One Week It Is Open.
Then It Is A Wall.
2,000+ 5-Star Reviews
An inspection of your house at the one moment its bones are visible — framed, roofed, dried in, with the electrical, plumbing and ductwork run, and nothing covered yet. We work to the InterNACHI Pre-Drywall Inspection Standards of Practice, and we are looking at the things that are about to become permanently inaccessible.
Everything on the list below is straightforward to put right while a carpenter can still reach it. The same item found two years later means opening a finished wall to get at it, which is why this inspection is worth doing at all.
Following the InterNACHI Pre-Drywall Inspection Standards of Practice:
The timing
Every other inspection can be rescheduled. This one cannot, because what it looks at stops existing. Here is how to not miss it.
The right moment is once framing is complete, the roof is on, the house is dried in and the electrical, plumbing and heating have been run — and before anybody insulates or hangs board. Miss it in either direction and there is nothing useful to look at.
Insulation and drywall follow the rough inspections quickly, and the schedule is the builder’s, not yours. Tell your builder early that you intend to have a pre-drywall inspection and ask to be told when the rough-ins pass, rather than finding out afterwards.
Call us as soon as you know roughly when your rough-ins are due and we will hold the slot. This is the one inspection where a week’s notice is worth more than anything else you can do.
What gets buried
None of this is an accusation aimed at your builder. A house is assembled by a lot of different trades working to a schedule, and the point of a second set of eyes is to catch what that process misses — while catching it still costs nothing.
Bearing points that do not land on anything, missing hangers or straps, joists notched or drilled past what they will take because a pipe had to go somewhere. Structural work is the least forgiving thing to correct once it is covered.
House wrap lapped the wrong way, window and door flashing that does not shed water outwards, penetrations left unsealed. These decide whether water gets into the wall, and every one of them is about to be hidden behind siding and board.
Drain lines without fall, vents that go nowhere useful, ductwork crushed or unsupported, cable run across sharp edges or through unprotected holes. Easy to reach now, behind a finished wall in a fortnight.
Blocking that was never installed, a fire separation that is not continuous, a bath fan ducted into the attic instead of outside. Omissions are the hardest category to find later, because there is nothing visible to suggest anything is missing.
A hanger missing almost all its nails
Wrap tucked behind a window head
An anchor bolt holding nothing
Nails that missed the stud
Your municipality will inspect the rough framing, electrical and plumbing before it lets the walls be closed. That inspection is real and it matters, but it is carried out on behalf of the jurisdiction, it checks compliance with code, and it is not commissioned by you.
Ours is commissioned by you. Code is a floor, not a description of good work, and a great deal of what we write up is not a code violation at all — it is workmanship that will cause you a problem later. Both inspections happen; they are answering different questions.
You get a written report with photographs within 24 hours, with each item located plainly enough to act on. We do not do the remedial work and have no trade arm that does, so nothing in it is us quoting ourselves a job.
Why choose us
With more than 16,000 inspections completed and over 2,000 five-star reviews since 2009, we inspect across Southeast and Mid-Michigan seven days a week. Our inspectors are certified through InterNACHI, and we carry out none of the repair work we write up.
Credentials from the recognized bodies, kept current through continuing education.
Inspected to the InterNACHI Pre-Drywall Inspection Standards of Practice, which anyone can read and hold the work against.
No trade arm, so nothing we write up is us quoting ourselves work.
Photo-rich and in your hands the next day, because the drywall is not going to wait for us.
Including weekends, which matters when the window is measured in days.
Trusted across Michigan
Trademark is incredibly thorough! The ONLY inspectors I would trust with my home! From setting the appointment to climbing into the attic and crawling under the house, they are incredibly talented. Please do yourself the best favor, and always use and recommend Trademark!!
Paige CookNovi, MIThe company is great. They take their time to address your concerns, answer all questions and make sure you are content. Ora was great to work with, thorough and addressed all questions and concerns. I will definitely request him whenever I need an inspector!
Zack OudeifMichiganMitch was great and thorough the our inspection. He provided explanations and suggestions throughout the service. Highly recommend!
Jaynie GMonroe, MI
Police, fire, rescue, military and educators — our way of saying thank you for your service. Enter code HERO at checkout.
Claim the Hero DiscountQualified and certified
Michigan does not license home inspectors, so the credential behind the report is worth checking. Each of these is issued by the organization named and verifiable with them directly, and kept current through continuing education.
The core credential from the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors. It commits the inspector to InterNACHI’s Standards of Practice and Code of Ethics, and to continuing education every year rather than a one-off exam.
The profession’s top-level board certification. It is earned through inspection experience and continuing education over time, not bought — which is why comparatively few inspectors in Michigan hold it.
National Home Inspector ExaminationThe independently written, psychometrically validated exam from the Examination Board of Professional Home Inspectors, used by most states that license home inspectors. Michigan licenses nobody and asks for no exam at all, so sitting it here is entirely voluntary — which is rather the point.
Certified through the Certified Commercial Property Inspectors Association, the standards body for commercial building inspections. Commercial work follows a different discipline to residential, and this is the credential that covers it.
The International Association of Certified Indoor Air Consultants sets the protocols for how mold is sampled, handled and reported. Following them is what makes a laboratory result defensible rather than just a number.
The same body certifies radon measurement separately, because the discipline is different: where the monitor sits, how long it runs and what counts as a disturbed test all decide whether the reading means anything.
Certification from the National Association of Mold Professionals, covering how mold is identified, sampled and documented — the difference between spotting a stain and understanding the moisture behind it.
Training in running a sewer line camera and, just as importantly, reading what it shows. Roots, bellies, breaks and blockages all look different on screen and are easy to misread without it.
Certified Residential ThermographerCertified by Monroe Infrared in thermal imaging. A thermal camera reveals what the eye cannot — moisture behind finishes, missing insulation and overheating electrical connections — but only if the person holding it is trained to interpret it.
Licensed by the Federal Aviation Administration to fly commercially. That is what makes aerial roof and property imagery legal to carry out and legal to hand you — and it means a steep or unsafe roof can still be inspected properly.
Our service area
We inspect across fourteen Michigan counties — Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Washtenaw, Livingston, Genesee, Saginaw, Shiawassee, Lapeer, St Clair, Monroe, Lenawee, Jackson and Ingham — covering Metro Detroit, Ann Arbor, Flint, Saginaw and the communities in between. Tap a county to see where we work.
Not sure if we cover your area?
Call 734-331-3269 or schedule your inspection now.
Common questions
The things people building a house ask us most.
An independent inspection of a house under construction at the point where it is framed, roofed and dried in, with the electrical, plumbing and heating run but nothing yet covered. It is the last moment the structure and the rough-ins can be seen.
After the rough-in stage is complete and the municipal rough inspections have passed, and before anybody insulates or hangs drywall. That gap is usually days rather than weeks, so tell your builder early that you want one.
No. Municipal inspections check compliance with code on behalf of the jurisdiction. This one is commissioned by you, and a good deal of what it reports is not a code matter at all — it is workmanship that will cost you later. Both inspections happen.
That is your call to make, not ours and not theirs. What we would say is that the inspection is carried out by somebody with no stake in the schedule and no work to win from the findings, and that everything it looks at is about to become permanently inaccessible.
Almost always, but it is between you and your builder and their insurer, and it is much easier to agree at contract stage than the week it needs to happen. Ask early, in writing.
Then a pre-drywall inspection is no longer possible — the point of it has gone. A full inspection of the finished house is still worth doing, and so is an 11-month builder’s warranty inspection before your first year runs out.
We inspect to the InterNACHI Pre-Drywall Inspection Standards of Practice and report what we find. Code enforcement is the municipality’s job, and we will tell you plainly when something we have flagged is a workmanship concern rather than a code one.
Plan on a couple of hours depending on the size of the house, and yes, come if you can. An open frame is the only chance you will ever get to see how your house is actually put together, and it is worth taking.
You get it within 24 hours, with photographs and locations. Give it to your builder while the trades are still on site — that is the whole advantage of the timing, because fixing any of it is a small job right now.
We will explain any finding to you or to your builder if that helps, but the conversation is yours. We are not a party to your build contract and we have no remedial work to sell.
Yes, and they are different inspections. Pre-drywall looks at what is about to be hidden; a final inspection looks at the finished house you are about to pay for. Many people booking a new build have us out for both, and then again at eleven months.
Call 734-331-3269 as soon as you have a rough date for your rough-ins and we will hold a slot, or book online. We inspect seven days a week including weekends.
That is early enough to book. Tell us the week and we will hold the slot.
