Gaines, Michigan
Looking for a Gaines home inspector? We do certified home, commercial, mold and radon inspections in Gaines, 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 Gaines 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 Gaines and across Genesee 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 Gaines 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 reportGaines housing stock
Gaines has roughly 189 housing units and about 87% 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 years before 1940 — 88 homes, around 47% of the town.
The median owner-occupied home here is valued at $125,900. 89% are owner-occupied, which is high even for this area.
None of this is a prediction about a particular house. It is where a Gaines 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 Gaines was built
85% of homes here run on utility gas, and 1 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.
Local knowledge
Gaines does something small and genuinely helpful with its rules. The village publishes its codified ordinances chapter by chapter — general provisions, administration, public works, traffic codes, general regulations, business regulations, general offences and land usage — and then, separately, it lists the ordinances that have been updated recently, each with its number and year.
The second list is the useful one and hardly anybody publishes it. A dated amendment list tells you where a community’s attention has actually been. In Gaines, parking, height limitation and nuisance, parks, noise control, snow and ice removal on public streets and sidewalks, animal regulations and emergency response cost recovery have all been revisited since 2018.
For somebody buying here that turns a vague question into a specific one. Rather than wondering what the rules are, you can read the land usage chapter before you make an offer, and you can see which rules the village has thought about lately. We have not opened any of them and are not going to tell you what any of them say — but they are published, they are free, and they are short.
Two are worth looking at specifically if you are buying a house rather than a business. There is a snow and ice ordinance covering public streets and sidewalks, which is the kind of rule that quietly attaches a winter duty to a property. And there is a home numbering ordinance, which sounds trivial until a delivery driver or an ambulance cannot find the house.
A home inspection is not a code inspection or an ordinance review and we do not present it as one. What we establish is what is physically there and what condition it is in.
Before you buy
The housing
Gaines has roughly 189 housing units, about 87% of them single-family detached, with a median build year of 1945. On housing that old the interesting questions are almost never about how a building was originally put together. They are about everything that has happened to it since, and who did it.
Electrical systems in mid-1940s houses are typically the accumulated work of several hands across several decades: mixed wiring types arriving in the same enclosure, ungrounded receptacles, panels added to more than once, circuits that have been overfused, and an original service capacity that was never intended for a modern household. We report what is actually there and photograph it either way, without drama.
Plumbing is nearly always renewed in part rather than in whole in houses of this age, which concentrates the interesting questions at the transitions where one material meets another. Heating equipment will be several replacements from the original. Roof coverings will be on a third or fourth generation, and what was done at the flashings and penetrations each time matters far more than the age of the shingles.
Foundations from that era are typically block or early poured concrete, and their condition depends much more on how water has been managed around the building than on how they were built. Where the downspouts terminate, whether there is a sump and where it discharges to, and how the ground falls away from the walls will tell you more about a basement than a dry-day look at the basement will.
On village lots of this age outbuildings are common and they are frequently where informal work has accumulated — their own electrical supply, their own roof and structural questions, additions nobody documented. We inspect them as part of the property. Radon testing and mold inspection and testing can be added to any visit, and commercial building inspections to the CCPIA standard are available for commercial property.
Repairs
The village links out to a Genesee County home improvement program run through the county planning commission, which is a sensible thing for a village with 1940s housing to signpost.
We followed the link, and it is worth reporting accurately rather than hopefully. When we looked, the county home improvement program stated that its application was currently closed because its federal funding was fully committed to existing projects.
That is not a reason to ignore it. Programs of this kind open and close as funding cycles turn, so if repairs are part of your plan for a property here it is worth checking the current position directly rather than relying on what a page said in September 2026. What we can say is that the village thought it worth pointing at, which tells you something about the housing stock it serves.
What an inspection contributes to that conversation is a clear, prioritized account of what a property actually needs, with photographs. Whether the work is funded privately or through a program, the first requirement is the same: knowing precisely what is wrong and what is merely old. A buyer’s inspection separates the two.
The buried line
The village runs sewer billing and has a dedicated page for it, so there is a village sewer operation here. What that does not establish is which parcels are connected, and we found no water department page on the village site — so we are not going to tell you what a particular property is served by. Confirm it in writing for the parcel you are buying.
Whatever it drains to, the line running out from the building belongs to the owner and no visual inspection reaches inside it. On a median 1945 house that pipe may be the oldest untouched component on the whole property, and a replacement is rarely recorded anywhere a buyer will come across.
We are not going to name a material from a build year. Nothing published establishes what lines here are generally made of, and a guess in a report is worse than no statement at all. What we can do is put a camera in it.
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 village streets with eighty years of tree growth alongside them, roots at an old joint are the commonest finding there is, and the first symptom a new owner usually gets is a backup at the worst possible moment.
It goes on the same appointment rather than a second visit, and we deliver a full written report with photographs, generally the same day. You can read what our clients say, browse answers to common questions, see the village council and contacts, or get in touch about a specific address in Gaines.
Local information from Village of Gaines — codified ordinances and recent updates · Village of Gaines — village council and contacts · Genesee County — home improvement program status · Village of Gaines — village website. Municipal requirements change — verify current details with the municipality.
Radon in Genesee County
Zone 2 is the middle EPA category — the predicted average indoor level across the county sits between 2 and 4 pCi/L.
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 · Genesee County radon and inspection coverage
Zone from the EPA Map of Radon Zones.
Why choose us
Five reasons people here pick us as their Gaines 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
Outstanding precision and attention to detail! Helps being able to make a truly informed decision about a home! Also, they are very veteran-friendly! No complaints here!
Desmond SheppardFlint, MINoah Scott was very thorough and explaining things to us, especially in regard to a possible mold problem.
Claudette GranvilleFlint, 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, MIWhat happens
Questions
On the village’s ordinances page, which publishes the codified chapters in full — including land usage, public works, traffic codes and general regulations — along with standalone ordinances on home numbering and marijuana establishments.
The village keeps a separate list of recently updated ordinances with their numbers and years. Parking, height limitation and nuisance, parks, noise control, snow and ice removal, animal regulations and emergency response cost recovery all appear on it.
There is an ordinance covering removal of snow and ice on public streets and sidewalks, updated in 2022. We have not opened it and will not summarize what it requires — read it before winter rather than after.
Because a house that cannot be found is a problem for deliveries and for anyone responding to a call. The village publishes one; check the property complies rather than assuming the previous owner did.
The village links to a Genesee County home improvement program. When we checked, its application was closed because federal funding was fully committed, so check the current position directly rather than relying on that.
The median build year is 1945 across roughly 189 housing units, about 87% of them single-family detached. That puts the middle of the stock around eighty years old.
We will not assume. The village runs sewer billing, which establishes that a system exists but not which parcels are connected. Confirm it in writing for the specific address.
On a median 1945 house the line out from the building may be the oldest untouched thing on the property, and no visual inspection reaches inside it. A camera inspection goes on the same visit.
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 Gaines home inspector and not sure we reach you? Call 734-331-3269 and we will tell you.
From the blog
October 22, 2017
May 18, 2024
December 1, 2017
Your local Gaines home inspector, seven days a week. Home inspection reports in 24 hours.
