Highland, Michigan
Looking for a Highland home inspector? We do certified home, commercial, mold and radon inspections in Highland, 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 Highland 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 Highland 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 Highland 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 reportHighland housing stock
Highland has roughly 7,699 housing units and about 83% 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 — 1,762 homes, roughly 23% of the town.
The median owner-occupied home here is valued at $299,000. 91% are owner-occupied, which is high even for this area. There are around 794 manufactured and mobile homes in Highland. Those are a different inspection — the questions are about the frame, the anchoring and the skirting rather than a basement.
This is not a forecast for any one address. It is where a Highland 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 Highland was built
87% of homes here run on utility gas, and 18 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 314 use bottled or LP gas.
Local knowledge
Highland Township is clear about something a lot of townships leave vague: only certain areas are on a municipal water system, and even those are county-operated rather than run by the Township.
Where there is municipal service it comes from a community well — there are two named systems here, Highland Township and Highland Township White-Eagle, each with its own annual water quality report published through the Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner. Everywhere else, a property is on a private well.
So the first question about any property here is which of those it is, and the Township directs water system questions to the county rather than answering them itself.
The second thing worth knowing is what is in the groundwater. The county flushes these systems twice a year specifically to scour settled iron particles out of the mains, and warns that discoloration can occur while it happens. Iron is why so many houses out here have softeners and filters, and why fixtures stain.
The housing is suburban and overwhelmingly detached: of about 7,699 units, 1,762 date from the 1970s, 1,231 from the 1990s and 1,094 from the 1980s, with around 83% single-family detached.
Before you buy
Water
This is the question that shapes everything else about owning here, and it is worth settling before you are far into a transaction.
The Township notes that only certain areas are on a water system community well, and asks that water system questions go to the Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner. Where there is service, it comes through one of two named systems, and the county publishes an annual water quality report for each, compiled from bacteriological and other sampling collected by county staff. Both carry the county’s statement that the drinking water is safe and meets federal and state requirements.
Where there is no service, the property is on a private well — which means nobody is sampling it but you. Oakland County’s Health Division recommends annual testing of private wells for bacteria, nitrate and nitrite, and it does not monitor them. On-site sewage disposal systems are permitted and inspected through the county’s Environmental Health Unit.
To be plain about our own limits: a home inspection does not test water. We do not take samples and we do not analyze them, and septic evaluation is a separate discipline with its own credentials. On a property with private systems you will want those arranged alongside a buyer’s inspection rather than instead of one.
Iron
The county explains its maintenance routine, and the explanation tells you something useful about the water itself.
Water system flushing happens each spring and fall on the untreated and iron-removed well water supply systems the county operates. It works by opening fire hydrants at the ends of roads and courts so that a high volume of water scours the mains and carries out settled iron particles, with the system evaluated during the process. Large systems take more than one night, and discoloration can occur on any of the flushing dates.
Iron in the groundwater is a regional characteristic rather than a fault, and it is why so much of the housing out here carries water treatment equipment. Softeners, iron filters, sediment cartridges and the plumbing that serves them are all things we record: what is installed, its apparent age and condition, and whether it appears to be in service. Staining in fixtures and at the water heater is worth noting for the same reason.
On a private well, that equipment is doing more work and there is no county flushing program behind it. Its condition is worth understanding before you own it, along with the pressure tank, the visible wellhead where accessible, and the electrical supply serving the pump.
None of that is water testing, which remains a laboratory matter and somebody else’s job.
Permits
Highland Township runs building and ordinance enforcement out of the same department, which is unusual and worth knowing.
The Building Department administers and enforces the Building, Plumbing, Electrical and Mechanical Codes, works with owners and builders through the permitting process, and also contains the Ordinance Department, which enforces the Township’s general ordinances. One office covers both the construction of a new deck and the complaint about the one next door.
Permits and inspection scheduling run through an online portal. Contractors need a valid state license and registration with the Township before they can apply, and re-inspection fees can be paid online.
The scheduling detail is the one to plan around: inspections can be requested until 2:30pm the day before, and every request is reviewed before it is accepted and scheduled. If a request is denied, the Township notifies the requester by email. That is a small thing, but it means a submitted request is not a confirmed appointment — worth knowing if a contractor tells you the inspection is booked.
As everywhere, 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. That gap is what an independent inspection fills.
The buried line
On a property connected to public sewer, the buried lateral running from the building to the main is the one component nothing visual reaches.
On a house from the 1970s — the largest decade here — that pipe has been in the ground fifty years or more, with mature trees around it. That is 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 Highland Township laterals are generally made of.
On a property with a septic system the question is a different one and belongs to a county evaluation rather than to us.
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 Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner — Highland Township drinking water · Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner — water system flushing · Highland Charter Township. 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. The zone describes a county. The only result that describes your basement is the one measured in it.
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 Highland 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
I 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, MIExcellent sums up the entire experience, from the initial call to set up the appointment with staff that was informative and helpful, up until the actual inspection that was very professional and thorough with any and all questions I had answered. I would highly recommend Trademark to anyone who needs inspection services. Thanks again Curt, my inspector, for an excellent job.
Johnny Thomas JrSouthfield, MIWhat happens
Questions
Only in places. The Township states that only certain areas are on a water system community well, and asks that water system questions go to the Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner. Where there is service it comes through one of two named community well systems — Highland Township and Highland Township White-Eagle — each with its own annual water quality report. Everywhere else, a property is on a private well.
Most likely hydrant flushing. The county flushes these systems each spring and fall by opening fire hydrants at the ends of roads and courts, so that a high volume of water scours the mains and carries out settled iron particles. It notes that large systems take more than one night and that discoloration can occur on any of the flushing dates.
Iron in the groundwater. The county’s own flushing program exists partly to clear settled iron from the mains, and the same water reaches houses. Softeners, iron filters and sediment cartridges are common as a result, and staining in fixtures and at the water heater goes with them. We record what treatment equipment is installed, its apparent age and condition, and whether it appears to be in service.
The owner. Oakland County’s Health Division recommends annual testing of private wells for bacteria, nitrate and nitrite, and it does not monitor them. On-site sewage disposal systems are permitted and inspected through the county’s Environmental Health Unit. We do not test water and we do not evaluate septic systems — both are separate disciplines, and on a property with private systems you will want them arranged alongside a building inspection.
Not until the Township accepts it. Requests can be made until 2:30pm the day before, and the Township states that all inspection requests are reviewed before being accepted and scheduled, with email notification if a request is denied. So a request submitted is not the same as a slot booked — worth checking if a contractor tells you it is arranged.
The same department that handles building permits. The Building Department administers and enforces the Building, Plumbing, Electrical and Mechanical Codes, and also contains the Ordinance Department, which enforces the Township’s general ordinances. One office covers both construction and nuisance matters.
Spread across five decades with a 1970s peak. Of about 7,699 housing units, 1,762 were built in the 1970s, 1,231 in the 1990s, 1,094 in the 1980s and 1,000 in the 2000s, with 554 predating 1940. Around 83% is single-family detached. A house from the mid-1970s is fifty years old, which puts every original mechanical component well past its expected service life.
If the property is on public sewer, yes. The buried lateral running from the building to the main is the one component no visual inspection reaches, and on a 1970s house it has been in the ground fifty years or more with mature trees around it. We will not guess a material from a build year. 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.
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Your local Highland home inspector, seven days a week. Home inspection reports in 24 hours.
