Home Inspector in Macomb Township, MI

Macomb Township is one of the fastest-growing communities in Michigan, and that shapes the inspection completely. The overwhelming majority of homes here were built from the mid-1990s forward, with enormous subdivision growth through the 2000s and continued new construction today. People assume a newer home means a shorter inspection. It does not.

New and newer construction has its own failure profile, and it's a profile I know well from twenty-one years of quality assurance work: it's almost never a design problem, it's a workmanship and sequencing problem. Production builders work fast, subcontractors rotate between sites, and municipal inspections verify code compliance — not craftsmanship, not long-term performance, and not whether the grading was finished correctly after the sod truck left.

The 1995–2010 homes here are now hitting their first major replacement cycle. Original roofs are aging out, first-generation high-efficiency furnaces and A-coils are failing, and builder-grade windows are losing their seals. Meanwhile the newest builds carry the classic punch-list items: negative grading against the foundation, missing or reversed flashing, unsealed attic penetrations, and HVAC that was installed but never properly commissioned or balanced.

South of 22 Mile: the 1990s subdivisions

West Park Estates, Pheasant Run, Penzien Farms, and Deerwood are typical of the south half, where the median build year sits around 1992. Homes from the first half of the 1990s fall inside the tail of the polybutylene window, which closed in 1995, and the supply piping is the first thing I identify at the water heater and under the kitchen sink. This era also introduced engineered I-joists and OSB sheathing, which are fine until a plumber notches a joist or a bath fan soaks the roof deck. I check the joists under every bathroom, put the thermal camera on the ceilings below the second-floor baths, read the window seals, and look at the furnace date, because a first-generation condensing furnace from 1994 is living on luck.

North of 22 Mile: the 2000s build-out

The north half filled in around a 2001 median build year, and these are bigger houses on quarter-acre lots off Romeo Plank, Garfield, Hayes, and 23 through 25 Mile, averaging roughly 2,600 square feet by listing data. Homes from this era commonly have complex roofs with a dozen valleys and dead-end wall intersections, two furnaces or a zoned system, PEX or copper supply, and a first roof that is now at or near the end of its service life. I fly the roof and look at every valley, saddle, and kick-out location, run every zone of HVAC in both modes where the weather allows, and check deck ledgers, which on 2000s homes were often nailed rather than bolted and flashed. The basement egress window well and its drain get checked too.

New construction: Windemere Farms, Sheffield Forest, Stillwater Crossing, Cherry Glen

Macomb Township is one of the most active new-construction markets in the county, with Lombardo, Pulte, and M/I Homes all building. A township inspector signs off on code minimums; nobody signs off on whether the grading was finished after the sod went down or whether the furnace was ever balanced. Homes from this era commonly show settled backfill draining toward the foundation, missing kick-out flashing, attic insulation stopped short of the eaves, condensate lines with no trap, and nail pops that are cosmetic until they are not. A pre-drywall inspection while the framing, rough plumbing, and rough electrical are open costs $249 and is the only look anyone will ever get at that work. The 11-month warranty inspection comes next.

The farm-era remnants and Westbridge Manor

Before the subdivisions there were Waldenburg, Meade, and Macomb Corners, and a handful of farmhouses and mid-century ranches survive along North Avenue, Card, and the 25 and 26 Mile fringe. The township found only 351 water services predating 1989 when it verified its inventory, which tells you how thin this layer is, but these houses carry pre-1990 problems: balloon framing, galvanized supply, 60-amp panels, block foundations, and additions from three decades. Some parcels on the north and east edges may still be on private well and septic; I tell you when a property is, and I refer those evaluations out. Westbridge Manor is the township’s manufactured-home community, and those homes get the manufactured-home inspection with piers, tie-downs, and crossover ducts included.

Macomb County is EPA Radon Zone 3, the lowest-potential category, and the county health department estimates 5 to 10 percent of homes test above the EPA action level of 4.0 pCi/L; EGLE’s test-result map puts Macomb at about 11 percent. Newer construction is not a pass. A tight 2005 house with a finished basement and a sump pit can hold more radon than a drafty farmhouse, because the gas comes in through the slab and has nowhere to go. A 48-hour continuous-monitor test placed in the lowest livable level costs $175 and fits inside your inspection contingency. If the basement is finished, that is your answer.