Riverview, Michigan
Looking for a Riverview home inspector? We do certified home, commercial, mold and radon inspections in Riverview, 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 Riverview 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 Riverview and across Wayne 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 Riverview 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 reportRiverview housing stock
Riverview has roughly 5,468 housing units and about 63% of them are single-family detached. The year a house went up decides more about what an inspection turns up than almost anything else about it, which is why it is where we start rather than where we finish.
More of it dates from the 1960s than from any other decade — 1,308 homes, roughly 24% of the town.
The median owner-occupied home here is valued at $188,000.
This is not a forecast for any one address. It is where a Riverview home inspector starts in a home of this age — and whatever we actually find, it goes in the report with photographs.
Housing figures: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2022 five-year estimates.
When Riverview was built
89% of homes here run on utility gas. Another 45 use bottled or LP gas.
Local knowledge
Riverview has inspected houses at the point of sale since 1 July 2016. The City charges $200 for the initial inspection and $75 for each additional one, and books them in set windows — afternoons on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, mornings on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
What makes Riverview different from the other point-of-sale communities in this region is what it publishes alongside the application. Most give you one road: put it right before you close. Riverview also publishes an affidavit for assuming violations and an escrow agreement.
In other words, there is a documented way for a sale to complete with items still outstanding — the buyer formally taking them on, or money being held back against them. We are not going to describe the terms of either document, because they are the City’s to state and you should get them from the department. But knowing the option exists changes how you negotiate, and it is far better understood in advance than discovered in the closing week.
The other thing to know before you buy here concerns the back yard, and it is covered further down: the City has discontinued its rear yard drainage program.
The housing is concentrated: of about 5,468 units, 1,308 date from the 1960s, 1,282 from the 1950s and 1,243 from the 1970s — seventy percent of the city inside three decades — with only 132 built since 2000. Around 63% is single-family detached.
Before you buy
Rear yard drainage
Buried in the list of common questions on the Building and Engineering page is a sentence that matters more than its placement suggests: the City no longer offers a rear yard drainage program, and residents experiencing flooding problems with an existing drainage system should contact a licensed plumber for corrective action.
On this housing stock that is significant. Seventy percent of Riverview was built between 1950 and 1979, on flat downriver ground, in subdivisions laid out with rear yard drainage systems that are now fifty to seventy years old. Those systems — swales, buried tile, catch basins at the back of lots, shared runs between neighbors — were designed to move water off ground that does not shed it by gravity alone. When they silt up, collapse, or get built over by a shed or a patio, the water stays.
And the City has stepped back from it. Whatever is in the ground behind a Riverview house is now the owner’s to understand and maintain.
That makes the exterior half of an inspection more consequential here than in most places. We report accessible grading and which way the ground actually falls, low spots and evidence of standing water, gutters and downspouts and where they discharge, the condition of the foundation and any visible penetrations, the basement or crawlspace and what its walls and floor show about past water, and sump equipment and where its discharge goes. Where a rear yard catch basin or drain is visible, we note it and its apparent condition.
What we cannot do is tell you what a buried rear yard drain is doing along its length — that is the same problem as the sewer lateral, and the same tool answers it. Ask the seller directly whether the back yard holds water after heavy rain, and ask the neighbors too. On shared systems, the answer often lives next door.
How the City inspects
Riverview publishes its inspection mechanics plainly, and two details are worth planning around.
City inspections run Tuesday and Thursday mornings, issued as a block time rather than an appointment. And a permit fee includes one inspection — after that, an inspection fee is charged for a scheduled visit whether access is allowed or not. The City advises owners to make sure the inspector can get in during the scheduled window, and states it will not reschedule until all fees are paid in full.
A locked door therefore costs money here. On a vacant property mid-sale, or a tenanted one, that is worth arranging carefully rather than assuming.
The City enforces a current set of codes — the 2021 Michigan building, plumbing and mechanical codes, the 2015 Michigan Residential Code, the 2023 National Electrical Code as adopted in Michigan, the 2021 International Property Maintenance Code, the Michigan Rehabilitation Code and the international fire and fuel codes. Contractor registration is $50 with a copy of the state license, and every permit application must carry a certificate of insurance.
On rentals, single-family and multiple-family properties must register and hold a Certificate of Compliance before occupancy, with certificates renewed on a three-year cycle. Fees run $50 to register and $200 for the initial inspection, $75 for each additional; multi-family is priced per building plus per unit, common area and mechanical room, with an admin fee on top.
None of this is an assessment of the building for you. A buyer’s inspection covers the roof, structure, foundation, drainage, electrical, heating and cooling, plumbing and the accessible interior, and reports to you with photographs. Plan for both, and start the City’s first, because it is the one with a queue and a re-inspection fee attached.
Water and restrictions
Two more things a buyer here should know, from opposite ends of the rulebook.
The first is the residential cross-connection control program. Under the state’s Safe Drinking Water Act mandate, the Department of Public Works has contracted a specialist water safety company to carry out the required residential inspections — the same contractor used by Wyandotte, Trenton and Detroit. Selected residents get an official City notice by mail. A cross connection is any point where private plumbing could let contamination back into the public supply, and the usual domestic culprits are hose bibbs without vacuum breakers, irrigation connections, boiler fills and softener drains without an air gap. Those are all things we look at and report.
The second is a rulebook the City explicitly does not enforce. Riverview notes that a homeowners association within a subdivision may impose stricter building and land use regulations through the subdivision’s declaration of restrictions, that those private restrictions are recorded with the Wayne County Register of Deeds, and — candidly — that the list of restrictions it links may not be exhaustive.
For a buyer that is a real gap to close. A City permit and a passed inspection say the work met the City’s requirements. They say nothing about whether it met the subdivision’s, and those restrictions run with the land. If you are buying in a platted subdivision here, get the declaration and read it, rather than relying on either the City’s list or a seller’s recollection.
The City code of ordinances is the place for the public half. Two ordinary items from it worth knowing: grass and noxious weeds may not exceed eight inches, and snow and ice must be cleared from City walks — including corner crosswalks — within 24 hours, failing which the City may clear them and charge the abutting property.
The buried line
Riverview was built in three decades, and its sewer laterals went in with the houses. On a 1950s house that pipe has been in the ground seventy years; on a 1970s house, fifty. The street trees planted when the subdivisions went up have had exactly as long to reach it.
That is long 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 Riverview laterals are generally made of.
It matters more here because of the drainage picture. On flat ground with a rear yard system the City no longer maintains, and a sanitary lateral of the same vintage, the two questions a buyer most wants answered are both about pipes nobody can see. One of them can be answered in an afternoon.
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. On flat ground a belly is exactly the kind of thing worth finding before you own it. 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 City of Riverview — Building and Engineering, sale of home inspections and rentals · City of Riverview — Public Works and residential cross connection control program · City of Riverview — charter and code of ordinances. Municipal requirements change — verify current details with the municipality.
Radon in Wayne County
Zone 3 is the lowest of the three EPA categories — the predicted average indoor level across the county is below 2 pCi/L. That puts Riverview at the calmer end of Michigan’s radon picture, which is worth saying out loud rather than glossing over. What a zone cannot tell you is anything about one house: 17% of tests actually run in Wayne County still came back at or above the EPA’s 4 pCi/L action level, which is about one in six. The zone describes a county. The only result that describes your basement is the one measured in it.
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 · Wayne 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 Riverview 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
Ora from Trademark did an incredible job with the inspection and sewer scope of the home I am in the process of buying. He was very thorough, explained everything to me from the start, and made it all super easy to understand which definitely helped to put me at ease a bit more. Highly recommend this company!
Mariah HartmanWestland, MIJim was prompt and thorough during the mold testing. Clearly gave us an explanation about mold and testing process he was going to conduct. Testing was followed by a written report. I would recommend everyone use a third party to test mold, independent from the company conducting remediation work. I would hire Trademark again and strongly recommend them.
Alberto PicconeNorthville, MICowboy “Jim” just did Mold Testing in my parents’ basement. He was Professional, explained the what, how and yet of everything to my Senior parents. Our results came back super quick. He even referred us to the resources on the Trademark website for me to use to fix the leaky basement. It’s 1 stop shopping with Trademark.
Becky JohnsonWayne, MIWhat happens
Questions
Yes. The City has conducted inspections on the sale of houses since 1 July 2016, charging $200 for the initial inspection and $75 for each additional one, booked in set windows on weekday afternoons and mornings. The Building and Engineering Department lists For Sale home inspections among its responsibilities. Start the process early rather than in the closing week.
Riverview publishes two documents alongside the For Sale application that most point-of-sale communities do not: an affidavit for assuming violations and an escrow agreement. Between them they describe routes for a sale to complete with items outstanding — the buyer formally taking them on, or funds being held back. We are not going to state the terms of either; get them from the department, and treat taking on violations as a decision rather than a formality.
No. The City’s inspection exists to decide whether the property satisfies its requirements, and it reports to the City. A buyer’s inspection assesses the building for you — roof, structure, foundation, drainage, electrical, heating and cooling, plumbing and the accessible interior — and reports to you with photographs. Plan for both.
Not any more. The City states that it no longer offers its rear yard drainage program and that residents with flooding problems in an existing drainage system should contact a licensed plumber. On a city where 70% of the housing was built between 1950 and 1979, those rear yard systems are fifty to seventy years old and are now entirely the owner’s to maintain. Ask the seller, and the neighbors, what the back yard does after heavy rain.
Yes. The City states that a permit fee includes one inspection, and that an inspection fee is charged for a scheduled visit whether access is allowed or not. It also states it will not reschedule until all fees are paid in full. Inspections run Tuesday and Thursday mornings as a block time rather than an appointment, so arrange access for the window rather than for a time.
Often, and the City says so. A homeowners association within a subdivision may enforce stricter building and land use regulations through the subdivision’s declaration of restrictions, recorded with the Wayne County Register of Deeds — and the City warns that the list of restrictions it links may not be exhaustive. A City permit is not evidence of compliance with those private restrictions, and they run with the land.
Concentrated in three decades. Of about 5,468 housing units, 1,308 date from the 1960s, 1,282 from the 1950s and 1,243 from the 1970s — roughly 70% of the city — with 757 from the 1980s and only 132 built since 2000. Around 63% is single-family detached. Expect original-era structure and drainage behind whatever has been updated on the surface.
Yes, and more so than usual. The lateral went in with the house, which for most of Riverview means fifty to seventy years ago, with street trees of the same age above it. On flat ground a settled section becomes a belly where solids stop moving. 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 Riverview are handled by Riverview, Michigan, not by us.
From the blog
October 22, 2017
April 5, 2024
Your local Riverview home inspector, seven days a week. Home inspection reports in 24 hours.
