Veteran-owned home inspections in Shelby Township and throughout Macomb County. Twenty-one years of military inspection discipline, applied to the biggest purchase of your life.
Based in Washington Township
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Retired Coast Guard Chief
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Shelby Township Home Inspections
PreFlight is based in Washington Township and works Shelby Township street by street. The township grew in waves, and you can read those waves in the housing stock: 1970s and '80s colonials and quad-levels south of 23 Mile, a heavy build-out of larger subdivisions through the 1990s and early 2000s, and newer construction pushing north toward 25 and 26 Mile. Each era brings a different set of problems to the inspection.
The 1970s and '80s homes are now at the age where the second roof is failing, the original furnace and water heater are well past design life, and aluminum branch wiring shows up often enough that I check for it on every home from that period. The 1990s and 2000s subdivisions look newer but are hitting their own wall — original builder-grade windows losing seals, first-generation high-efficiency furnaces reaching end of life, and Poly-B or early PEX supply lines depending on the builder.
Then there's the ground itself. Macomb County sits on heavy clay. Clay holds water, expands, and contracts, and it is unforgiving of poor grading and short downspout extensions. A large share of the wet basements I find in Shelby Township are not foundation failures at all — they're drainage problems the seller could have fixed with $200 of downspout extension and a weekend of regrading.
On The Ground
Five patterns that show up again and again in this community — and exactly how I check for each one.
The single most common finding in this township. Clay soil plus a downspout dumping at the wall equals a wet basement that looks like a structural problem and usually isn't.
Standard equipment here, and frequently the original unit. I run each accessible pump, check the discharge line for freezing and for illegal connections, and flag any pump without a battery backup.
Not automatically a defect, but it requires proper terminations. I pull the panel cover and check, and I document what I find either way.
Many 1980s homes are on their second roof and that roof is now 20+ years old. Where conditions allow, drone documentation gets me the slopes and valleys rather than guessing from the ground.
Michigan winters punish attics with poor air sealing. GoPro imaging in the attic shows me staining, compressed insulation, and bath fans dumping into the attic instead of outside.
Serving all of Shelby Township including the 48315, 48316, and 48317 ZIP codes, the Van Dyke and M-53 corridors, and the newer subdivisions north toward 25 and 26 Mile.
Services in Shelby Township
A practical top-to-bottom evaluation of the home's major systems before you close.
From $399Learn more →Identify concerns before buyers do and reduce surprises during negotiation.
From $375Learn more →A second set of eyes before final walkthrough and warranty deadlines.
From $325Learn more →Continuous-monitor radon testing with written results. Michigan sits in an elevated-risk zone.
From $149Learn more →Camera inspection of the lateral sewer line — a costly defect a standard inspection can't see.
From $199Learn more →A return visit to verify the seller actually completed the agreed-upon repairs — before you close.
From $249Learn more →Focused inspections for condos, townhomes, and proactive homeowners.
From $375Learn more →Nearby
