Home inspections in Clarkston, from Deer Lake to Davisburg
We inspect the Clarkston area from our Grand Blanc and Southfield offices: the City of the Village of Clarkston (the smallest city by land area in Michigan), Independence Township around it and Springfield Township to the west, Davisburg included. That takes in the historic district along Main Street, the lake neighborhoods on Deer Lake, Lake Oakland, Lotus Lake and Greens Lake, the post-1980 subdivisions from Pine Knob to Waterford Hill, and four manufactured-home communities. The village is 1840s to 1950s houses on sanitary sewer; the townships are mostly newer subdivisions and lake homes on private wells and septic systems, so the add-ons that matter most here are the radon test (19% of local tests come back high), the well and septic package with the FHA (Federal Housing Administration) or VA (Department of Veterans Affairs) water test, and a lead test in the village.
Every inspection is done by a certified inspector and the digital report is in your inbox the same day. Thermal imaging of the heating, cooling, plumbing and electrical systems and of any area showing signs of water intrusion is included in every home inspection, along with a drone view of the roof when the weather allows and a sump pump test. We test; we never repair or remediate, so nothing in the report is a sales pitch. A home inspection starts at $425; the final price depends on the size and age of the home, which is why the instant quote asks for the address.
0%
of Clarkston radon tests came back above the EPA fix-it level of 4 pCi/L (233 of 1,212 in ZIPs 48346 and 48348 on EGLE's map), against 12% for Oakland County. Nearly one house in five; the only way to know is to test.
0%
of homes in the Village of Clarkston, Independence Township and Springfield Township were built before 1980, when lead paint and asbestos flooring, siding and insulation were still in use, and in the village itself it is 75% (Census ACS 2020 to 2024). We test for both.
0%
of the area's homes were built in 2000 or later, 24% in Springfield Township. New does not mean defect-free; blue tape and 11th month inspections catch what the builder missed.
What buyers run into in Clarkston
An 1839 village, 1980s townships and lake homes in between
The median home in the Village of Clarkston was built in 1957 and 75% of the village's homes went up before 1980, 40% of them before 1950; Independence Township's median is 1986 and Springfield Township's 1989 (Census ACS 2020 to 2024). Lead paint was legal until 1978 and asbestos was still common in flooring, siding, insulation and ceiling texture into the 1980s, so anything of that age gets a lead test (from $100) and, if you plan to pull up floors or siding, asbestos sampling (from $300, with or without a home inspection): flooring installers, including Home Depot's, will not pull up pre-1980 vinyl or linoleum without an asbestos test (Home Depot's own installation guidance says so), so we sample flooring, siding and insulation and send it to an accredited lab. We recommend a sewer scope (from $150) on any home built before 1980, any home that has been a rental, and any lot with mature trees near the sewer line, because roots are what break clay and cast iron pipe.
Township wells, a PFAS landfill and 994 service lines nobody has identified yet
The village has no water utility of its own; the homes on municipal water are on Independence Township's all-groundwater system, sixteen wells feeding three separate service areas (the Main Loop south of I-75, Deerwood and Hillview Estates), and everything outside those areas is on a private well, as is nearly all of Springfield Township. Two township wells, Clarkston Gardens and Chestnut Hills, were taken offline after PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) turned up, most likely from the old unlined Ben Powell landfill north of the village; of 44 private wells the state sampled near it, 6 had detections, all below drinking-water criteria. The township's 2025 inventory lists no lead service lines but 994 lines of unknown material still to be verified, so we check the visible service line and the fixtures in any pre-1988 house on township water. The Oakland County Health Division recommends testing a private well for bacteria and nitrate every year and for arsenic every few years, so a private well here gets our water test (from $175), which covers arsenic along with coliform bacteria, nitrates, nitrites and lead.
Radon: nearly one test in five comes back high
Michigan EGLE (the Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy) says about 1 in 4 homes in Michigan tests above the EPA action level of 4 pCi/L. Clarkston runs closer to that than the county around it: 19% of the 1,212 tests in ZIPs 48346 and 48348 on EGLE's map came back above that level (120 of 525 in 48346, 113 of 687 in 48348), against 12% for Oakland County. A 48-hour radon test starts at $200 when added to a home inspection and runs during the inspection.
Sewer in the village, septic in the townships, and the lake lots
The entire Village of Clarkston is on sanitary sewer (its code says septic tanks there fail because of the soil, and footing drains and sump pumps may not be tied in); Independence Township is sewered in parts and publishes no map, so we confirm by address, and Springfield Township has one small county-run sewer area off Dixie Highway with everything else on septic. Oakland County has no county-wide time-of-sale rule for wells and septic; the county Health Division permits new and replacement systems and offers voluntary water testing, which is the county's program and not ours, and Clarkston has no point-of-sale inspection that we know of, so the buyer's inspection is the only look the well and the septic system get before closing. The well and septic package starts at $500 when added to a home inspection, or the well alone from $275 and the septic alone from $300. On a lake lot we also check the seawall and the well-to-drainfield setback (the county minimum is 50 feet). A seawall inspection is $150 when added to the home inspection. Our mold inspection (from $275) is done by an IAC2-certified inspector: thermal imaging and moisture meters to find the source, spore-trap air samples and surface samples, and accredited lab results that name the species. The EPA's rule of thumb is that anything that stays wet longer than 24 to 48 hours will usually grow mold, and a finished basement hides exactly that.
Services and starting prices in Clarkston
Prices are starting points. Add-on services (radon, well and septic, water, mold, sewer scope, termite, lead, pool and spa) are priced as shown when added to a home inspection; booked on their own they are quoted separately. Asbestos sampling starts at $300 with or without a home inspection. Thermal imaging of the heating, cooling, plumbing, electrical and water-intrusion areas is part of every home inspection; the energy-efficiency scan of windows, doors and insulation is the add-on. The final price depends on the size and age of the home, and the instant quote gives you a firm number before you book. Commercial building inspections are quoted by the building.
- Home inspection, starting at $425
- Radon testing, starting at $200 when added to a home inspection
- Well and septic inspection package, starting at $500 (well alone from $275, septic alone from $300) when added to a home inspection
- Water testing, starting at $175 when added to a home inspection
- Sewer scope, starting at $150 when added to a home inspection
- Mold testing, starting at $275 when added to a home inspection
- Termite (WDI) inspection, starting at $200 when added to a home inspection
- Energy‒efficiency thermal scan, starting at $125
- Lead testing, starting at $100 when added to a home inspection
- Pool and spa inspection, starting at $125 when added to a home inspection
- Pre‒listing inspection, starting at $425
- New build blue tape inspection, starting at $525
- Investor property verification, starting at $250
- Soil testing, starting at $250
- Asbestos testing, starting at $300
Areas we cover around Clarkston
The City of the Village of Clarkston, Independence Township and Springfield Township, including Davisburg, Andersonville, Waterford Hill, Pine Knob, the Deer Lake, Lake Oakland, Lotus Lake, Greens Lake, Woodhull Lake and Walters Lake neighborhoods, Big Lake and Dixie Lake in Springfield, and the Independence Woods, Clarkston Lakes, Sashabaw Meadows and Clintonvilla manufactured-home communities. Next door: Waterford, Ortonville, Lake Orion, Oxford, Auburn Hills, Pontiac and Holly.
This page is part of our Oakland County coverage; the county page has the county-wide radon numbers, the township well and septic rules and every town we work in. All 18 counties are on the Areas We Serve page.
Questions from Clarkston buyers
Do you serve the Clarkston area?
Does Oakland County require a well and septic inspection when I buy in Clarkston?
Is the house in the Clarkston Historic District, and what does that mean for repairs?
I am buying a rental in Independence Township. Anything new?
Can I be there for the inspection?
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