the public system and no visual inspection can see inside it. On a house from the 1940s or earlier it has been there for eighty years or more — ample time for tree roots to find a joint, for ground movement to displace a section, or for repairs to have been made and forgotten. We will not name a material from a build year, because no authoritative source establishes what Ferndale 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. On one of the oldest housing stocks in the region that is among the few ways to replace an assumption with a picture. It is added to the same visit.
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 City of Ferndale — lead and your drinking water · City of Ferndale — building, code enforcement and rental services · City of Ferndale — short-term rentals. 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. Zones are drawn around counties, not around addresses, which is why the only number that settles the question is the one from the house itself.
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 Ferndale 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
We used Justin for our home inspection and he did an amazing job. He found things that were not noticed at the time of offer which ultimately helped us to make the most informed decision possible. He used the full appointment time, was extremely thorough and walked us through all his findings to make sure we understood exactly what he was seeing. We will definitely be using him again in the future. He was everything an inspector should be and more!
Andrew SalcidoFerndale, 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
Some do, and the City is unusually specific about it. Ferndale reports a total of 10,031 service line connections with an estimated 30% — approximately 3,000 — constructed with lead or lead-containing materials, and states that it is in the process of replacing all full and partial lead service lines. What that does not tell you is whether one particular property has a lead line. A home inspection does not determine service line material; the City holds the inventory and is the place to ask.
It means more testing was triggered, and the City explains the cause. During the 2020 monitoring period the Department of Public Works sampled 31 properties with known lead service lines; five exceeded the 15 parts per billion Action Level and the City’s 90th percentile value was 30 ppb. The City explains that state rules changed in January 2019, taking it from testing five properties a year to thirty, and that higher results followed from stricter sampling rather than any change in water source or quality. It also notes the Action Level is not a health-based standard but a trigger for further action, and that the exceedance affects only properties with lead service lines. Those figures are from the 2020 period, so check the current position with the City.
Among the oldest in the region. Of roughly 10,865 housing units, about 44% were built before 1940, with another 17% in the 1940s and 17% in the 1950s — close to 78% before 1960 — and a median build year of 1944. Around 80% are single-family detached. A typical house here has stood for eighty years, which means everything with a shorter service life has been replaced, repaired or left running, usually in some combination nobody has a full record of.
All rental properties must be registered with the Community and Economic Development Department, and all residential rentals must maintain a valid Certificate of Compliance. Inspections run on a bi-annual cycle, and the City publishes a rental inspection checklist covering the most common property maintenance violations so owners can prepare. Short-term rentals are addressed separately. If you are buying to let, reading the checklist before you buy tells you what standard the property will be held to.
We did not identify a residential point-of-sale inspection requirement of the kind several Downriver communities operate. The City’s building, code enforcement and rental services run the permit and inspection process for construction and alterations, and rental properties are inspected on their own cycle. Confirm the position for a specific address with the City rather than relying on our search, and in the meantime plan on your own inspection being the one examining the house on your behalf.
On this housing stock it is worth serious consideration. The City is working through its lead water service lines, but the sanitary lateral is a separate pipe running the other way and nobody replaces that for you. On a house from the 1940s or earlier it has been in the ground eighty years or more. It is buried, no visual inspection can see inside it, and we would not guess a material from a build year. Putting a camera down the line replaces an assumption with a picture, and is added to the same appointment.
Yes. You can book a Ferndale 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 Ferndale home inspector and not sure we reach you? Call 734-331-3269 and we will tell you.
Permits, assessing and property records for Ferndale are handled by Ferndale, Michigan, not by us.
From the blog
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Your local Ferndale home inspector, seven days a week. Home inspection reports in 24 hours.
