Fraser, Michigan
Looking for a Fraser home inspector? We do certified home, commercial, mold and radon inspections in Fraser, 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 Fraser 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 Fraser and across Macomb 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 Fraser 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 reportFraser housing stock
Fraser has roughly 6,912 housing units and about 65% of them are single-family detached. Housing that went up mostly in one era has mostly one era’s problems — which is genuinely useful to know before you buy, because it tells you what to look at first.
Most of it went up in the 1970s — 1,651 homes, around 24% of the town.
The median owner-occupied home here is valued at $178,900.
None of this is a prediction about a particular house. It is where a Fraser home inspector starts looking in a home of this age, and what we photograph and write up either way.
Housing figures: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2022 five-year estimates.
When Fraser was built
91% of homes here run on utility gas, and 7 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 73 use bottled or LP gas.
Local knowledge
Fraser inspects the things that are about to disappear. Its published inspection sequences include three checks that most municipalities do not spell out, and all three cover components nobody can see once the work is finished.
On a new house, the back-fill inspection happens after the basement is waterproofed and the drainage is in place — so somebody has looked at the foundation waterproofing and the drain before the soil went back. On a deck, the first inspection is the post holes and the ledger board. On a roof tear-off, the first inspection is the open roof.
Those are three of the most common sources of expensive surprises in this trade. A deck ledger that was never properly attached and flashed is the classic collapse risk. Roof decking that was rotten and got covered anyway shows up years later as a soft spot and a leak. Foundation waterproofing and drain tile are invisible the moment the trench is filled.
It does not mean any of those are guaranteed sound on a given house — permits get skipped everywhere, and an inspection years ago is not a condition report today. But it does mean the record here is worth checking, and it tells you what to look at hardest.
The housing is postwar: of about 6,912 units, 1,651 date from the 1970s, 1,623 from the 1950s and 1,301 from the 1960s, with around 65% single-family detached.
Before you buy
The inspection sequence
The City’s building inspections page lists the sequence for every kind of job, and reading it as a buyer is genuinely useful.
For a new residential build the order runs: footing at the site location; the plumbing crock to iron connection along with a Department of Public Works inspection of the outfall line; back-fill, carried out after the basement is waterproofed and the drainage is in place; rough plumbing, electrical and mechanical; basement stone and garage sand before any concrete is poured; rough building; insulation; drywall before taping; and a final building inspection for the Certificate of Occupancy.
Remodels and additions follow a shorter version ending in a final building inspection for bond release. Garages and sheds start with a rat wall and footings. Pools take a location inspection if in-ground, then electrical, plumbing and mechanical finals. Demolition ends with a final to verify the site is clean and adequately drained.
Two of those deserve underlining because they are the ones a later inspection cannot recover. A deck is inspected at the post hole and ledger board stage, with p-stone and visqueen specified. A roof tear-off is inspected with the roof open. Both are the moment when the work is either right or hidden.
What a permit record cannot do is tell you the condition today. That is a buyer’s inspection: the roof, structure, foundation, drainage, electrical, heating and cooling, plumbing and accessible interior, with what is failing, what is near the end of its service life, and what to plan for — and what could not be seen said plainly, because on a finished house a deck ledger and a roof deck usually cannot be.
If you are buying a rental
This one is current rather than historical, so treat it as a snapshot and confirm it.
The City states that its non-owner occupied housing program has now taken effect and that the scheduling of inspections is ongoing, with affected residences receiving information about the program and how to obtain a certificate of compliance. The program sits at sections 6-301 through 6-310 of the City Code, and the City publishes an application for certificate, a check list and a pricing sheet.
We did not open the pricing sheet or the checklist, so we are not going to state a fee or a cycle length. What matters for a buyer is simply that this is a new obligation being rolled out now: a property that has been rented for years may not yet have been through it, and the first inspection may fall to you rather than the seller.
Ask the Building Department where the specific property stands. And knowing what an inspector is likely to flag before that first visit is worth more on a new program than on a settled one, because nobody has been through the cycle yet.
Bonds, timing and the department itself
First, bonds. Across remodels and additions, garages and sheds, signs, demolition, swimming pools and decks, the City’s final inspection is described as being for bond release — money is held until the work is signed off. It also warns that it is the permit holder’s responsibility to ensure inspections are called in, completed and approved, and that failing to call one in promptly may result in forfeiture of bonds or ordinance violations.
If you are buying a property with an open permit on it, that is worth establishing before closing rather than inheriting.
Second, and worth flagging as a live situation rather than a fixed fact: at the time of writing the City had an open request for proposals for building department services. Departments that are being re-procured sometimes run differently while that happens, so confirm current arrangements with the Building and Code Enforcement office rather than assuming.
On the property itself, what an inspection covers is unchanged by any of that: accessible grading and how the ground sheds water away from the foundation, gutters and downspouts and where they discharge, foundation conditions, the basement or crawlspace, floor drains and any sump equipment, along with staining, efflorescence and evidence of past water entry. The City also publishes a flood plain page, which is worth checking alongside your insurer — flood zone status is not something a home inspection determines.
The buried line
Fraser inspects the outfall line when a house is built. Nothing looks at it again, and no visual inspection reaches inside it.
On a house from the 1960s or 1970s that pipe has been in the ground fifty to sixty years, with mature trees around it — long enough for roots to find a joint, for ground movement to displace a section, or for a repair to have been made that nobody now remembers. We will not name a material from a build year, because no authoritative source establishes what Fraser 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 — and 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 City of Fraser — building inspection sequences · City of Fraser — non-owner occupied housing inspections · City of Fraser — Building and Code Enforcement. Municipal requirements change — verify current details with the municipality.
Radon in Macomb County
Zone 3 is the lowest of the three EPA categories — the predicted average indoor level across the county is below 2 pCi/L. So Fraser is not where Michigan’s alarming radon numbers are, and we are not going to pretend otherwise.
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 · Macomb County radon and inspection coverage
Zone from the EPA Map of Radon Zones.
Why choose us
Five reasons people here pick us as their Fraser 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 did our inspection for the sale of our home and he was professional, efficient and friendly. The report was sent to me and my agent in a timely fashion and I appreciated how quickly the appointment was made and everything was finished! Would recommend to others.
Kendra AllenRoseville, 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
Three things that get covered up. On a new house the back-fill inspection happens after the basement is waterproofed and the drainage is in place. On a deck the first inspection is the post holes and the ledger board. On a roof tear-off the first inspection is the open roof. Those are three of the most common sources of expensive surprises in this trade, and they are all invisible once the job is finished.
Because it is what holds the deck to the house, and a ledger that was never properly attached and flashed is the failure everyone worries about — it is also the one thing a finished deck hides completely. Fraser inspects it before the deck is built. On a property with an unpermitted deck, that check never happened, which is a reason to look harder rather than a verdict.
Yes, and it is new. The City states that its non-owner occupied housing program has now taken effect and that scheduling of inspections is ongoing, with affected residences being sent information about obtaining a certificate of compliance. It sits at sections 6-301 through 6-310 of the City Code. We did not open the pricing sheet or checklist, so we are not going to state a fee or cycle — ask the Building Department where a specific property stands.
That the first inspection may fall to you rather than the seller. On a newly effective program nobody has been through the cycle yet, so there is no track record to rely on. Knowing in advance what an inspector is likely to flag is worth more here than on a settled program — which is exactly what an independent inspection gives you before you commit.
Establish it before closing. Fraser holds bonds released at final inspection on remodels and additions, garages and sheds, signs, demolition, pools and decks, and states that it is the permit holder’s responsibility to ensure inspections are called in, completed and approved — and that failing to do so promptly can result in forfeiture of bonds or ordinance violations. An unfinished permit is not something you want to inherit unknowingly.
Postwar and evenly spread across three decades. Of about 6,912 housing units, 1,651 were built in the 1970s, 1,623 in the 1950s and 1,301 in the 1960s, with 1,007 from the 1990s. Around 65% is single-family detached. On a house from the 1960s every original mechanical component has been replaced at least once, and the roof is probably on its third covering.
No. A permit on file does not establish that work is in good condition today, and nothing on file does not establish that it was done badly. What Fraser’s record is unusually good for is telling you whether the hidden stages were ever looked at — the ledger board, the open roof deck, the waterproofing before back-fill. That is a starting point for questions, not an answer.
It is worth considering. The City inspects the outfall line when a house is built and nothing looks at it again, and no visual inspection reaches inside it. On a 1960s or 1970s house it has been in the ground fifty to sixty years with mature trees around it. We will not guess a material from a build year — no authoritative source establishes what Fraser laterals are generally made of. Putting a camera down the line documents roots, cracks, displaced joints, bellies or blockages where they exist, and is added to the same appointment.
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 Fraser home inspector and not sure we reach you? Call 734-331-3269 and we will tell you.
Permits, assessing and property records for Fraser are handled by Fraser, Michigan, not by us.
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Your local Fraser home inspector, seven days a week. Home inspection reports in 24 hours.
