Remodeling and Home Building in Highland, Michigan

Working in Highland

Highland is one of the two places Praxis Building Group works from, which means most of western Oakland County is a short drive rather than a scheduling problem. That matters more than it sounds. Projects that need a trade back on site for half a day, or a contractor to look at something the same afternoon, run differently when the company is not driving in from another county.

The work here spans a wide range because the housing does. Highland Township and the communities around it contain lake cottages, 1970s and 1980s subdivisions, rural parcels with acreage, and newer construction, sometimes within a mile of each other.

The Housing Stock Around Highland

Several distinct types of house show up repeatedly in this area, and each brings its own set of construction questions.

Lake properties are the most distinctive. Many homes around the lakes in and near Highland began as seasonal cottages and were converted to year round use over decades, often in stages and often without permits. Those houses frequently have mixed foundation types, additions framed to different standards, undersized electrical service, insulation added piecemeal, and floor levels that step where one era met another. They also tend to sit on small lots with difficult access and significant grade change to the water.

Subdivision homes from the 1970s through the 1990s are the second common type. Structurally these are straightforward. What they usually need is updating: kitchens and bathrooms that are original, basements never finished, aging roofs and siding, and electrical that predates the load a modern household puts on it.

Rural acreage parcels make up the third group. These bring well and septic considerations, longer utility runs, and the outbuilding work that comes with having land: detached garages, pole style buildings and workshops.

Site Conditions Worth Knowing

Western Oakland County sits on rolling glacial terrain, and the practical consequences show up in construction planning.

Grade change is common. A lot that slopes toward a lake or a low area affects where water goes, whether a basement is a walkout, how a driveway is laid out, and where an addition can reasonably be placed. Drainage planning is rarely optional here.

Wetlands and lake frontage add a regulatory layer. Work near water or in a regulated wetland may require review beyond the local building department, and that review has its own timeline. It is far better to establish this before design than to discover it during permitting.

Outside limited service areas, much of the township is on private well and septic. Septic field location constrains where an addition or detached structure can sit, and adding bedrooms can raise septic capacity questions. Septic permitting in Oakland County goes through the county health division rather than the township building department, which means two separate processes on some projects.

Projects Praxis Building Group Commonly Handles Here

Whole home renovation of converted lake cottages, where the goal is usually to unify a house that grew in stages: consistent floor levels, adequate electrical service, real insulation, and a plan that makes sense as one house rather than three.

Walkout and daylight basement finishing, which the terrain makes common. These are among the better value projects in the area because the grade already provides the windows and the light.

Detached garages, pole buildings and workshops on acreage parcels, including structures that need power, heat and finished interior space rather than bare storage.

Additions on subdivision homes, where the constraints are usually setbacks, septic field location and matching an exterior from a specific decade.

Roofing and siding replacement, including the correction of ventilation and flashing details that shorten the life of the previous installation.

Permitting in the Highland Area

Building permits in Highland Township are issued locally, and requirements vary from neighboring jurisdictions in the specifics of what documentation is expected. Structural work, additions and new structures generally require drawings and often engineering. Electrical, plumbing and mechanical work typically carry separate permits and inspections.

Septic and well permitting in Oakland County is handled through the county health division. On rural parcels this is a genuinely separate process with its own review time, and it can determine what a project is allowed to be.

We handle permitting as part of preconstruction. The relevant point for planning is that a rural parcel project with a septic component has a longer approval path than a bathroom remodel in a subdivision, and the schedule should reflect that from the start.