Orchard Lake Village, Michigan
Looking for an Orchard Lake Village home inspector? We do certified home, commercial, mold and radon inspections in Orchard Lake Village, 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 Orchard Lake Village 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 Orchard Lake Village 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 an Orchard Lake Village 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 reportOrchard Lake Village housing stock
Orchard Lake Village has roughly 829 housing units and about 98% of them are single-family detached. Age is the most useful single fact about a house before anyone has seen it. It narrows down what is worth checking first, and it is why two places of much the same size can need quite different inspections.
If the town has a defining decade it is the 1980s, which accounts for 256 homes, around 31% of the housing stock. At 98% single-family it is almost entirely detached houses, so the inspection is nearly always of a whole building rather than one unit inside one.
The median owner-occupied home here is valued at $767,900. 96% are owner-occupied, which is high even for this area.
Treat this as a starting list, not a diagnosis. An Orchard Lake Village home inspector checks these things early in a home of this age and then records what is genuinely there, which is often not what the era would suggest.
Housing figures: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2022 five-year estimates.
When Orchard Lake Village was built
92% of homes here run on utility gas, and 5 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 5 use bottled or LP gas.
Local knowledge
Orchard Lake Village is a small city built around water, and it is divided between three different watersheds — which is unusual for somewhere with only about 829 homes.
The city sets it out plainly: storm water from Orchard Lake and Cass Lake runs north-east into the Clinton River watershed, Upper Straits Lake sits in the Huron River watershed draining west and south, and a small area in the south-east corner drains into the Rouge River watershed. Depending on which street you are on, the rain that lands on your roof ends up in a different river system.
That is not merely geographical trivia here, because the city names storm water runoff as a primary source of pollutants in the lakes, and says minimizing it is a key management tool. In other words, what an individual property does with its roof and surface water is treated as part of the city’s water quality strategy.
Which is convenient, because where roof water and surface water actually go is something we record on every inspection anyway. In most towns it is a maintenance question. Here it is also a neighborly one.
The housing is modern by the standards of this site. About 256 of the units date from the 1980s — nearly a third of the city — with 130 from the 1970s and a little over two hundred more from the 1990s and 2000s combined. Only around 26 units predate 1940. Every housing unit here is a detached house.
Before you buy
Water
The city’s water quality page describes the lakes, ponds and wetlands as among the community’s most valued assets, and says constant vigilance is required to protect them. It publishes watershed maps, links to the Clinton River and Huron River watershed councils and to the Rouge River groups, and provides specific guidance for waterfront landowners.
For an inspection, the practical translation is simple. We record where every downspout terminates and whether it carries water clear of the walls or drops it at the foundation, where any sump pump discharges and whether there is a backup arrangement, and how the ground falls away from the building on each elevation.
On a lot near water, those findings matter twice over: once for the building, which does not benefit from water sitting against it, and once for the lake, which is where that water eventually arrives. A downspout discharging onto a hard surface that runs straight to a drive and then to the road is doing exactly what the city is asking people to reduce.
Where a property is genuinely waterfront, we look at retaining structures, seawalls and similar features as far as they are visible and safe to reach, and we state plainly in the report where our access ended. Anything structural over or in the water needs a specialist, and we will say so rather than stretching a visual inspection to cover it.
We make no claim about lake levels, erosion or anything of that nature — nothing the city publishes addresses it, and we are not going to invent a hazard for a property we have not seen.
Inside, we look for what past water has left behind: staining and tide lines on foundation walls, efflorescence and mineral deposits, replaced lower wall finishes, and corrosion at the base of mechanical equipment. On a lakeside lot a finished lower level deserves a careful look rather than a quick one, because finishing is what conceals the evidence.
Permits
The building and zoning department states its position clearly: it is very important that you contact them before making any changes to your property. That is a broader instruction than most municipalities give, and it is worth taking at face value.
The department is open weekdays from eight until four, and it is staffed by a small team in which the building inspector role is combined with code enforcement. In practice that means the person who inspects permitted work is also the person who deals with complaints and compliance — so the department has a fairly complete picture of any given address.
That makes asking for the permit history on a specific property particularly worthwhile before you buy. On a city where most houses date from the 1970s to the 1990s, forty years of alterations, additions, decks, pools and outbuildings have accumulated, and the gap between what was permitted and what is physically present is a gap the buyer inherits.
The city also operates an ordinance setting standards for the maintenance of residential rental structures and units, which it says is intended to keep rental properties safe and well maintained, protect property values generally and reduce the causes of blight. If you are buying to let here, that is a conversation to have with the city before you complete rather than afterwards. We have not read the detail of the requirements and are not going to summarize them.
A home inspection is not a code inspection or a permit search, and we do not present it as one. What we do is establish what is physically there and in what condition, and flag work that looks as though it was done without the benefit of a permit. A buyer’s inspection gives you the specifics to take to the department, and commercial building inspections to the CCPIA standard are available where a building is commercial.
The housing
With around 256 units from the 1980s and 130 from the 1970s, the typical house here is thirty-five to fifty years old. That is a different stage from the first-replacement territory of a 1990s or 2000s house: much of the original equipment has already been replaced once, and what matters now is how well those replacements were done.
So we look closely at the quality and age of second-generation work. A furnace fitted in the early 2000s is now itself approaching the end of its life. A roof replaced twenty years ago is due again. Water heaters are typically on their third. And replacement work done by different trades at different times is where we find the mismatches — venting that was never quite right, a condensate line that goes nowhere useful, an electrical connection made for a since-removed appliance.
Electrical panels of that era are frequently overfilled, with circuits added over four decades by different hands. We look for double-tapped breakers, mixed wiring types meeting in the same box, and any evidence of overheating at connections.
Windows are a mixed picture: some original, some replaced once, occasionally both on the same house. Failed seals in double glazing show as clouding or deposits between the panes and we note them individually rather than as a blanket comment.
Decks are a particular focus on lakeside property, because there tend to be more of them and they tend to be larger and higher. Ledger connections, flashing, fasteners and post bases need genuinely examining rather than glancing at, since deck failures are among the few structural failures that injure people and they almost always begin at the ledger.
At 98% detached housing, outbuildings, pool houses and boat storage are all normal parts of a property here, and we inspect them as part of the property rather than as an afterthought. Radon testing and mold inspection and testing can be added to any visit.
The buried line
The line running out from the building belongs to the owner, and no visual inspection reaches inside it. On a house from the 1970s or 1980s that pipe is forty to fifty years old, which is old enough for real problems and young enough that people assume it is fine.
We will not 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.
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 mature, well-planted lots — which is most of them here — roots are the common finding, and they give no warning until the day the drains back up.
There is a second reason to look in a city this conscious of its water. Cracks and displaced joints in a buried line let groundwater in and, in the other direction, let what is inside the pipe out. In a community whose stated concern is the quality of the lakes it sits on, knowing the condition of your own line is a reasonable thing to want.
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 Orchard Lake Village.
Local information from City of Orchard Lake Village — water quality, the three watersheds and riparian guidance · City of Orchard Lake Village — Building and Zoning department · City of Orchard Lake Village — building and zoning documents and forms · City of Orchard Lake Village — regulations and ordinances. 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. Zones are drawn around counties, not around addresses, which is why the only number that settles the question is the one from the house itself.
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 Orchard Lake Village 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
One of three. The city publishes watershed maps: Orchard Lake and Cass Lake drain north-east into the Clinton River watershed, Upper Straits Lake sits in the Huron River watershed, and a small south-eastern area drains to the Rouge River watershed.
It names runoff as a primary source of pollutants in the lakes, and says minimizing it is a key management tool for protecting water quality. What individual properties do with roof and surface water is part of that.
Where every downspout terminates, where any sump pump discharges and whether it has a backup, and how the ground falls away from the building. Those are the practical levers a homeowner actually controls.
We look at retaining structures and seawalls as far as they are visible and safe to reach, and state plainly in the report where our access ended. Anything structural over or in the water needs a specialist rather than a visual inspection stretched to fit.
The building department asks residents to contact them before making any changes to a property — a broader instruction than most municipalities give. The department is open weekdays from eight until four.
Yes. The city operates an ordinance setting maintenance standards for residential rental structures and units. If you are buying to let, take the detail up with the city before completing — we have not read the requirements and will not summarize them.
Thirty-five to fifty years. About 256 units date from the 1980s and 130 from the 1970s, with only around 26 predating 1940. This is a modern lakeside city rather than an old core.
On a forty-year-old house on a mature, well-planted lot, yes. Roots are the common finding and nothing above ground gives any warning. A camera inspection goes on the same visit.
More on cost, timing and what is included on the FAQ page.
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