Waterford, Michigan
Looking for a Waterford home inspector? We do certified home, commercial, mold and radon inspections in Waterford, 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 Waterford 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 Waterford 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 Waterford 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 reportWaterford housing stock
Waterford has roughly 32,054 housing units and about 74% 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 — 5,994 homes, roughly 19% of the town.
The median owner-occupied home here is valued at $223,300. Around 1,194 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 Waterford 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 Waterford was built
86% of homes here run on utility gas, and 14 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 382 use bottled or LP gas.
Local knowledge
In most communities around here you can assume how a house is connected to public services. In Waterford you cannot, and that is the single most useful thing to know before you buy.
This is a township of roughly 32,054 housing units where the services vary property by property. Some premises are on Township water and some are not — the Township bills a flat quarterly sewer rate to any premise not using Township water. Some properties are on the sanitary sewer and some are still on septic; the Township’s own water connection rules deal with separation distances from septic lines and tanks. And the Building Division issues wetland permits alongside ordinary building permits.
The housing is just as mixed. The median build year is 1971, but about 8% of units predate 1940 and 19% date from the 1950s, with meaningful numbers from every decade through to 14% in the 1990s. Around 74% are single-family detached. That spread of eras is unusual for Oakland County, where most communities cluster into one or two decades.
So the questions worth answering here are not just about condition. They are about what this particular property is connected to, what it is not, and what obligations come with that — which is where the next section comes in.
Before you buy
Sewer, septic and the clock
This is the most consequential thing on this page and it has nothing to do with the condition of the house.
The Township states that as operator of the sanitary sewer system it is obligated by State Law Public Act 288 and Waterford Ordinance 101 to require all premises within 200 feet of an available sanitary sewer to connect within 18 months of the sewer becoming available. If you buy a property on septic and sewer later reaches the area, that is not a choice you get to weigh at leisure — there is a deadline attached.
Then there is how it is paid for. The Sewer Division sets out a connection charge made up of a capital charge and a lateral benefit fee, which can be taken as a payment plan over a thirty-year period: a down payment when the connection permit is issued, then twenty-nine annual payments with interest. The Township requires proof of ownership and states that everyone named on the deed, land contract or mortgage must be present to sign the lien.
Read that as a buyer and the implication is clear. A Waterford property may still be carrying annual sewer connection payments years or decades after the work was done, secured against the property. Whether a balance remains is a question for your title company and the Township, and we want to be straightforward: a home inspection does not and cannot tell you that. What it can tell you is the condition of what is there.
On the line itself we take the usual position — no authoritative source establishes what Waterford 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, wells and wetlands
Because the answer genuinely varies here, this is worth pinning down before an offer rather than after.
The Water Division sets out a connection sequence that tells you how seriously the Township takes the underground work. A plumbing permit comes from the Building Department; the underground plumbing must be inspected and approved by the Building Department before the Water Department will make the connection at all; once connected, the plumbing has to be finished and pass a rough plumbing inspection before the meter is installed. Connection fees can themselves be paid over a period of years with interest.
For properties not on Township water, a well is doing the job, and the Township bills sewer at a flat quarterly rate in that case. Where septic is present, the Township’s rules require Oakland County Health Department consent before a water service line is installed within ten feet of septic lines or a tank — a reminder that both systems coexist here and that the County health department has a role.
Two things follow for an inspection. First, tell us what serves the property when you book, because a well and a septic system are specialist evaluations rather than parts of a standard home inspection, and you may need those arranged separately. Second, the things we do assess matter more than usual on lots like these: accessible grading, gutters and downspouts, foundation conditions, the basement or crawlspace and sump equipment where present. The Building Division also issues wetland permits, which is a fair signal about the ground conditions in parts of this township.
What the Township does and does not check
We found no residential point-of-sale requirement in Waterford. Confirm the position for a specific address with the Building Division, but do not build a timeline around a municipal inspection of the house that may not exist.
What the Township does run is a Residential Rental Certification Ordinance, and its scope is broader than most: it applies to all single and multiple family residential units, not just one- and two-family homes as in some neighboring cities. If you are buying to let, or buying from a landlord, that certification is part of the picture and worth checking the status of.
Where no municipal inspection happens at sale, a home buyer inspection is the 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.
Permit history is worth checking too, especially on a property that has been extended or converted, with the caution that always 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.
Every decade at once
Most communities in this region let you generalize a little from the neighborhood. Waterford does not.
With about 8% of the housing predating 1940, 19% from the 1950s, 18% from the 1970s and 14% from the 1990s, a street here can hold houses built half a century apart. Those are genuinely different inspections: a prewar house raises questions about structure, original systems and what has been altered over eighty-odd years, while a 1990s house is at the stage where a first-generation roof, furnace and water heater reach the end of their service lives.
What we will not do is reason from the era to the systems. Any older house in a township like this may have been updated once, several times, or barely at all, and the only way to know is to look at what is installed. That is what the inspection establishes, with photographs and a clear statement of 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, and radon testing or mold inspection and testing added to a residential or commercial visit.
Local information from Charter Township of Waterford — Sewer Division · Charter Township of Waterford — Water Division · Charter Township of Waterford — Building Division. 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 Waterford 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
Yes, in defined circumstances, and it is worth knowing before you buy a property on septic. The Township states that as operator of the sanitary sewer system it is obligated by State Law Public Act 288 and Waterford Ordinance 101 to require all premises within 200 feet of an available sanitary sewer to connect within 18 months of that sewer becoming available. So a septic property can become a property that must connect, on a clock, if sewer reaches within that distance. The Township is the place to ask about a specific address.
It is possible, and it is worth asking. The Township’s connection charge combines a capital charge and a lateral benefit fee, and it can be taken as a payment plan spread over a thirty-year period — a down payment when the connection permit is issued, then twenty-nine annual payments with interest. Proof of ownership is required and everyone named on the deed, land contract or mortgage must sign the lien. That means annual payments can still be running long after the work was done. Your title company and the Township can establish whether a balance remains — a home inspection cannot tell you that.
Yes. The Township bills a flat quarterly sewer rate to any premise not using Township water, which tells you wells are in use, and its water connection rules require Oakland County Health Department consent before a service line is installed within ten feet of septic lines or a tank. Establish which systems serve a property early in the process. If there is a well or a septic system, those are specialist evaluations rather than parts of a standard home inspection, so tell us when you book and allow time to arrange them.
All sorts of ages, which is unusual for Oakland County. The median build year is 1971, but roughly 8% of the 32,054 housing units predate 1940 and 19% date from the 1950s, with meaningful numbers from every decade through to about 14% in the 1990s. Around 74% are single-family detached. In practice that means the house next door can be forty years older or newer than the one you are buying, so the neighborhood tells you very little and the individual property tells you everything.
We found no residential point-of-sale requirement. The Township does operate a Residential Rental Certification Ordinance, and its scope is broad — it applies to all single and multiple family residential units rather than just one- and two-family homes as in some neighboring cities. Confirm the position for a specific address with the Building Division. Where no municipal inspection happens at sale, the inspection you commission is the one examining the property on your behalf.
It is worth considering wherever a property is on the sanitary sewer, and the mixed age of the housing is part of the reason. The private lateral is buried and no visual inspection can see inside it, and the build year settles nothing — we would not guess a material from a date, and no authoritative source establishes what Waterford laterals are generally made of. Putting a camera down the line documents its accessible interior directly: roots, cracks, displaced joints, bellies or blockages where they exist. It is added to the same appointment.
Yes. You can book a Waterford 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.
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Permits, assessing and property records for Waterford are handled by Waterford, Michigan, not by us.
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