Port Huron, Michigan
Looking for a Port Huron home inspector? We do certified home, commercial, mold and radon inspections in Port Huron, 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 Port Huron 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 Port Huron and across St Clair 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 Port Huron 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 reportPort Huron housing stock
Port Huron has roughly 13,565 housing units and about 71% 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 years before 1940, which accounts for 4,079 homes, around 30% of the housing stock.
The median owner-occupied home here is valued at $121,500. Around 1,649 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.
Treat this as a starting list, not a diagnosis. A Port Huron 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 Port Huron was built
88% of homes here run on utility gas, and 2 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 202 use bottled or LP gas.
Local knowledge
Port Huron does something that quietly makes buying here easier than buying almost anywhere else: it requires permits for basement water work.
Waterproofing needs a building permit. A sump pump needs a plumbing permit, and separately an electrical permit. Floor drains and backflow preventers need plumbing permits too. In most towns, basement water work leaves no municipal trace whatever — somebody digs, somebody seals, somebody installs a pump, and no record exists. Here there should be one.
That turns a permit search into something genuinely useful: a partial history of how a property has dealt with water. It is not a complete history, because unpermitted work happens everywhere, and a permit on file does not establish that the work is sound today. But it is a great deal better than nothing, and nothing is what you get in most cities.
The housing is old and river-adjacent: of about 13,565 units, roughly 4,079 — some 30% — predate 1940, with 2,471 more from the 1950s and 1,435 from the 1940s. Around 71% is single-family detached.
Before you buy
The permit list is the story
The City’s building inspection pages publish an unusually complete list of what requires a permit, and reading it tells you what should have left a paper trail on the house you are looking at.
Building permits are required for new construction and additions, but also for residential decks, porches, garages, sheds over 120 square feet, interior and exterior alterations, kitchen remodels where the set-up is rearranged, basement finishes, roofs on the house or garage, windows, doors, siding, waterproofing and demolition. Zoning permits cover concrete patios, driveways, fences, sidewalks, approaches, curb cuts, hot tubs, pools over 24 inches deep, playground equipment and playhouses.
Separate plumbing permits are required for plumbing alterations, new water service, water distribution piping, a second meter for irrigation, lawn sprinklers, floor drains, sump pumps, grease traps and backflow preventers. Mechanical permits cover furnaces, air conditioners, gas piping, hot water tanks, fireplaces, wood stoves and ductwork. Electrical permits cover new services and circuits, furnaces, air conditioners, water heaters, sump pumps, heat pumps, generators, pools and spas, electrical reconnects, smoke detectors and alterations.
The City is equally clear about where the line falls. Painting, carpeting, tile, moveable partitions and replacing kitchen cabinets in the same layout do not need a permit — but as the City puts it, if you expose the sub-floor you will need one, and if you expose the studs in a wall you will need one.
None of that tells you what condition anything is in, which is where a buyer’s inspection comes in: the roof, structure, foundation, drainage, electrical, heating and cooling, plumbing and accessible interior, with what is failing, what is near the end of its service life, and what to plan for.
Older housing, older constraints
With 30% of the city built before 1940, plenty of Port Huron property carries constraints that have nothing to do with its condition and everything to do with what you may do to it.
Properties inside the City’s Historic District are subject to its historic district ordinance, and the Historic District Commission reviews and approves work permit applications and plans for exterior improvements. Regular building maintenance is permitted and encouraged, but a work permit is required for alterations, significant repairs, new construction, demolition, moving buildings and anything else affecting exterior appearance. Applications must reach the City at least 30 days before the Commission’s meeting, held the first Tuesday of the month.
Separately, the City notes that a property located on or in a flood plain or flood zone may need approval from EGLE’s Water Resource division before any exterior project can proceed. That is a constraint on work, not a statement about any particular property — whether an address sits in a mapped flood zone is a question for the flood maps and your insurer, and a home inspection does not determine it.
If your reason for buying is a plan — a rear addition, new windows, a deck, a re-sided exterior — both of those are worth confirming before the offer rather than after the inspection.
If you are buying a rental
Port Huron takes rental housing seriously enough to give it a division of the Planning Department rather than a page.
The City operates a Rental Certification Program and publishes the ordinance behind it, a rental property registration form, a rental inspection checklist and the property maintenance codes it inspects against. It also points landlords and tenants to Michigan’s Public Act 348 of 1972 on tenant rights.
We did not find the inspection cycle or certificate validity period published in plain text — that detail sits in the ordinance itself — so we are not going to state one. The Planning Department is the place to confirm it before you commit to an income property.
What we can tell you is what the building is like. On a house that has been rented for years and is now changing hands, the recurring items are the ones deferred maintenance produces: roof coverings run past their life, water damage around windows and at the foundation, electrical alterations made without permits, heating equipment at the end of its service life, and finished basement space whose egress and integration deserve a careful look.
The buried line
The permit trail here can tell you a surprising amount about how a basement has been treated. It cannot tell you anything about the buried lateral running from the house to the sewer main, because nothing visual reaches it.
On a prewar house — nearly a third of the city — that pipe has been in the ground ninety years, and on a 1950s house around seventy. That is long enough for roots to find a joint, for ground movement to displace a section, and for repairs to have been made and forgotten. We will not name a material from a build year, because no authoritative source establishes what Port Huron laterals 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 City of Port Huron — Building Inspection and permit requirements · City of Port Huron — Rental Certification Program · City of Port Huron — Planning Department and Historic District Commission. Municipal requirements change — verify current details with the municipality.
Why choose us
Five reasons people here pick us as their Port Huron 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
Yes, and that is unusually useful for a buyer. Waterproofing appears on the City’s building permit list, a sump pump requires a plumbing permit, and a sump pump also requires an electrical permit. Floor drains and backflow preventers need plumbing permits as well. In most cities basement water work leaves no municipal record at all; here it should, which makes a permit search a partial history of how the property has handled water.
No. A permit on file does not establish that work is in good condition today, and nothing on file does not establish that work was done badly — unpermitted work happens everywhere. What the record gives you is a starting point and a set of questions. What an inspection gives you is the condition of what is actually there now, including what could not be seen.
More than most people expect. Building permits cover new construction and additions, decks, porches, garages, sheds over 120 square feet, interior and exterior alterations, kitchen remodels where the layout changes, basement finishes, roofs, windows, doors, siding, waterproofing and demolition. Zoning permits cover patios, driveways, fences, hot tubs and pools over 24 inches. Separate plumbing, mechanical and electrical permits cover their own trades. Painting, carpeting, tile and like-for-like cabinets do not — but the City notes that exposing the sub-floor or the studs in a wall does.
Only in narrow circumstances. The City states that a homeowner may pull permits instead of a licensed contractor only if they are the registered legal homeowner, the home is their primary residence, and they reside in the house. That rules it out for an investor or a second property.
What you may do to the outside. The Historic District Commission reviews and approves work permit applications and plans for exterior improvements, and a work permit is required for alterations, significant repairs, new construction, demolition, moving buildings and anything else affecting exterior appearance. Regular building maintenance is permitted and encouraged. Applications must reach the City at least 30 days before the Commission’s meeting, held the first Tuesday of the month.
It can. The City notes that a property located on or in a flood plain or flood zone may need approval from EGLE’s Water Resource division before any exterior project proceeds. That is about work, not condition. Whether a particular address sits in a mapped flood zone is a question for the flood maps and your insurer — a home inspection does not determine it, and we would not suggest otherwise.
Old. Of about 13,565 housing units, roughly 4,079 — some 30% — were built before 1940, with 2,471 from the 1950s, 1,435 from the 1940s and 1,428 from the 1960s. Around 71% is single-family detached. On stock that age every major system has been replaced or altered at least once, and often several times, which is what makes the permit record here worth searching.
Yes, because it is the one water question the permit record cannot answer. The buried lateral running from the house to the sewer main has been in the ground ninety years on a prewar house and around seventy on a 1950s one, and no visual inspection reaches it. We will not guess a material from a build year — no authoritative source establishes what Port Huron 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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Permits, assessing and property records for Port Huron are handled by the City of Port Huron, not by us.
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