Port Huron Township, Michigan
Looking for a Port Huron Township home inspector? We do certified home, commercial, mold and radon inspections in Port Huron Township, 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 Township 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 Township 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 Township 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 Township housing stock
Port Huron Township has roughly 4,626 housing units and about 64% of them are single-family detached. Homes built in a single stretch tend to wear out in the same places at the same time. That is why when somewhere was built is the first thing worth knowing about it.
The busiest stretch of building here was the 2000s: 1,066 homes, about 23% of everything standing today.
The median owner-occupied home here is valued at $176,700. There are around 853 manufactured and mobile homes in Port Huron Township. Those are a different inspection — the questions are about the frame, the anchoring and the skirting rather than a basement.
None of this says anything about the specific house you are buying. It is the shortlist a Port Huron Township home inspector works through in a home of this age, and every item on it gets photographed and written up whichever way it turns out.
Housing figures: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2022 five-year estimates.
When Port Huron Township was built
87% of homes here run on utility gas. Another 66 use bottled or LP gas.
Local knowledge
Port Huron Township publishes something most municipalities keep to themselves: exactly what happens when building, electrical, plumbing or heating work was covered up before anyone inspected it.
The answer is not a fine and a shrug. Under the Township’s policy, the inspector must get visual verification of correct installation in at least three separate areas — the example given is the roof, the crawl space and an opened wall — and a minimum of one opened wall inspection is required for each trade, including electrical, plumbing and heating.
And if a violation turns up in any of those, at least one more opened wall or other inspection is required in each room, until the inspector can reasonably expect the rest of the work complies. The owner either agrees to that and assumes liability for any defective work not viewed, or must remove all covered work.
That is the real cost of a finished basement nobody permitted, and it is why the question “was this work inspected?” belongs before an offer rather than after. It lands on whoever owns the property when the Township finds out — which may well be you.
The housing here is mostly recent: of about 4,626 units, 1,066 date from the 2000s and 851 from the 1990s, with 725 from the 1970s and 345 predating 1940. Around 64% is single-family detached.
Before you buy
Covered work
The Township’s policy on inspecting covered work is a single page, and it is the most useful page any building department in this project publishes for a buyer.
It begins with a municipal civil infraction requiring inspection and corrections within ten days of notice, served by mail, by posting on the building, or personally. Fines are cumulative over three years and escalate: $50 for a first offense, $125 for a second, $250 for a third, $500 for a fourth and each one after. A first offense inspected and corrected inside the ten days may have its fine waived at the Township Supervisor’s discretion. A signature admitting responsibility is required either way.
Then comes the physical part. Three separate areas must be visually verified for each trade that needed a permit. At least one wall must be opened for each of electrical, plumbing and heating. Find a violation in any of them and the requirement expands room by room until the inspector is satisfied. There is a $50 fee for the original discovery inspection and $50 for every return visit.
Corrections generally get ten days, and the outside limits are stated: never more than 30 days for an occupied structure, or six months for an unoccupied one. A final re-inspection for a certificate of occupancy follows once everything is inspected, corrected and paid. Failure to comply brings further infractions, or conversion of the infraction into a misdemeanor court appearance ticket.
Set that against a typical listing phrase — finished lower level, updated electrical, new bathroom — and the question changes shape. It is not whether the work looks good. It is whether there is a permit and an inspection record behind it, because if there is not, the drywall is coming off somebody’s wall, and the somebody is whoever owns it when the Township finds out.
A buyer’s inspection covers the roof, structure, foundation, drainage, electrical, heating and cooling, plumbing and the accessible interior. In a finished basement we report what is visible and accessible and say plainly what is concealed — and where the finishes suggest work that would have needed a permit, that is exactly the question to take to the Building Department before you commit.
Permits
The Township’s building department sets out an issuance policy that removes most excuses for skipping the paperwork.
Permits for building, electrical, plumbing and mechanical work must be submitted and approved before any work starts. Building and zoning permits for new structures or additions are normally approved within three to ten business days. But the trade permits people most often skip — additional wiring for a garage door opener, a new water heater, a gas fireplace insert — can usually be obtained the same day. And in an emergency, the department invites a call or an email asking for immediate issuance.
The Township is equally direct about the consequence: municipal civil infraction fines are issued where a permit has not been submitted and approved before work starts, and it says plainly that the point is to stop contractors or individuals bypassing required safety inspections.
For a buyer that combination is informative. Where permits are same-day and emergencies are accommodated, an absent permit is less likely to be a bureaucratic accident and more likely to be a choice. It is worth asking about.
The Township publishes a substantial set of guidance alongside the applications: an accessory structure construction policy, a deck construction guide, demolition and dumpster requirements, engineering design standards, a sample plot plan, manufactured home set requirements, pool requirements covering both single-family homes and mobile home parks, and a landlord and tenant guide. It also runs a special inspection program with its own testing agreement and statement of special inspections — the regime under which certain structural and life-safety elements are inspected by an independent agency rather than by the Township alone.
Two state guides worth knowing about
Among the Township’s helpful links are two state documents that say something about the questions it gets asked.
The first is the state’s floodplain quick guide. In a township on this side of St Clair County, whether any part of a parcel sits in a mapped floodplain is a real question, and it attaches to the land rather than the building. It affects what can be built, how it must be built, and what insurance costs. Establish it from the mapping rather than from a seller’s recollection.
The second is the state’s guidance on clandestine drug lab cleanup. We mention it only because the Township links it and because a buyer who encounters the term deserves to know that official guidance exists and where to find it. We are making no claim about how often this arises here — we have no data on that, nobody publishes any, and it would be unfair to a community to imply otherwise. If it ever became a live question on a specific property, that guidance and the county health department are the right places to go, and it is not something a building inspection assesses.
What an inspection does cover on the water side is the building and the ground immediately around it: accessible grading and how it falls away from the foundation, gutters and downspouts and where they discharge, foundation conditions, the basement or crawlspace and what it shows about past water, and any sump equipment and where its discharge goes. On a property near mapped floodplain, that reading of the ground is worth having alongside the map.
The buried line
The Township’s covered work policy exists because concealed work can be uncovered — a wall can be opened, a ceiling can come down, and an inspector can see what was done. The buried sewer lateral is the exception. Nothing gets opened, and no visual inspection reaches it.
On a 2000s house — the largest single slice of this township at 1,066 units — that pipe has been in the ground twenty-five years, with the landscaping planted at construction now mature above it. On a 1970s house it is fifty years, and on one of the 345 prewar units, far longer. Any of those 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 Port Huron Township laterals are generally made of. On a property with a septic system, the question is a different one and belongs to a county health department evaluation rather than to us.
A sewer camera inspection records what is actually inside the line: roots, cracks, displaced joints, bellies or blockages where they exist, and a clear run where they do not. 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. Get in touch to talk through a particular property.
Local information from Port Huron Charter Township — Building Department, permits and published guidance · Port Huron Charter Township — policy and procedure regarding inspection of covered work · Port Huron Charter Township — special inspection program guide. Municipal requirements change — verify current details with the municipality.
Why choose us
Five reasons people here pick us as their Port Huron Township 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
The Township publishes its policy, and it is thorough. A municipal civil infraction requires inspection and corrections within ten days. The inspector must then visually verify correct installation in at least three separate areas for each trade, with a minimum of one opened wall for each of electrical, plumbing and heating. If a violation is found anywhere, at least one more opened wall or other inspection is required in each room until the inspector is satisfied — and the owner either accepts that and assumes liability for what was not viewed, or must remove all covered work.
They escalate and they accumulate. The Township’s schedule runs $50 for a first offense, $125 for a second, $250 for a third and $500 for a fourth and each subsequent one, cumulative over a three-year period. There is also a separate $50 fee for the original discovery inspection and for each return visit. A first offense inspected and corrected within ten days may have its fine waived at the Supervisor’s discretion.
Generally ten days, stated in writing on a correction notice. The Township sets outside limits of 30 days for an occupied structure and six months for an unoccupied one. A final re-inspection for a certificate of occupancy follows once all inspections, corrections and payments are complete, and failure to comply can bring further infractions or conversion to a misdemeanor court appearance ticket.
Because it lands on whoever owns the property when the Township finds out. A finished lower level, updated electrical or a new bathroom with no permit behind it is not a paperwork problem — it is opened walls, escalating fines and a repair timetable. Ask whether the work was permitted and inspected before you make an offer, not after.
Faster than most people expect. The Township states that building and zoning permits for new structures or additions are normally approved within three to ten business days, and that trade permits for things like garage door opener wiring, a new water heater or a gas fireplace insert can often be obtained the same day. In an emergency the department can be called or emailed for immediate issuance.
Worth checking from the mapping rather than from a seller’s recollection. The Township links the state’s floodplain quick guide among its resources. A floodplain designation attaches to the land rather than the building, and it affects what can be built, how it must be built, and what insurance costs.
Mostly recent. Of about 4,626 housing units, 1,066 date from the 2000s and 851 from the 1990s, with 725 from the 1970s, 497 from the 1950s and 345 predating 1940. Around 64% is single-family detached. On the 1990s and 2000s stock the recurring theme is first-generation components reaching the end of their service lives at roughly the same time.
Yes, and it is the one thing no opened wall can settle. The buried lateral is the only component no visual inspection reaches, and on a 2000s house it has already been in the ground twenty-five years with mature landscaping over 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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Permits, assessing and property records for Port Huron Township are handled by Port Huron Township, Michigan, not by us.
From the blog
October 22, 2017
October 22, 2024
Your local Port Huron Township home inspector, seven days a week. Home inspection reports in 24 hours.
