Jackson, Michigan
Looking for a Jackson home inspector? We do certified home, commercial, mold and radon inspections in Jackson, 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 Jackson 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 Jackson and across Jackson 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 Jackson 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 reportJackson housing stock
Jackson has roughly 14,797 housing units and about 66% 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 — 7,873 homes, around 53% of the town.
The median owner-occupied home here is valued at $88,000. Only 55% of occupied homes are owner-occupied, so a good share of what we inspect here is bought as a rental or sold with tenants in place — which changes what access on the day looks like. Around 2,366 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.
None of this is a prediction about a particular house. It is where a Jackson 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 Jackson was built
78% of homes here run on utility gas, and 8 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 212 use bottled or LP gas.
Local knowledge
There is a rule in Jackson that can move a repair bill from the seller to you with a single signature, and most buyers have never heard of it.
The City is clear that a property under an active inspection process may be sold without having all Housing Code violations repaired. What happens instead is that once a Notice of Violation has been issued, the seller must have the buyer sign an Affidavit of Disclosure — and once that affidavit and the sales documents reach the Community Development Department, the buyer becomes responsible for all remaining repairs and fees.
That is not a disclosure in the ordinary sense. It is a transfer of an open liability, and it is worth knowing what is actually on the list before you sign it rather than afterwards.
The housing behind all this is old: about 7,873 of Jackson’s roughly 14,797 units — some 53% — were built before 1940, with another 1,463 in the 1940s and 1,623 in the 1950s. Around 66% is single-family detached. On stock that age, an open violation list is rarely a short one.
Before you buy
The signature that costs money
It is worth walking through this carefully, because the sequence is what matters.
The City inspects non-owner occupied housing against the International Property Maintenance Code. Where violations are found, a Notice of Violation goes to the owner and their responsible local agent listing the Housing Code violations cited, with a re-inspection date 90 days after the initial inspection. If the repairs are not done by then but are close, an Administrative Appeal Application can be filed to ask for more time, and contested issues go to the Building Code Board of Examiners and Appeals.
Now the part that concerns a buyer. On the City’s selling property page, a property under an active inspection process may be sold without the violations being repaired — provided the seller has the buyer sign an Affidavit of Disclosure. The signed and notarized affidavit and copies of the sales documents go to Community Development, and at that point the buyer becomes responsible for all remaining repairs and fees, and must file a non-owner occupied property registration within 45 days of closing.
So the question to ask before signing is simply: what is on the list, and what will it cost to clear? The Notice of Violation is a City document about code compliance. A buyer’s inspection is a separate and complementary thing — an independent report on the roof, structure, foundation, drainage, electrical, heating and cooling, plumbing and accessible interior, telling you what is failing, what is near the end of its service life, and what to budget for. On a prewar house with an open violation list, you want both documents in front of you at the same time.
Registration, and a clock that runs daily
Jackson runs two residential property registries adopted in 2012 as part of an economic stabilization program: one for non-owner occupied dwellings, and one for foreclosed, vacant and abandoned residential property.
On a sale, the City is explicit: if ownership of a non-owner occupied dwelling or unit transfers, any property registration becomes void. A new registration application must be made at the time of closing by the purchaser, and the seller must notify the Community Development Department within 45 days of the sale with the purchaser’s name and address.
Unless you file a 100% Principal Residence Exemption with the city assessor — that is, unless you are moving in yourself — the property must be registered within 45 days of closing. The City does not give refunds or credits of fees on a transfer, and failure to register within those 45 days incurs late fees of $5 per unit per day.
Both registries require a responsible local agent where the owner is not within a reasonable distance of the city, so that notices reach someone and inspectors can gain access. If you are buying from out of the area, that is a person to line up before closing rather than after.
Water
Some Jackson residents receive letters about the material of their water service line, and the City explains why in terms worth repeating accurately.
Every city and township in the country is required to send those notifications to any property where the service line status is unknown or known to be lead, and the Water Department says the letters will keep going out until all the lead service lines in the city are replaced. It also says, in the same breath, that receiving one does not mean there is a problem with the drinking water — that Jackson’s water meets all state and federal safety standards and consistently rates below the action level for lead.
Both halves of that are the City’s, and we are reporting them as they stand rather than leaning on either. A home inspection does not test water: we do not take samples and we do not analyze them. The Water Department is the place to confirm a specific address, and the City publishes a consumer confidence report on the supply generally.
The department also serves parts of Summit, Blackman and Leoni townships alongside the city itself, draws on three groundwater sources shared with other suppliers, and takes part in the Jackson County Community Wellhead Protection Program.
What an inspection does cover on the water side is the building: accessible supply and drain plumbing and the materials visible at it, the water heater, functional flow and drainage, evidence of leaks or past repairs, and around the outside the grading, gutters and downspouts, foundation, basement or crawlspace, floor drains and any sump equipment.
The buried line
On a city where more than half the houses predate 1940, the buried sanitary lateral is usually the oldest thing anyone is buying.
Ninety years is long enough for tree roots to find a joint, for ground movement to displace a section, and for repairs to have been made and forgotten by everyone involved. We will not name a material from a build year, because no authoritative source establishes what Jackson laterals are generally made of, and guessing from an era is how people buy the wrong repair.
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. On a property that may already be carrying an open repair list, knowing about this one in advance is the difference between a budget and a surprise.
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 Jackson — selling property under an active inspection · City of Jackson — transfer of ownership and registration · City of Jackson — Water Department. Municipal requirements change — verify current details with the municipality.
Why choose us
Five reasons people here pick us as their Jackson 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
Justin Frey was my Inspector. He was very nice, very professional, and made sure I had all my questions answered. If I had a business, I definitely would hire him!
Tonya HConcord, 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
Yes, and that is exactly the situation to be careful about. The City states that a property under an active inspection process may be sold without all Housing Code violations being repaired, provided that once a Notice of Violation has been issued the seller has the buyer sign an Affidavit of Disclosure. Once that affidavit and the sales documents are submitted, the buyer becomes responsible for all remaining repairs and fees. Ask for the violation list before you sign anything.
It is the document the City requires a seller to have a buyer sign where a Notice of Violation has been issued on a property under active inspection. It is obtained from the Community Development Department, and the signed and notarized affidavit plus copies of the sales documents go back to that department. From that point the remaining repairs and fees are the buyer’s, and a non-owner occupied property registration must be filed within 45 days of closing.
No. The City states that when ownership of a non-owner occupied residential dwelling or unit is transferred, any property registration becomes void, and a new application must be made at the time of closing by the purchaser. The seller must separately notify Community Development within 45 days with your name and address. No refunds or credits of fees are given on a transfer.
It accrues daily. Unless you file a 100% Principal Residence Exemption with the city assessor, a non-owner occupied dwelling must be registered within 45 days of close of sale, and the City states that failure to do so incurs late registration fees of $5 per unit per day. On a multi-unit building that adds up quickly, and it is the only daily-metered penalty we have found in any city we write about.
Old. About 7,873 of roughly 14,797 housing units — some 53% — were built before 1940, with 1,463 more from the 1940s and 1,623 from the 1950s. Around 66% is single-family detached. Age is not a fault in itself; a building that has stood ninety years has demonstrated something newer construction has not. What it means is that the roof, heating, wiring, plumbing and windows have each been replaced or altered by different people to different standards, and the inspection is about which.
The City addresses this directly. It explains that every city and township in the country must send those notifications to any property where the service line status is unknown or known to be lead, and that the letters will continue until all lead service lines in the city are replaced. It also states that receiving one does not mean there is a problem with the drinking water, that Jackson’s water meets all state and federal safety standards, and that it consistently rates below the action level for lead. The Water Department can confirm a specific address.
No. We do not take water samples and we do not analyze them, and we would rather say that plainly than let anyone assume otherwise. What an inspection covers is the accessible plumbing as found — visible materials, condition, evidence of leaks or past repairs, water heater age and condition, functional flow and drainage — and what was concealed. Water quality is a matter for the Water Department and laboratory testing.
On housing this old, seriously. The buried lateral running from the house to the public main is the one component no visual inspection reaches, and on a prewar house — more than half the city — it has been in the ground ninety years. We will not guess a material from a build year, because no authoritative source establishes what Jackson 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.
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Your local Jackson home inspector, seven days a week. Home inspection reports in 24 hours.
