York Township, Michigan
Looking for a York Township home inspector? We do certified home, commercial, mold and radon inspections in York 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 York 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 York Township and across Washtenaw 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 York 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 reportYork Township housing stock
York Township has roughly 2,736 housing units and about 99% 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 1990s: 569 homes, about 21% of everything standing today. At 99% single-family it is almost entirely detached houses, so the inspection is nearly always of a whole building rather than one unit inside one.
The median owner-occupied home here is valued at $429,600. 97% 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 York 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 York Township was built
76% of homes here run on utility gas, and 26 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 359 use bottled or LP gas.
Local knowledge
York Township is about as close to entirely detached housing as we work with — 99% of its roughly 2,736 units are single-family houses, most of them on their own land rather than in a subdivision street pattern.
That shapes the practical side of buying here. Two rules the Township publishes are worth knowing before you need them, and both are the kind of detail that is easy to walk into unprepared.
The first is a hard daily deadline: no permit applications are accepted and no permits are issued after 11:30 in the morning. With the office open from nine to noon, that leaves a two and a half hour window each day. Mondays run longer, until four, but the Township is explicit that the extended Monday hours are for building department business only.
The second is specific and unusual: load calculation sheets for generators must be on site at the time of inspection. Standby generators matter more on rural properties than in town — when the power goes, a well pump stops with it — and the Township clearly sees enough of them to have written a rule about the paperwork.
The housing splits into two eras. There are 519 units built before 1950, then a thin middle, then 1,213 built between 1990 and 2019 alongside 504 from the 1970s. A pre-war farmhouse and a 2005 build on the same road need entirely different inspections.
Before you buy
Permits
The Township’s building department publishes its rules plainly, and they are stricter on timing than most. The office runs Monday to Friday from nine until noon, with Mondays extended to four for building department business only, and no permit application is accepted or permit issued after 11:30 in the morning.
That is not an obstacle so much as a schedule. But it does mean that if you are buying here and expect to need a permit question answered, a records request processed, or a permit pulled before closing, you are working with a narrow daily window and you should start early in a contingency period rather than late.
The department also publishes that inspection fees are $80.00 per inspection as of May 2026, that there are no plan review fees for plumbing or mechanical permits, and that mailed applications need a self-addressed stamped envelope if you want a copy back. It maintains a contractor registration process, and separate applications for addresses, building work, decks, electrical, mechanical, plumbing, home occupations and zoning compliance.
The generator requirement is worth repeating because it is easy to miss: load calculation sheets must be on site at the time of inspection. If you inherit a generator with a property, the documentation that came with its installation is worth asking the seller for, and worth keeping.
A buyer’s inspection is not a permit search and cannot tell you whether a permit was pulled. What it does is tell you what was actually done to a property, so the records request you make in that narrow window is a targeted one.
Generators
A standby generator is a sensible thing to have on a rural property, and it is also a meaningful piece of electrical and mechanical equipment that arrives with the house.
On an inspection we report what is visible and accessible. That means the unit itself and its general condition and siting, the clearances around it, how it is connected, whether there is a transfer switch and where it is, the visible condition of the wiring and conduit, the fuel supply arrangement where it can be seen, and where the exhaust discharges relative to windows, doors and intakes.
What we do not do is load-test the system, verify its capacity against the house’s demand, or certify the installation. Those are questions for the installer, and in this township they are questions with a paper trail attached, because the load calculation is something the Township expects to see at inspection.
So the single most useful thing you can do about a generator you are inheriting is ask for its documentation and its service history. A generator that has sat unexercised for years is a different proposition from one that has been maintained, and neither state is visible from the outside.
The same logic applies to the thing a generator usually exists to protect. On a property with a well, a power cut means no water at all, not merely no lights — which is why these installations are common here and why the condition of the pump and pressure equipment is worth understanding as part of the same conversation.
Water and waste
The Township publishes no guidance on wells or septic systems, and we are not going to invent any. On a township that is 99% detached houses on land, water supply and waste disposal are parcel-level questions, and the answers belong in writing rather than in an assumption drawn from the neighbors.
Ask the county health department about the specific address. A septic evaluation is specialist work carried out by or through them, it answers questions no visual inspection can — whether a drainfield is failing, and the true condition of the tank — and on a rural property it is worth arranging early because it takes its own time. A water test on a private well belongs in the same conversation.
What we inspect is the building and everything from the house side of the system inward: the accessible supply and drain lines, the vent arrangements we can see, how fixtures behave when the system is loaded, and the visible condition of any pump, pressure tank and treatment equipment.
Surface water matters more on a septic property than most buyers expect. A drainfield working in ground that is also receiving every downspout and a sump discharge is being asked to do two jobs at once. We report where downspouts terminate, where any sump pump discharges, and how the ground falls away from the building — which on a rural lot that has been graded, planted and re-graded over decades is often not what anyone intended.
Inside, we look for the evidence water leaves behind: staining, efflorescence, mineral deposits, replaced lower wall finishes, and corrosion at the base of mechanical equipment.
The housing
York Township has 519 units built before 1950 and 1,213 built between 1990 and 2019, with a notably thin middle — only 289 units across the whole of the 1950s and 1960s — and 504 from the 1970s.
On the pre-war stock, expect the accumulated history of a long-lived building. Electrical systems rebuilt in stages by different hands over eighty years or more. Plumbing renewed in part rather than in whole, leaving transitions between materials at the joins. Four or five generations of roof covering. Heating equipment several replacements from the original, sometimes fitted into venting arrangements that have not kept pace. Foundations of stone or early block whose condition depends far more on how water has been managed around the building than on how they were built.
Older rural properties also tend to come with outbuildings, and those deserve proper attention rather than a glance. Barns, pole buildings, detached garages and workshops frequently carry their own electrical supply, their own roof problems and their own structural questions, and they are often where unpermitted work has happened.
The 1990s and 2000s houses are a different exercise. Those are now at the age where first and second-round replacements fall due: original roof coverings reaching the end, water heaters on their second, and furnaces and condensers at the point where the next failure means replacement rather than repair. Decks built with these houses need their ledger connections, flashing and fasteners genuinely examined.
Grading that was correct at handover has had twenty to thirty years of landscaping and settlement since, and on a rural lot with a long drive and open ground around it, water management is the single thing most worth getting right.
Radon testing and mold inspection and testing can be added to any visit, and commercial building inspections to the CCPIA standard are available for commercial property.
Roads and land
Among the documents the zoning department publishes is a private road enforcement ordinance, alongside the 2023 zoning ordinance, a zoning map, a zoning use application and a complaint form.
We have not read that ordinance and we are not going to describe what it requires. But its existence points at something worth checking on any rural property: whether the road serving it is public or private, and if private, who is responsible for maintaining it, who clears it in winter, and what the arrangement between the properties on it actually is.
That is a legal and financial question rather than an inspection one, and it is best asked of the Township and your own conveyancer early. It has caught out plenty of buyers who assumed a road they drove down was somebody else’s responsibility.
What we do report is the physical side of access and drainage: the condition of the driveway surface, culverts and drainage crossings where they are visible, how surface water moves across the approach to the property, and whether the ground falls toward or away from the buildings.
The Township is policed by the county sheriff’s office rather than a local force, and it publishes neighborhood watch and vacation check information — the latter being worth knowing about on a property that may sit empty between a closing and a move.
It also runs an environmental committee with a bulk waste drop-off, which is more useful than it sounds when you are clearing out a property you have just bought.
The buried line
Whatever a property here drains to, the line running out from the building belongs to the owner, and no visual inspection reaches inside it.
On one of the 519 houses built before 1950, that pipe may have been in the ground for eighty years or more, through more than one era of drain material. We will not name a material from a build year, because no authoritative source establishes what York Township laterals are generally made of, and a guess in a report is worse than no statement at all.
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 property served by a septic system, it documents the building drain out to the tank — the owner’s pipe, and the part a septic evaluation does not examine.
That gap is worth understanding. A septic evaluation looks at the tank and the field. The run between the house and the tank is nobody’s job by default, and on a rural lot with mature trees it is exactly where roots go.
A camera inspection is added to the same appointment rather than booked separately. You can read what our clients say, look through answers to common questions, or get in touch about a specific address in York Township.
Local information from York Township — building department, permit cutoff, inspection fees and the generator load calculation requirement · York Township — zoning department, zoning ordinance and private road enforcement · York Township — departments · York Township — sheriff’s office vacation check information. Municipal requirements change — verify current details with the municipality.
Radon in Washtenaw County
Zone 1 is the highest of the three EPA categories — the predicted average indoor level across the county is above the 4 pCi/L action level. What a zone cannot tell you is anything about one house: 38% of tests actually run in Washtenaw County still came back at or above the EPA’s 4 pCi/L action level. A zone is an average taken across a whole county, and no house is an average.
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 · Washtenaw 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 York 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
Mr. Cahoon was very thorough inspecting the home I am interested in purchasing. He explained everything clearly as he went along. Went above and beyond crawling into the very small crawl space! Thank you!
Amy CaragayYpsilanti, 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
Monday to Friday, nine to noon, with Mondays extended to four for building department business only. Critically, no permit applications are accepted and no permits issued after 11:30 in the morning, which leaves a two and a half hour window each day.
Start early. If you expect to need a permit question answered, a records request processed, or a permit pulled before closing, a narrow daily window means doing it in the first week of a contingency period rather than the last.
For its documentation and service history. The Township requires load calculation sheets for generators to be on site at the time of inspection, so the paperwork should exist. A generator that has sat unexercised for years is a very different proposition from a maintained one, and neither state is visible from outside.
We report the visible and accessible parts: the unit and its siting, clearances, how it is connected, whether there is a transfer switch and where, the condition of visible wiring and conduit, the fuel arrangement and where exhaust discharges. We do not load-test, verify capacity or certify the installation.
Very possibly, but ask rather than assume — the Township publishes no guidance on either, so we will not guess. Put the question to the county health department for the specific address, and arrange a septic evaluation and water test early, because they are specialist work with their own lead times.
Because it may be private. The Township maintains a private road enforcement ordinance, and on a rural property who maintains the road, who clears it in winter and what the arrangement between neighbors is are questions worth settling with the Township and your conveyancer before closing.
They deserve proper attention rather than a glance, and we are glad to look at them. Detached garages, pole buildings, barns and workshops often carry their own electrical supply, their own roof problems and their own structural questions — and they are frequently where unpermitted work has happened.
Yes, and on a septic property it covers a genuine gap. A septic evaluation examines the tank and the field; the run between the house and the tank belongs to nobody by default. On a rural lot with mature trees that is exactly where roots go. A camera inspection is added to the same visit.
More on cost, timing and what is included on the FAQ page.
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From the blog
December 21, 2017
February 18, 2025
April 5, 2024
Your local York Township home inspector, seven days a week. Home inspection reports in 24 hours.
