Putnam Township, Michigan
Looking for a Putnam Township home inspector? We do certified home, commercial, mold and radon inspections in Putnam 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 Putnam 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 Putnam Township and across Livingston 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 Putnam 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 reportPutnam Township housing stock
Putnam Township has roughly 3,411 housing units and about 87% 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 1970s: 760 homes, about 22% of everything standing today.
The median owner-occupied home here is valued at $289,900. 86% are owner-occupied, which is high even for this area.
None of this says anything about the specific house you are buying. It is the shortlist a Putnam 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 Putnam Township was built
75% of homes here run on utility gas, and 58 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 399 use bottled or LP gas.
Local knowledge
Putnam Township does not issue building permits. It issues zoning permits, and the building permit comes from Livingston County. Anything built here has therefore passed through two separate governments, and the paperwork lives in two separate places.
The order matters. A Township zoning compliance permit has to be obtained first; only then does the county building permit follow. And there is a step at the end that most communities do not have: the Township requires a final zoning inspection before it will allow a structure to be occupied.
For anyone researching a property, that means two records requests rather than one, and it means the absence of a file in either place tells you only half a story. A garage, pole barn, shed, deck, pool or addition should have generated a Township zoning permit as well as a county building permit.
The third government worth knowing about is the Village of Pinckney, which sits inside the same postal name and runs its own zoning. The Township’s own hall carries a Pinckney address, so an address alone does not tell you whose rules apply to a property.
This is rural, wooded, lake-country township land: about 87% of its roughly 3,411 units are single-family detached, with 760 built in the 1970s and 684 in the 2000s. The Township’s own forms make clear it is well and septic country, which changes what you need to line up before closing.
Before you buy
Two permits
The Township’s zoning compliance permit process applies to garages, pole barns, sheds, signs, decks, swimming pools, additions and new construction — which is to say most of what a homeowner is ever likely to build.
The sequence runs: obtain the Township zoning compliance permit, then obtain the county building permit, then build, then call the Township for a final zoning inspection. The Township is explicit that a final zoning inspection is required before it will allow the structure to be occupied.
Two details are worth planning around. The Township asks you to stake out the location of the proposed structure on the property before it will inspect, and it asks for three sets of building plans for new structures — one for its own records and two for the county. Inspections only take place once everything on the checklist is complete.
And there is a penalty built into the fee. The zoning compliance permit costs a set amount covering the first and final inspection, and that amount doubles where the application is submitted after construction has already started. That is a clear and reasonable signal, and it is worth knowing when you inherit a structure whose paperwork looks thin.
When you are buying, ask about both files and about the final zoning inspection specifically. A pole barn or an addition that was built but never signed off is a loose end you take on with the property, and it is much cheaper to find before closing than after.
A buyer’s inspection is not a permit search and does not check zoning compliance. What it does is report the condition and apparent function of the roof, structure, foundation, drainage, electrical, heating and cooling, plumbing and the accessible interior — including outbuildings where they are within scope — and flag work that looks as though it happened outside the normal process.
The plot plan
The plot plan requirements are the most revealing thing on the Township’s form, because they describe what actually constrains building on a parcel here.
A plot plan must show every structure and driveway, existing and proposed, with dimensions. It must show the well, the septic tank and the drainfield, subject to county health department approvals. It must show setback distances from all structures to the lot lines, the legal description of the parcel, and the location and description of any existing or proposed easements.
And it must show significant natural features — wetlands, open space, stands of trees, flood plains and hills among them.
Read that list as a buyer and it becomes a set of questions about the land you are looking at. Where is the drainfield, and what is over it? Is there wetland or floodplain on the parcel, and does it sit where you would want to build? What easements cross the property? On a rural parcel, those answers determine what you can do with it in a way that never comes up on a subdivision lot.
Lot size rules reinforce the point. The Township’s single family districts range from a ten acre minimum in its rural residential district down to lakefront districts measured in square feet, and in one district the minimum depends directly on whether sewer is available — an acre without it, roughly half that with it.
None of that is a home inspection question, and we do not survey, delineate wetland or determine floodplain status. What we do report is what the site and the building actually show: grading and the fall of the ground around the foundation, where downspouts and any sump discharge appear to go, soft ground or standing water we can see, and what the basement or crawl space shows about water that has been there before.
Wells and septic
On a township where the zoning form assumes a well, a septic tank and a drainfield on the parcel, three separate things need looking at before you close and only one of them is ours.
The septic system is evaluated by or through the county health department. So is the well and the water it produces. Those answer questions a visual inspection genuinely cannot: whether the field is failing, when the tank was last pumped, and what is actually in the water. We do not evaluate septic systems and we do not test water.
They also need booking early. In lake country in the buying season these evaluations are in demand, and a contingency period is not long.
What we inspect is the building and everything from the house side of those systems inward: the accessible plumbing, the drain and vent arrangements we can see, how fixtures behave under load, and the visible condition of pump and pressure equipment.
Surface water deserves particular attention on a septic property. A drainfield trying to work under ground that is also receiving every downspout and a sump discharge is a drainfield working against you, and that is something a walk around the building will show.
On a wooded parcel we also pay attention to what the trees are doing: limbs over the roof, shade keeping a slope damp, roots at the foundation and drive, and debris that never quite clears the gutters. On a 1970s house under fifty-year-old trees, that is often where the roof findings come from.
Scheduling
The zoning office is open on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, mornings and afternoons. The Township office itself is open Monday through Thursday.
Since every construction project in the township starts at the zoning office and finishes there too, that is a real constraint rather than a detail. A zoning permit, then a county building permit, then construction, then a final zoning inspection before occupancy — with the first and last steps available two days a week.
If a purchase depends on work being completed and signed off, build that timetable backwards from the zoning calendar rather than forwards from the closing date. The same Zoning Administrator also handles ordinance enforcement and advises the planning commission and zoning board of appeals, so the office covers a great deal on two days.
Our own scheduling is separate and works around real estate timetables rather than office hours. Get in touch and we will tell you honestly what we can fit and when.
Where a variance or a special land use is involved, those go before the zoning board of appeals or the planning commission on their own meeting cycles, which adds weeks rather than days. That is not something to discover late.
The buried line
Whether a property here drains to a septic tank or to a sewer, the line from the building outward belongs to the owner, and no visual inspection reaches inside it.
On one of the 760 houses built here in the 1970s that pipe has been in the ground for half a century, on a wooded parcel where the trees have had exactly as long to find it. On one of the 304 units predating 1940, longer still. We will not name a material from a build year, because no authoritative source establishes what Putnam Township 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. On a septic property it documents the building drain out to the tank, which is still the owner’s pipe and is the part a health department evaluation does not focus on. It is added to the same appointment rather than booked separately.
Alongside it we offer radon testing, mold inspection and testing, and commercial building inspections to the CCPIA standard for offices, retail, multifamily and warehouse property.
You can read what our clients say, look through answers to common questions, or get in touch about a specific address in Putnam Township.
Local information from Putnam Township — zoning compliance (land use) permit process and plot plan requirements · Putnam Township — Zoning Administrator, office hours and duties · Putnam Township — how to get a building permit and zoning compliance paperwork. Municipal requirements change — verify current details with the municipality.
Radon in Livingston 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 · Livingston County radon and inspection coverage
Zone from the EPA Map of Radon Zones.
Why choose us
Five reasons people here pick us as their Putnam 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
Livingston County does. The Township issues zoning compliance permits and the county issues the building permit, in that order — the Township permit has to come first. That means a property’s history is split across two offices, and the absence of a record in one tells you nothing about the other.
Not until the Township has inspected it. Its process sheet states that once the structure is complete you contact the Zoning Administrator for a final zoning inspection, and that a final zoning inspection is required before the Township will allow you to occupy the structure.
The Township lists garages, pole barns, sheds, signs, decks, swimming pools, additions and new construction, and notes the list is not exhaustive. The fee covers the first and final inspection, and it doubles where the application is submitted after construction has already started.
All structures and driveways with dimensions, existing and proposed; the well, septic and drainfield locations, subject to county health department approval; setbacks to all lot lines; the legal description; all easements; and significant natural features including wetlands, open space, stands of trees, flood plains and hills. You also stake out the proposed structure before the inspection.
Very likely. The Township’s own forms assume a well, a septic tank and a drainfield on the parcel, and its lot size rules treat sewer availability as the exception rather than the rule. Both go through the county health department, and both are worth booking as soon as you are under contract.
No to both. We inspect the building and the accessible plumbing inside it, report how fixtures behave under load, and note the visible condition of pump and pressure equipment. On a septic property a camera inspection can still document the building drain out to the tank, which remains the owner’s pipe.
Plan for it rather than around it. The zoning office is open Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and every project passes through it twice — once for the compliance permit and again for the final inspection. Where a variance or special land use is involved, those go before the zoning board of appeals or the planning commission on their own meeting cycles.
Not necessarily. The Village of Pinckney is a separate government with its own zoning, and the Township’s own hall carries a Pinckney mailing address. It is worth confirming which government a property actually sits in before relying on any particular rule.
More on cost, timing and what is included on the FAQ page.
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From the blog
April 5, 2024
October 22, 2017
Your local Putnam Township home inspector, seven days a week. Home inspection reports in 24 hours.
