Okemos, Michigan
Looking for an Okemos home inspector? We do certified home, commercial, mold and radon inspections in Okemos, 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 Okemos 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 Okemos and across Ingham 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 an Okemos 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 reportOkemos housing stock
Okemos has roughly 11,085 housing units and about 55% 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.
It is also less detached-house territory than most of the area at 55%, so condominiums, duplexes and small multi-family buildings are a bigger share of what we inspect here — and those bring their own questions about what is yours to maintain and what belongs to the association.
The median owner-occupied home here is valued at $304,800.
This is not a forecast for any one address. It is where an Okemos 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 Okemos was built
75% of homes here run on utility gas. Another 130 use bottled or LP gas.
Local knowledge
Start with the thing that costs people time: Okemos is not a city, a village or a township. It is a community inside Meridian Charter Township, and there is no Okemos building department to call.
That is not a technicality. Every municipal rule that applies to a property with an Okemos address comes from Meridian Township — permits, inspections, code enforcement, the vacant building register, rental registration. Wells and septic systems come from Ingham County. Meridian Township Hall is itself on Marsh Road with an Okemos address, which tells you most of what you need to know about the relationship.
Anyone searching for an Okemos ordinance will find nothing, conclude the rules do not exist, and be wrong. In a transaction with a two-week inspection period, that is a genuinely expensive mistake.
The housing is newer than most of the region and still growing: of about 11,085 units, 1,992 date from the 1980s, 1,885 from the 1970s and 1,762 from the 1990s — and 1,488 were built in the 2010s alone, more than the 1950s and 1960s combined. Around 55% is single-family detached.
Before you buy
Which government actually applies
It is worth laying this out once, plainly, because the postal address obscures it.
Meridian Charter Township is the local government. Its Code Enforcement Division sits under Community Planning and Development and enforces the International Property Maintenance Code and the Township Code of Ordinances — which, in the Township’s own words, generally cover areas outside buildings. It also administers a vacant and abandoned building registration, so a property that has been standing empty is worth asking about before closing.
The Township publishes the building applications, a homeowner permit policy and a rental registration packet. We did not find a published rental inspection cycle, so we are not going to state one — the Township is the place to confirm it if you are buying income property.
Ingham County is the other layer, and it is the one that matters most on a property that is not connected to public water and sewer. The County’s Health Department publishes a list of certified point-of-sale inspectors for wells and septic systems.
That division of labor is the answer to almost every "who do I ask" question in Okemos. Get it straight at the beginning of a transaction and the rest goes considerably faster.
Wells and septic
If the property you are buying is not on public water and sewer, this is the first call to make and the easiest one to leave too late.
The Ingham County Health Department publishes a list of certified point-of-sale inspectors on its well and septic pages, and the program is real. We are not going to describe the trigger, the scope, the fee or how long an evaluation stays valid, because those details sit in documents we could not read in full, and inventing them would be worse than saying so.
What we will be clear about is the credential. A county point-of-sale evaluation is carried out by a county-certified point-of-sale inspector. That is a different qualification from a home inspection, it is not what we do, and we are not going to let anyone assume our visit covers it.
A buyer’s inspection covers the building: the roof, structure, foundation, drainage, electrical, heating and cooling, plumbing and the accessible interior, with what is failing, what is near the end of its service life and what to plan for. On a property with a well and septic system, you may well want both, arranged separately — and there is no conflict between them.
On the stormwater side, Meridian Township notes that many of its storm drains discharge directly into rivers and streams without treatment, which is a reason to know where your downspouts and any sump line actually go.
Newer housing, different questions
Okemos skews newer than most of the towns we cover, and newer housing is not an easier inspection — it is a different one.
A house from 1985 is now forty years old. The original roof covering, furnace, air conditioning condenser and water heater have each reached or passed the end of their expected service lives, so the first full round of replacements is either done, part-done or overdue, and which of those is true is the whole question.
A house from the 2010s — and 1,488 units here are — raises different things entirely. Grading that settled after backfill and now falls toward the foundation is the single most common source of water in newer basements. Attic ventilation, flashing details at complicated roof geometry, and how a finished lower level was integrated are the others.
And with around 55% of the housing single-family detached, a good deal of what sells here is attached. On that, the question before the appointment is which components are yours and which belong to the association — roof, siding, windows and sometimes the water heater or furnace flue can fall either way depending on the documents.
We do not name components from a build year. We report what is installed, its condition, what is at or past the end of its service life, and what could not be seen.
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 — not township code enforcement, not a county evaluation, not a walkthrough.
On a house from the 1970s that pipe has been in the ground fifty years or more, and even a 1990s house has thirty years of tree growth 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 laterals 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 — 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 Meridian Charter Township — Code Enforcement Division · Ingham County Health Department — well and septic, certified point-of-sale inspectors · Meridian Charter Township — applications, forms and permits. Municipal requirements change — verify current details with the municipality.
Radon in Ingham 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 · Ingham County radon and inspection coverage
Zone from the EPA Map of Radon Zones.
Why choose us
Five reasons people here pick us as their Okemos 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, MIThis is one of the finest companies I have come across - that means serious customer service and professionalism. Justin was the inspector and he was very thorough yet very kind to answers all the questions that came in my mind during inspection. He took enough time, no rush, and a very detailed inspection was conducted. Extremely competitive pricing and timing from the company. 100% recommend to anyone looking for any kind of property inspection!!
Chirag R MiyaniMichiganWhat happens
Questions
No. Okemos is a community inside Meridian Charter Township, which is the local government for every property with an Okemos address. There is no Okemos building department, no Okemos ordinance and no Okemos code enforcement office. Meridian Township Hall is itself on Marsh Road with an Okemos address. Searching for Okemos rules and finding nothing does not mean the rules do not exist — it means you are searching the wrong government.
Meridian Charter Township. It handles building applications, permits, inspections, code enforcement, the vacant and abandoned building registration and rental registration. For a property on a well or septic system, the other call is to the Ingham County Health Department, which handles those separately.
The Township says it plainly: its Code Enforcement Division enforces the International Property Maintenance Code and the Township Code of Ordinances, which generally cover areas outside buildings. That is an honest scope statement and it is also the reason a buyer needs an independent inspection — nobody from the Township is examining the furnace, the electrical panel or the roof structure on your behalf.
Ingham County runs a point-of-sale program for wells and septic systems, and its Health Department publishes a list of certified point-of-sale inspectors. We are not going to state the trigger, scope, fee or validity period, because those sit in documents we could not read in full. If the property is not on public water and sewer, call the Health Department early rather than late.
No. That is done by a county-certified point-of-sale inspector, which is a different credential from a home inspection. We are not going to let anyone assume our visit covers it. A buyer’s inspection covers the building — roof, structure, foundation, drainage, electrical, heating and cooling, plumbing and the accessible interior. On a well-and-septic property you may want both, arranged separately.
Newer than most of the region, and still being added to. Of about 11,085 housing units, 1,992 date from the 1980s, 1,885 from the 1970s and 1,762 from the 1990s — and 1,488 were built in the 2010s alone, more than the 1950s and 1960s combined. Around 55% is single-family detached.
Different, not simpler. A house from 1985 is forty years old, so the original roof covering, furnace, air conditioning condenser and water heater have all reached or passed the end of their expected service lives. Newer construction raises its own recurring items — grading that settled after backfill and now falls toward the foundation, attic ventilation, flashing at complicated roof geometry, and how finished lower-level space was integrated.
If the property is on public sewer, yes, it is worth considering. The buried lateral is the one component no visual inspection reaches, and on a 1970s house it has been in the ground fifty years or more — even a 1990s house has thirty years of tree growth 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 Okemos home inspector, seven days a week. Home inspection reports in 24 hours.
