Summit Township, Michigan
Looking for a Summit Township home inspector? We do certified home, commercial, mold and radon inspections in Summit 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 Summit 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 Summit Township and across Jackson 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 Summit 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 reportSummit Township housing stock
Summit Township has roughly 10,039 housing units and about 78% 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 1950s than from any other decade — 2,088 homes, roughly 21% of the town.
The median owner-occupied home here is valued at $172,900. There are around 214 manufactured and mobile homes in Summit Township. Those are a different inspection — the questions are about the frame, the anchoring and the skirting rather than a basement. Around 651 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.
This is not a forecast for any one address. It is where a Summit Township 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 Summit Township was built
89% of homes here run on utility gas, and 17 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 206 use bottled or LP gas.
Local knowledge
Some properties in Summit Township do not drain to the sewer by gravity. They pump.
The Township operates 129 miles of both gravity and pressurized sewer mains, along with 28 lift stations, and it publishes grinder pump documentation for residents — wiring requirements, operating instructions and information on the grinder can itself. A grinder pump macerates waste and pushes it up into a pressurized main, and where one is fitted it sits on the property with a tank, a pump, controls and an alarm.
That matters because it is equipment you inherit. It has a service life, it needs power, it has an alarm that means something, and replacing one is not a small bill. Plenty of buyers here have no idea whether the house they are looking at has one until it announces itself.
So the first question on any Summit Township property is what it is actually connected to and how. The second is the ordinary one about the building: of about 10,039 units, 2,088 date from the 1950s, 1,735 from the 1960s and 1,600 predate 1940, with around 78% single-family detached.
Before you buy
The pump you may be buying
This is the local fact most likely to cost a buyer money they did not expect, and it is worth understanding before you make an offer.
The Township’s sewer system runs on 129 miles of both gravity and pressurized mains and 28 lift stations — 23 in Summit Township and five in neighboring Napoleon Township. All of the sewage is treated by the City of Jackson.
Where a property cannot reach a gravity main, the waste is handled by a grinder pump. The Township publishes grinder can information, requirements for wiring sewer grinder pumps, and operating instructions for the grinder pump sewage system it uses. Publishing all three tells you these are not rare here.
For a buyer the practical questions are simple and specific. Does this property have one? Where is it? How old is it? What is it wired to, and is that circuit adequate and protected? Does the alarm work, and does anyone know what it sounds like? Is there a service history? A grinder pump that fails does not fail politely.
We report what is visibly installed and its apparent condition, and we say plainly what is buried or inaccessible — which with a grinder can is most of it. The Township is the right place to confirm what serves a specific address, and it is a call worth making before closing rather than after.
Before you hire anyone
Summit Township republishes the State’s guidance on hiring a contractor, and it is really a short course in not losing your house to somebody else’s unpaid bill.
The guidance recommends checking that a contractor is licensed through the State; putting the contract and every change in writing; making sure a Notice of Commencement is completed correctly and posted at the site; obtaining a Notice of Furnishing from each person or company providing labor or materials; demanding a sworn statement for any payment made to the contractor; checking the list of subcontractors and suppliers against those notices to see that subcontractors are being paid; and asking for a Waiver of Lien whenever a payment is made. It also notes the option, on five days’ written notice to the contractor, of paying subcontractors, suppliers or laborers directly.
That matters to a buyer as well as an owner. Work done shortly before a sale, particularly work done quickly to get a property to market, is exactly the situation in which unpaid subcontractors surface later. Your title company is the right party to raise it with.
On the condition side, a buyer’s inspection tells you what that recent work actually looks like: 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. Fresh paint and new flooring are not the same as sound work, and on a quick pre-sale refresh the difference is usually visible to someone looking for it.
A township built in stages
Summit Township did not build out all at once, and the mix shows up in what we find.
About 1,600 units predate 1940 and another 855 went up in the 1940s, while 2,088 date from the 1950s and 1,735 from the 1960s. There is newer stock too — 837 units from the 2000s and 697 from the 1990s — but the center of the market is a postwar house that is now sixty to seventy-five years old, standing near older buildings that are older still.
On the postwar stock, everything mechanical has turned over at least once: roof coverings, furnaces, water heaters, air conditioning added long after construction, and electrical services usually upgraded at some stage. On the prewar stock, add another layer of the same and a set of questions about additions, enclosed porches and converted spaces.
We do not name components from a build year. We report what is installed, its condition, what is at or past the end of its service life, and what could not be seen. Water gets particular attention on older stock — grading at the foundation, gutters and downspouts and where they discharge, foundation conditions, the basement or crawlspace, floor drains and any sump or pump equipment.
The Township also publishes flood plain information, which is worth checking alongside your insurer for any property near water. Flood zone status is not something a home inspection determines and we would not suggest otherwise.
The buried line
Grinder pump or gravity, the buried line running away from the building is the part nothing visual reaches.
On a house from the 1950s it has been in the ground about seventy years, and on a prewar house far longer — enough time 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 Summit 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 — 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 Summit Township — sewer system information · Summit Township — water and sewer connection, grinder pump documents · Summit Township — tips on hiring a contractor. Municipal requirements change — verify current details with the municipality.
Why choose us
Five reasons people here pick us as their Summit 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
Justin Frey was my Inspector. He was very nice, very professional, and made sure I had all my questions answered. If I had a business, I definitely would hire him!
Tonya HConcord, MII 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, MIWhat happens
Questions
It is a pump that macerates waste and pushes it into a pressurized sewer main, used where a property cannot reach a gravity main. Summit Township runs 129 miles of both gravity and pressurized sewer mains and publishes grinder can information, wiring requirements and operating instructions for grinder pump systems — which tells you they are not rare here. Whether a specific address has one is a question for the Township, and worth asking before closing.
Because it is equipment you inherit, sitting on the property with a tank, a pump, controls, an alarm and a finite service life. It needs power, the alarm means something, and replacement is not a small bill. Ask how old it is, what circuit it is wired to, whether the alarm has been tested and whether there is a service history. We report what is visibly installed and its apparent condition, and say plainly what is buried or inaccessible.
The City of Jackson. Summit Township states that all of its sewage is treated by the City, and Jackson’s own water department separately supplies select properties in Summit Township. Two governments, one system — which is worth knowing when you are working out who to call about what.
The Township republishes the State’s guidance and it is worth following. Check the contractor is licensed. Put the contract and every change in writing. Make sure a Notice of Commencement is completed correctly and posted at the site. Get a Notice of Furnishing from each person or company supplying labor or materials. Demand a sworn statement for any payment and check the subcontractor and supplier list against those notices. Ask for a Waiver of Lien with each payment. You may also pay subcontractors directly on five days’ written notice to the contractor.
It can. Work done shortly before a sale — especially a quick refresh to get a property to market — is exactly where unpaid subcontractors surface afterwards. Raise it with your title company. And treat recent cosmetic work as a reason to look harder rather than less hard: fresh paint and new flooring are not the same thing as sound work.
Mixed, with a postwar center of gravity. Of about 10,039 housing units, 2,088 were built in the 1950s and 1,735 in the 1960s, while 1,600 predate 1940 and 855 date from the 1940s. There is newer stock as well — 837 units from the 2000s and 697 from the 1990s. Around 78% is single-family detached. Two houses a street apart can easily be fifty years apart in age.
No. Flood zone status comes from the flood maps and your insurer, and the Township publishes flood plain information worth checking alongside them. What an inspection covers is how the building handles the water that reaches it: grading at the foundation, gutters and downspouts and where they discharge, foundation conditions, the basement or crawlspace, floor drains and any sump or pump equipment.
It is worth considering whether the property is on gravity or pressurized sewer. The buried line running away from the building is the one component no visual inspection reaches, and on a 1950s house it has been in the ground about seventy years. We will not guess a material from a build year — no authoritative source establishes what laterals here 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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From the blog
October 22, 2017
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Your local Summit Township home inspector, seven days a week. Home inspection reports in 24 hours.
