Troy, Michigan
Looking for a Troy home inspector? We do certified home, commercial, mold and radon inspections in Troy, 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 Troy 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 Troy and across Oakland 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 Troy 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 reportTroy housing stock
Troy has roughly 34,691 housing units and about 72% 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 1970s than from any other decade — 11,710 homes, roughly 34% of the town.
The median owner-occupied home here is valued at $375,600. There are around 313 manufactured and mobile homes in Troy. Those are a different inspection — the questions are about the frame, the anchoring and the skirting rather than a basement. Around 1,387 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 Troy 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 Troy was built
84% of homes here run on utility gas, and 10 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 350 use bottled or LP gas.
Local knowledge
Troy is the most 1970s place in this region, and it is a city of detached houses in a way its neighbors are not.
Of roughly 34,691 housing units, about 34% went up in the 1970s alone — the tightest single-decade concentration of any large community around here except Garden City’s fifties. The median build year is 1977, and around 72% of units are single-family detached. Compare that with Southfield, eight miles away, where the detached share is 47%. Two cities, same county, completely different inspection.
There is a mechanism behind all those similar-looking streets, and it is in the City’s own permit rules: where an application is for a model, Troy assigns it a master plan number so that future applications for the same model do not need building plans resubmitted. That is how a subdivision of near-identical houses gets built quickly — and it means houses on one street often share the same original systems, the same original layout and the same original weak points.
Which cuts both ways for a buyer. The era is knowable, but fifty years is long enough for two identical houses to have diverged completely depending on what each owner replaced and when. A 1977 house is now at the age where original roofing, furnace, air conditioning, water heater and windows have either been renewed once or are overdue.
Before you buy
The buried line
This is worth spelling out, because it is the kind of detail that only becomes visible if you read several cities in a row — and it can cost someone a claim.
Troy’s position is clear. Contact the Water Division immediately on discovering an overflow or backup, or the Police Department outside business hours. Then, if you experience an overflow or backup of a sewage disposal or storm water system, you must file a written claim with the City within 45 days after it is discovered. Troy takes those claims at the City Attorney’s Office on West Big Beaver, by email, post, fax or in person. The City states that failure to provide written notice within 45 days of the damage being discovered will prevent recovery of damages for any loss.
Here is the part no single city’s website will tell you. That 45-day deadline comes from Michigan’s governmental immunity statute and applies across the region — but each municipality nominates its own office to receive the notice. In this area alone we have seen the same claim directed to a city attorney, to a budget office, to a public services department, and to a county water resources commissioner. If you ever need to file one, check where that particular municipality wants it rather than assuming.
We are relaying what these cities publish, not advising on it — the municipality and your own advisers are the people to speak to. On the pipe itself we take the usual line: no authoritative source establishes what Troy laterals are generally made of, so we will not name a material from a build year. 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. It goes on the same visit.
Water outside the house
Troy’s permit requirements say something about local priorities that is worth knowing before you buy.
Alongside a plot plan drawn to an accurate boundary survey, the City can require a drainage plan prepared by a registered civil engineer, using NAVD 88 datum, showing existing grades of drives, houses and other structures and of the land to a minimum of fifty feet beyond the site property lines — plus a grade slip. That is a demanding standard, and municipalities do not ask for engineered grades past the lot line unless surface water is something they think about carefully.
For a buyer the implication is practical rather than alarming. In a city where grading is regulated to that level, how a particular property actually sits — which way the ground falls, where the downspouts discharge, whether later landscaping or a new driveway changed the original grade — is worth looking at properly rather than glancing at.
That is a core part of what we do on site: accessible grading, gutters and downspouts, foundation conditions, the basement or crawlspace and sump equipment where present, documented as found rather than as the original plan intended.
What the City does and does not check
Buyers arriving from Westland, Ecorse or Garden City are often expecting a municipal certificate. Troy does not appear to require one for a house sale.
The City issues certificates of occupancy, but the references we could find attach them to site plan approval and landscaping compliance — new construction and commercial work rather than resale. Confirm the position for a specific address with the Building Department, but do not build your timeline around a municipal inspection of the house that may not exist.
Troy does make property research unusually easy, which is worth using. The City publishes searchable permit records and residential property sales information online, so the history of what was pulled on an address is a reasonable thing to check before you commit. The usual caution applies: a permit is not evidence that work is in good condition today, and nothing on file is not evidence that work was done badly.
Where no city inspection happens at sale, a home buyer inspection is the only one looking at the property on your behalf — roof, structure, foundation, drainage, electrical, heating and cooling, plumbing and the accessible interior, photographed and written up with how urgent each finding is.
Fifty-year-old houses
With a third of Troy built in one decade, a great many houses here hit the same milestones at roughly the same time.
A house from the middle 1970s is around fifty years old. Roof coverings, furnaces, air conditioning condensers, water heaters and windows all have service lives well short of that, so every one of them has either been replaced at least once or is running past its expected life. Neither is a problem in itself — but which of the two is true for the house in front of you is exactly what you want established before you buy, not after.
We will not tell you from the build year what is installed. Two houses built to the same master plan on the same street can be entirely different inside by now, depending on what each owner chose to renew. The inspection reports what is actually there, what condition it is in, and how urgent each finding is.
The rest fits the same appointment: commercial building inspections to the CCPIA standard for offices, retail, multifamily and warehouse property — relevant in a city with Troy’s office corridor — and radon testing or mold inspection and testing added to a residential or commercial visit.
Local information from City of Troy — Legal Claims for Overflows and Backups · City of Troy — Residential Permit Requirements · City of Troy — Building Department · City of Troy — Water & Sewer. Municipal requirements change — verify current details with the municipality.
Radon in Oakland County
Zone 2 is the middle EPA category — the predicted average indoor level across the county sits between 2 and 4 pCi/L. What a zone cannot tell you is anything about one house: 29% of tests actually run in Oakland County still came back at or above the EPA’s 4 pCi/L action level. 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 · Oakland 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 Troy 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, MIExcellent sums up the entire experience, from the initial call to set up the appointment with staff that was informative and helpful, up until the actual inspection that was very professional and thorough with any and all questions I had answered. I would highly recommend Trademark to anyone who needs inspection services. Thanks again Curt, my inspector, for an excellent job.
Johnny Thomas JrSouthfield, MIWhat happens
Questions
Troy is unusually concentrated in one decade. About 34% of its roughly 34,691 housing units were built in the 1970s, with a median build year of 1977, and around 72% of units are single-family detached — the highest detached share of any large community in this area we have looked at closely. That makes it very different from nearby Southfield, where fewer than half of units are detached houses. A typical Troy house is now about fifty years old, which is the age at which original roofing, heating, cooling and water heaters come due.
Contact the Water Division immediately, or the Police Department outside business hours, and then note the deadline. The City states that if you experience an overflow or backup of a sewage disposal or storm water system you must file a written claim with the City within 45 days after it is discovered, and that failing to give written notice in that time will prevent recovery of damages for any loss. Troy takes those claims at the City Attorney’s Office. Worth knowing that neighboring municipalities route the identical claim elsewhere — a county office, a budget office, public works — so check where the specific city wants it. We are relaying published information, not giving legal advice.
Because surface water is clearly something the City takes seriously. Its residential permit requirements call for a plot plan drawn to an accurate boundary survey and, for all uses and wherever the Soil Removal Ordinance applies, a drainage plan prepared by a registered civil engineer showing existing grades of drives, houses and other structures and of the land to at least fifty feet beyond the property lines, plus a grade slip. For a buyer the useful takeaway is that grading matters here, and later landscaping, patios or driveways can change how a lot drains. We assess accessible grading, gutters and downspouts, foundations, the basement or crawlspace and any sump equipment as we find them.
We found no residential point-of-sale requirement. Troy issues certificates of occupancy, but the references we could find tie them to site plan approval and landscaping compliance, which is new construction and commercial work rather than a house resale. Confirm the position for a specific address with the Building Department — and in the meantime plan on your own inspection being the only one examining the property on your behalf.
Yes, and Troy makes it easier than most. The City publishes searchable permit records and residential property sales information online, so you can see what was pulled on an address before you commit. Read it as context rather than proof: a permit does not establish that the work is in good condition today, and the absence of one does not establish that work was done badly. On a house from the 1970s, the more useful question is usually what has actually been replaced since, which is what an inspection establishes.
Many streets do share a small number of designs, and the City’s own permit rules explain why: where an application is for a model, Troy assigns a master plan number so future applications for the same model do not need the building plans resubmitted. That is how a subdivision of near-identical houses goes up quickly. But fifty years of separate ownership means two identical houses can be nothing alike now — different roofs, different furnaces, different wiring changes. We report what is in the house in front of us rather than what the model originally specified.
Yes. You can book a Troy home inspector with us seven days a week, and we cover the rest of Oakland County too.
A home inspection report reaches you within 24 hours. Commercial buildings are 24 to 72 hours depending on size, a radon result comes at the end of the 48-hour test, and mold samples come back from the lab in one to three business days.
More on cost, timing and what is included on the FAQ page.
Police, fire, rescue, military and educators — our way of saying thank you for your service. Enter code HERO at checkout.
Claim the Hero DiscountNeed a Troy home inspector and not sure we reach you? Call 734-331-3269 and we will tell you.
Permits, assessing and property records for Troy are handled by the City of Troy, not by us.
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Your local Troy home inspector, seven days a week. Home inspection reports in 24 hours.
