Hemlock, Michigan
Looking for a Hemlock home inspector? We do certified home, commercial, mold and radon inspections in Hemlock, 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 Hemlock 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 Hemlock and across Saginaw 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 Hemlock 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 reportHemlock housing stock
Hemlock has roughly 513 housing units and about 81% of them are single-family detached. The year a house went up decides more about what an inspection turns up than almost anything else about it, which is why it is where we start rather than where we finish.
More of it dates from the 1970s than from any other decade — 106 homes, roughly 21% of the town.
The median owner-occupied home here is valued at $171,000.
This is not a forecast for any one address. It is where a Hemlock home inspector starts in a home of this age — and whatever we actually find, it goes in the report with photographs.
Housing figures: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2022 five-year estimates.
When Hemlock was built
85% of homes here run on utility gas. Another 15 use bottled or LP gas.
Local knowledge
The first thing to know about Hemlock is that it is not a municipality. It is an unincorporated community, and the government that actually covers it is Richland Township, whose administration office sits on North Hemlock Road.
That matters practically. If you go looking for a village of Hemlock — its ordinances, its building department, its water department — you will not find one, because there is not one. Search Richland Township instead, and every question about permits, utilities and local rules has an answer.
The second thing is how many separate bodies are involved in building here. To get a permit for a single family dwelling, the township requires a driveway permit from the Saginaw County Road Commission and a septic and well permit from the Saginaw County Health Department before it will issue its own. A soil erosion permit may be needed from the county as well, and the township notes other permits may be required by the health department, the state transportation department and other agencies including the state environmental department.
So this is not a case of finding out which single office issues the permit. Several bodies each hold a piece, and a project moves at the speed of the slowest one.
And there is a third point on that same page which almost nobody thinks about, which we come to below: the township tells you plainly that deed restrictions are your responsibility, not its.
The housing peaks twice, with about 106 of roughly 513 units from the 1970s and 101 from the 2000s.
Before you buy
Deed restrictions
On its building department page, among the permit requirements, Richland Township states one thing plainly: it is your responsibility to be aware of any deed restrictions or subdivision regulations.
That sentence is doing a lot of work, and it is worth unpacking because it catches people out everywhere, not just here.
Deed restrictions and subdivision covenants are private agreements attached to the land. They are not municipal rules. A township does not write them, does not enforce them and does not check them before issuing a permit. So it is entirely possible to be granted a perfectly valid building permit for something a covenant on your own deed forbids — a second garage, a fence of a certain height, an outbuilding, a business use, sometimes even a particular exterior material.
They also do not appear at the township office. They appear in the title work, and the time to read them is during the purchase, when your title company can pull them and you still have room to act on what they say.
We should be equally clear about our own limits: a home inspection does not search title, read deeds, identify covenants or tell you whether one is enforceable. That is title and legal work, and we are neither. What we can do is tell you what is physically on the property — the outbuildings, the fences, the additions, the driveway arrangement — which is precisely the list you then check against whatever the deed says.
If a property already has something on it that a restriction might cover, that is worth raising with your title company early rather than discovering it as a new owner.
Permits
The township’s permit requirements are set out in useful detail, and reading them tells you a lot about building here.
For a single family dwelling: a driveway permit from the county road commission, a septic and well permit from the county health department, one set of drawings to scale showing the floor plan, elevation and cross section with a truss print where applicable and an energy form, and a plot plan giving the property dimensions, all existing structures and the proposed one.
That plot plan requirement is worth noting: it must show everything already standing, not just what you intend to add. So an undocumented shed or an addition nobody ever permitted tends to surface at exactly the moment you apply for something else.
Accessory buildings — garages, pole buildings — need their own drawings and plot plan, and a driveway permit where applicable. For commercial work beyond the minor, an architect or engineer must prepare the drawings.
The township asks for a minimum of twenty-four hours to review construction plans and zoning information before issuing a permit, which is a reasonable turnaround, but the county permits that have to come first will take their own time.
A home inspection is not a permit search or a code inspection, and we do not present it as one. What it does is establish what is physically present and in what condition — including the outbuildings that a plot plan would have to show. A buyer’s inspection is the usual starting point, and commercial building inspections to the CCPIA standard are available where a building is commercial.
Water and waste
One thing the permit list quietly reveals is that this township contains both kinds of property. It asks new construction for a septic and well permit from the county health department, and separately the township runs its own water service that residents hook up to and put in their names.
So we are not going to tell you what any particular address is served by. Confirm it for the parcel, because the two situations lead to completely different questions.
If it is on township water and sewer, the moving in page asks new residents to call or stop in at the administration office on a weekday to have the accounts put into their name, and points water service hook up questions to the township public works department.
If it is on a private well and septic system, those questions go to the county health department. A septic evaluation is specialist work carried out by or through them, and it answers questions no visual inspection can — whether a drainfield is failing, and the true condition of the tank. Arrange it early, because it runs to its own timetable, and put a water test on a private well in the same conversation.
The township publishes annual water quality reports going back four years, which is more history than most keep online. We have not opened them and quote no figure from them; if water quality matters to your decision, they are there to read.
What we inspect either way is the building and everything from the house side inward: the accessible supply and drain lines, the venting we can see, how fixtures behave when the system is loaded, and the visible condition of any pump, pressure tank, softener or treatment equipment.
The housing
With around 106 units from the 1970s and 101 from the 2000s, Hemlock runs two quite different inspections, plus a steady middle from the 1950s and 1960s and about 71 units predating 1940.
On the 1970s stock, aluminum branch wiring is a live question and we report it wherever we find it. Panels of that vintage are frequently overfilled with circuits added over the decades by different hands, and we look for double-tapped breakers, mixed wiring types meeting in the same box and evidence of overheating at connections. Original service capacity is often the practical limit on what a modern household wants to run.
Roofs, furnaces and water heaters on those houses will be two or three replacements deep, and how well each was fitted and vented matters more than how new the current one looks.
On the 2000s stock the questions invert: those houses are twenty to twenty-five years old and arriving at their first full round of replacements at once. Original roof coverings reaching the end of their service life, water heaters on their second, failed double-glazing seals showing as clouding between the panes, and decks whose ledger connections, flashing, fasteners and post bases need genuinely examining rather than glancing at.
On the pre-1940 houses the exercise is different again: electrical rebuilt in stages, plumbing renewed in part rather than in whole with material transitions at the joins, and foundations of stone or early block whose condition depends far more on water management than on original construction.
At 81% detached, garages, pole buildings and workshops are common and we inspect them as part of the property — which, given the plot plan point above, is another place where what is there and what is on record are worth comparing. Radon testing and mold inspection and testing can be added to any visit.
Settling in
The township publishes a short guide for people moving in, and the essentials are straightforward. Call or visit the administration office on a weekday to put the water and sewer accounts into your name. Trash goes out on Tuesdays and needs to be at the curb by seven in the morning. Recycling is every other Tuesday, and the waste authority asks for a container of forty-five gallons or smaller.
The township also lists the local utility contacts and the location of the Hemlock post office, and it keeps water quality reports and board minutes online alongside assessing forms and a cemetery page.
None of that is inspection business. It is the sort of thing that takes ten minutes to sort out if you know about it and two weeks of missed collections if you do not.
The office is open weekdays from eight until five, which is longer than most of the townships we cover manage, so getting an answer here is easier than in a lot of places.
Take your inspection report with you when you go. Rather than asking general questions, you will be able to ask about a specific outbuilding, a specific alteration or a specific connection — and specific questions get specific answers.
The buried line
Whatever a property here drains to, the line running out from the building belongs to the owner, and no visual inspection reaches inside it.
On a 1970s house that pipe is around fifty years old. Under one of the 71 houses predating 1940, considerably older. We will not name a material from a build year, because nothing published establishes what lines here 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 lots with mature trees, roots are the common finding and they give no warning until the day the drains back up.
On a septic property the camera documents the building drain out to the tank — the owner’s pipe, and the part a septic evaluation does not examine. That gap is the whole point on rural land: the evaluation looks at the tank and the field, and the run between the house and the tank is nobody’s job by default.
On the 2000s stock there is a different reason again: a line laid during that build can carry construction debris or a settled section from the day it went in, and nothing about the house above it will tell you.
A camera inspection is added to the same appointment rather than booked separately, 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, or get in touch about a specific address in Hemlock.
Local information from Richland Township — Building Department permit requirements · Richland Township — moving in · Richland Township — annual water quality reports · Richland Township — waste and recycling information. Municipal requirements change — verify current details with the municipality.
Why choose us
Five reasons people here pick us as their Hemlock 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
A shout out to Noah for the inspection of our new house. He was very professional and thorough. He is also accessible after the fact — I have called him twice for clarification on our roofing issue and he has been so friendly and answered all of my questions.
Susan LawhonBridgeport, 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
No. It is an unincorporated community, and Richland Township is the government that covers it. If you are searching for ordinances, permits or a water department, search Richland Township rather than Hemlock.
For a single family dwelling: a driveway permit from the county road commission, a septic and well permit from the county health department, scaled drawings including an energy form, and a plot plan showing property dimensions and all existing structures.
Because it has to show everything already standing, not just the new work. An undocumented shed or addition tends to surface at exactly the moment you apply for something else.
Private covenants attached to the land, not municipal rules. The township states plainly that being aware of them is your responsibility — it does not write, check or enforce them.
No. We do not search title, read deeds or identify covenants — that is title and legal work. What we do is tell you what is physically on the property, which is the list you then check against the deed.
Both arrangements exist here, so confirm it for the parcel. The township runs a water service residents hook up to, and it also requires county septic and well permits for new construction.
The township asks new residents to call or stop in at the administration office on a weekday to have water and sewer put into their name. Trash is Tuesdays, out by seven, with recycling every other Tuesday.
It splits. About 106 of roughly 513 units date from the 1970s and 101 from the 2000s, with a steady middle from the 1950s and 1960s and around 71 units predating 1940.
More on cost, timing and what is included on the FAQ page.
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From the blog
October 22, 2017
April 5, 2024
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Your local Hemlock home inspector, seven days a week. Home inspection reports in 24 hours.
