Roof replacement
Roof Replacement in Highland, Michigan
Highland is a township of lakes and hills where almost nine houses in ten are owner-occupied and the largest single group of them went up in the 1970s. That cohort is on a second or third covering now and frequently at Michigan's two-layer limit. Behind it sits an equally large 1990s and 2000s wave that is reaching its first tear-off, and in front of it a ring of Duck Lake and White Lake cottages that became year-round houses one addition at a time. One building department covers every Highland address, and it says plainly that re-shingling needs a permit. We pull it, tear off to the deck, install a complete Owens Corning system and register the warranty in your name.
Serving all of Highland Charter Township in Oakland County — 48356 and 48357, Highland Station to Seven Harbors — under one building department.
Do I need a permit to replace my roof in Highland Township?
Yes. Highland Charter Township is unusually clear about it: the township's own list of projects that require a permit names roof re-shingling outright, alongside siding replacement and replacement windows, and repeats roofing in its remodel and repair category. There is no city or village inside Highland, so every 48356 and 48357 address goes to the same office — the Highland Township Building Department at 205 N. John Street, Highland, MI 48357, reachable at (248) 887-3791 extension 8. We pull that permit under our license and insurance before the crew is scheduled; it is not something we ask you to handle. Inspections are booked online through BS&A Online against the permit number, and the township wants the request in by 2:30 p.m. the day before, which is why a Highland job is scheduled around inspection slots rather than dropped on the calendar and sorted out later. The township enforces the State Construction Code; statewide, the 2015 Michigan Residential Code remains in effect after a Court of Claims order paused the update that had been set for August 2025. Which specific roof inspections your permit calls for is something we confirm with the department when the permit is issued rather than promise in advance.
23.0%
Of Highland homes built in the 1970s — the largest cohort, now on a second or third roof
29.9%
Built 1990–2009, the group reaching a first tear-off now
26 lakes
1,483 acres of water inside the township, per Highland Township
89.9%
Owner-occupied — this is a township of people roofing their own houses
One township, one building department, one permit answer
Highland is a charter township and nothing else. There is no incorporated city or village tucked inside it, so unlike most of the towns we work in there is no puzzle about which front desk your parcel belongs to. Every address in 48356 and 48357 is handled at 205 N. John Street, a block from the Highland Station core at Milford and Livingston Roads.
That single office also gives a single, published answer on permits — a rarity. The township's permits-required page lists roof re-shingling by name. So a Highland replacement always carries a permit, and the schedule is built around the township's inspection process from the first conversation rather than bolted on at the end. The township's published office hours come from an older building information booklet, so we confirm counter hours by phone rather than send you to a door that may have moved.
| Era | Share of housing | What it means for a roof |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 and later | 6.2% | Original builder roof, still inside its first decade |
| 2000–2009 | 14.3% | First tear-off window opening now |
| 1990–1999 | 15.6% | Squarely at first-replacement age, often with gable-vent-only attics |
| 1980–1989 | 13.8% | Second covering, layer limit a live question |
| 1970–1979 | 23.0% | The largest cohort — 1,801 units, usually on a second or third roof |
| 1960–1969 | 8.4% | Plank or early panel decks common |
| 1950–1959 | 9.1% | Lake cottages and Highland Station-era houses |
| Before 1950 | 9.6% | Steep pitches, added-on low-slope sections, stacked coverings |
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020–2024 five-year estimates. Highland Township holds 19,704 residents, 7,820 housing units and 7,427 occupied households; 82.6% of the housing is single-family detached and the median year built is 1980.
What the township controls, and what the state code controls
The permit is the township's. The roof itself is built to the Michigan Residential Code, which is where the rules that actually matter live: no re-cover over two or more existing layers or over a water-soaked or deteriorated deck, ice barrier from the eave to at least twenty-four inches inside the exterior wall line, drip edge at eaves and rakes, double underlayment between 2:12 and 4:12 and a membrane below that. Oakland County's ground snow load is 25 psf under Michigan Table R301.2(5) — the same figure as Livingston County, which is why a Howell crew does not have to think differently about a Highland roof's structure.
Highland has a Chapter 12 nuisance ordinance covering noise. Rather than quote you a window that may not match the current ordinance, we agree start and finish times with you at the estimate and keep the noisy part of a tear-off inside ordinary daytime hours. If your subdivision or association has its own rule, tell us and we work to it.
A 1970s township with a 1990s second wave
Highland grew from 4,855 people in 1960 to 19,172 in 2020, and the housing mirrors that curve. The single largest group — 1,801 units, 23 percent of everything — was built in the 1970s. Add the 1980s and more than a third of the township predates 1990. Then comes the second wave: 15.6 percent in the 1990s and 14.3 percent in the 2000s, nearly 30 percent combined, subdivisions and condominium developments off M-59 and Milford Road.
Those two groups need opposite conversations. The 1970s house is on its second or third covering and the first question is whether there is any legal room left for another one. The answer is usually no. What we find under those roofs is consistent: a layover hiding soft sheathing, an attic vented by two gable louvers and nothing else, bath fans terminating in the attic instead of through the roof, woven valleys worn through at the centre, and a short or missing ice barrier at the eaves. None of that can be corrected from on top of the old shingles.
The 1990s and 2000s house is on its original roof — builder-grade three-tab or early architectural shingles over 7/16-inch OSB, a handful of box vents, one course of ice barrier if any, and no drip edge at the rakes, because Michigan did not require drip edge at both eaves and rakes until 2012. Seventeen to thirty-five years is the whole honest life of that assembly here. The replacement is the single moment when every one of those original shortcuts is undone at once, because the deck is only open once.
Subdivisions and condominium associations
Highland's neighborhood names run long: Prestwick Village, Dunham Lake Estates and Dunham Lake Heights, Duck Lake Estates and Duck Lake Park, Bretton Oaks, Cobblestone, Heritage Farms, Highland Hills, Highland Meadows, Highland Valley, Timber Ridge, Timberlake Estates, Waterbury Hills, Mallards Landing, Harbors and Harbors Reserve, Kings Row, Foxfield Estates, High Pointe Estates, Hickory Shores, Pine Bluff Estates, Lakeside Pines, Knoll View, Canterbury Commons and more. Prestwick Village is the one most people picture: a golf community of about 426 acres on an eighteen-hole course off M-59 north of Milford, with Tudors, Cape Cods, Colonials and ranches ranging from roughly 2,000 to 8,200 square feet and an association.
We will not guess the age of your house from a street name. What we do is read your association's guidelines before the estimate is written. Where a condominium or homeowners association approves shingle colour and style, we supply the association with the manufacturer's product sheet, the exact colour and a sample board so the approval is made on the real material rather than a photograph. We do not invent what your association allows; we hand it what it needs and work to its answer.
The pre-1960 houses: Highland Station and the old cottages
About one house in five in Highland predates 1960, and it sits in two places: the Highland Station core and the lake shorelines. Highland Station was platted in 1872 as Highland Centre, between Milford Road and the railroad; by 1900 it had a depot, a grain elevator, a pickle works, hotels and churches, and the Michigan historical marker still stands at West Livingston Road and North John Street. Today's downtown district runs along Milford Road from Wardlow to Rowe, along M-59 from the library to the market, and along Livingston from the tracks to the fire hall, with Victorian-era churches, houses and storefronts among the newer buildings.
Highland Township may or may not apply design review near the Highland Station core, and that is a question for the township rather than for us. If your house is in or near that core and you want certainty, we ask the township on your behalf before the job is booked. On the houses themselves the roofing reality is the same whatever the answer: steeper pitches, plank decking rather than sheathing panels, porch and addition roofs low enough to need double underlayment or a membrane, and a stack of coverings already at the legal limit.
Duck Lake, White Lake and 1,483 acres of open water
Highland Township counts 26 lakes and 1,483 acres of water inside its 33.85 square miles. Those lakes are not scenery as far as a roof is concerned — they are fetch, canopy and a century of additions.
Duck Lake: 1950s cottages and modern waterfronts on the same shoreline
Duck Lake runs about 253 acres with a maximum depth near 31 feet and is described locally as the biggest all-sports lake in Highland Township. Its housing is the reason it needs its own paragraph here: the shoreline holds classic 1950s cottages and modern waterfront homes side by side, seasonal retreats that became year-round residences, and a west side with a street of newer, larger colonials. Most of it is on well and septic. Seven Harbors, the canal-front community whose association gives members access to both Duck and White Lakes, threads through the middle of it, and the Duck Lake Property Owners Association is active. Public access reports conflict, so we do not state whether there is a public launch; we confirm access for your address before a truck is scheduled.
A cottage that grew into a house grows a roof to match. Three or four planes meet at angles nobody designed, a low-slope porch or sunroom roof is tacked onto a steep main roof, and a dead valley collects water and oak leaves at the junction. A replacement is the one opportunity to reconcile that geometry rather than re-shingle around it. Anything under 2:12 gets a membrane rather than shingles, because shingles are not a roofing material at that slope however carefully they are laid. Sections between 2:12 and 4:12 get double underlayment. Dead valleys get a cricket so water leaves instead of standing. And on a plank-decked cottage, what the sheathing is actually like is not knowable until the tear-off, so we set out in writing at the estimate exactly how deck replacement is handled if we find it, before you are standing in the driveway looking at an open roof.
White Lake: 540 acres, half of it Highland's
White Lake covers 540 acres with two islands and is the sixth-largest lake in Oakland County, split roughly down the middle between Highland Township and White Lake Township. Half a square kilometre of open water sitting to windward of a house is the single biggest reason we treat the water-facing elevation differently: that slope gets rake starter as well as eave starter and the manufacturer's high-wind fastening pattern rather than the four-nail code minimum. Owens Corning Duration shingles carry a 130 mph wind resistance limited warranty as standard and 160 mph enhanced when the full component set goes on with starter at both the eaves and the rakes.
The rest of the township's water — Dunham, Harvey, Taggett, Tomahawk, Kellogg, Woodruff, Charlick, Peninsula, Highland, Leonard, Huff, Upper and Lower Pettibone, Moore, Downey, and the Alderman, Teeple, Haven Hill and Bass Lakes inside the Recreation Area — mostly matters for a different reason: canopy. Mature oak and maple over a 1950s cottage keeps the north slope damp, and damp grows moss and algae. Owens Corning hip and ridge brings 25-year algae resistance with the system warranty, which handles the staining. The limbs above the roof are a separate conversation, and the week before a tear-off is the right time to have it with an arborist.
Highland's storm record: wind and limbs, not hail
Highland's severe weather has a clear signature, and it is not the one door-knockers usually sell. Here is what NOAA's Storm Events Database and the National Weather Service Detroit event pages record at and immediately around Highland.
| Date | Location | Event | What was recorded |
|---|---|---|---|
| July 24, 2021 | White Lake Twp (borders Highland) | EF1 tornado, 1.65 miles, 100 mph peak | Shingle and roof damage, a garage door blown off; 65 mph gust at White Lake the same day |
| August 11, 2021 | Highland | 56 mph thunderstorm wind | Multiple trees and wires down in Highland Township; 52 mph at Milford |
| August 29, 2021 | East Highland | 54 mph thunderstorm wind | Several trees onto the road |
| August 29, 2022 | East Highland | 56 mph thunderstorm wind | Several large trees down; 50 mph measured at the White Lake weather office |
| June 5, 2024 | East Highland | 54 mph thunderstorm wind | A tree fell onto two trucks on South Duck Lake Road; two men injured |
| August 27, 2024 | Highland | 56 mph thunderstorm wind | Trees and limbs down; 67 mph measured four miles east of White Lake |
| September 3, 2026 | 2 E Highland | Damaging wind | Multiple trees down on Duck Lake Road at 11:56 a.m.; trees and large branches down at Milford the night before |
Sources: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database; National Weather Service Detroit/Pontiac event summaries. Wind speeds are National Weather Service estimates unless noted as measured.
Two things stand out. First, no hail of any size was logged at Highland itself between 2016 and May 2026 — the nearest reports are at Milford and Wixom, not here. If somebody knocks on your door in Highland offering a hail inspection, ask them for the storm date and the report, then check it. Second, almost every entry above is a tree or a limb. The July 2021 EF1 just over the line in White Lake Township is the nearest confirmed tornado with documented shingle loss, and the June 2024 event on South Duck Lake Road put a tree on two trucks and sent two men to hospital. That is the failure mode we design a Highland roof around.
The September 2–3, 2026 storm is a good example of how we read this. It was a serious event regionally — 60 to 70 mph winds, three tornadoes including an EF2 in Detroit, roughly 300,000 outages, and a 70 mph estimate at Howell. At Highland what the weather service logged was multiple trees down on Duck Lake Road. Real wind, real damage, tree-driven. We inspect after events like that and we write down what we actually find, including when the honest answer is that your roof came through it.
One scheduling consequence of a wind town: the sealant strip on a new shingle is heat-activated, which takes about a day in July and can take up to twelve weeks on a shaded north slope in the cold. A Highland roof finished by mid-October is sealed before the November wind arrives. It is the one argument we make for doing the work sooner rather than later, and it is a physical one.
Working in Highland: access, ground and the Recreation Area
Highland State Recreation Area takes up 5,900 acres in the middle of the township — Haven Hill, Edsel Ford's 721-acre National Natural Landmark, Teeple Lake beach, the Bass Lake lodge and 45 miles of trail. Duck Lake Pines Park adds 40 acres and Downey Lake Park 36. A great deal of Highland housing therefore sits on rolling, wooded ground at the end of a long private drive, and access is the constraint that most often shapes how we stage a job.
Where a delivery truck cannot reach the house, we land bundles on the roof with a boom truck from the nearest hard surface. Where an association maintains the road, we confirm turnaround, overhead clearance and container placement with the association before the schedule is set rather than on the morning. And the container goes on your driveway on plywood as a default; loaded containers on soft turf leave ruts that take longer to repair than the roof took to install.
We are a Howell company, and Highland is about 25 to 30 minutes east on M-59 — the same road runs through Hartland on the way. Those are the same crews that work Milford, Hartland and Holly, and this is a normal week for them, not a special trip. Founders Day fills Livingston Road with a parade on a Saturday in mid-May and the DDA lights the tree downtown in December; if your house is in the Highland Station core, we schedule around the event calendar and confirm where a container can sit before the first truck arrives.
The Owens Corning system we register in Highland
On Top Roofing is an Owens Corning Platinum Preferred Contractor — the top tier of the Owens Corning contractor network in the company's own words, and the only tier that can register its best system warranty. Every Highland replacement is registered under a Platinum Protection Roofing Limited Warranty: limited lifetime coverage on materials with a 50-year non-prorated period, limited lifetime workmanship non-prorated for the first 25 years, 130 mph wind resistance as standard and 160 mph enhanced, and 25-year algae resistance with Owens Corning hip and ridge. It transfers once to a buyer within 60 days of a sale.
The warranty requires the whole system rather than just the shingle: Duration shingles with SureNail Technology, Owens Corning or approved synthetic underlayment, Owens Corning hip and ridge, Owens Corning self-adhered ice and water barrier, starter at the eaves and the rakes, and VentSure balanced ventilation — plus new flashings and new drip edge throughout. We install all of it as standard on every Highland roof, whether it is a Prestwick Village colonial, a 1970s quad-level or a Duck Lake cottage. Our credentials behind it: Owens Corning Platinum Preferred, BBB A+ accredited, HAAG Certified inspectors.
Ventilation is the part most Highland roofs are missing
On the 1970s and 1980s houses that make up more than a third of the township, the attic is usually vented by two gable louvers and a few box vents, which is not a balanced system — it is two holes. A balanced system exhausts at the ridge and takes in at the soffit in roughly equal measure. So on those houses we seal the gable vents, run a continuous ridge vent, and put a baffle in every rafter bay so the soffit intake is not buried under blown insulation. The difference shows up as a cooler attic in August and, more importantly here, far less of the freeze-thaw cycling at the eaves that drives ice dams on a shaded Highland roof in February.
Colours for Highland houses
On the Victorian-era houses around Highland Station, the Duration Designer line — Aged Copper, Storm Cloud, Black Sable — reads closest to the slate those roofs were built to imitate. The 1970s ranches, tri-levels and quad-levels sit well under Estate Gray, Slatestone Gray or Onyx Black. The 1990s and 2000s brick-and-vinyl colonials off M-59 take Driftwood, Teak or Brownwood. On lake homes with cedar or stained siding, Sand Dune and Aged Copper; on the most exposed Duck Lake and White Lake frontage, Duration FLEX, the SBS polymer-modified shingle with a UL 2218 Class 4 impact rating. We bring full-size samples to the estimate and look at them against your siding, in daylight, at the house — and where an association has to approve the choice, that same sample goes to the association.
Storm damage, insurance and what we will and will not claim
After a wind event in Highland the pattern is almost always the same: limbs across a roof plane, lifted or creased shingles on the windward slope, a damaged ridge vent, and torn flashing where a branch came down across a valley. We inspect and photograph it, document what we find in writing, and give you a clear read on whether it is a repair, a partial or a full replacement.
Where an insurance claim is involved, we document the damage thoroughly, provide the photographs and the written scope, and talk to your adjuster about what we found on the roof. We do not file your claim for you and we do not represent you against your insurer — that is your relationship, and any roofer who tells you otherwise is describing something they are not licensed to do. What we will do is make sure the adjuster sees what we saw, in writing, with dates and photographs attached. Our inspectors are HAAG Certified, which is the credential that governs how storm damage is identified and documented.
Highland neighborhoods where we replace roofs
From our yard at 5896 Sterling Dr in Howell, Highland is about 25 to 30 minutes east on M-59, straight through Hartland. We replace roofs across the whole township — the Highland Station core and the streets off Milford Road, the 1970s subdivisions in the middle of the township, the 1990s and 2000s developments along M-59, the golf community at Prestwick Village, and the cottages and year-round homes on Duck, White, Dunham and Harvey Lakes.
- Highland Station
- Downtown Highland
- East Highland
- West Highland
- Clyde
- Hickory Ridge
- Seven Harbors
- Duck Lake
- White Lake
- Dunham Lake
- Harvey Lake
- Taggett Lake
- Tomahawk Lake
- Kellogg Lake
- Woodruff Lake
- Downey Lake Park
- Duck Lake Pines Park
- Highland Recreation Area
- Haven Hill
- Prestwick Village
- Duck Lake Estates
- Duck Lake Park
- Dunham Lake Estates
- Dunham Lake Heights
- Harvey Lake Heights
- Bretton Oaks
- Cobblestone
- Heritage Farms
- Highland Hills
- Highland Heights
- Highland Meadows
- Highland Valley
- Highland Village
- Highland Gardens
- Highland Country Club
- Timber Ridge
- Timberlake Estates
- Waterbury Hills
- Mallards Landing
- The Harbors
- Harbors Reserve
- Kings Row
- Foxfield Estates
- High Pointe Estates
- Hickory Shores
- Pine Bluff Estates
- Lakeside Pines
- Knoll View
- Canterbury Commons
- Countryside
- Axford Acres
- Bayview Village
- Horseshoe Acres
- Oak Heights
- Pinewood South
- Villa Nova
- M-59 / Highland Road
- Milford Road
- Duck Lake Road
- Hickory Ridge Road
- Livingston Road
- Wardlow Road
- Clyde Road
- North John Street
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a permit to replace my roof in Highland Township?
How are inspections handled on a Highland roof?
Is Highland a hail town?
What storms have actually hit Highland recently?
My house was built in the 1970s and already has two layers. What are my options?
My house was built in 1998 and the roof still looks fine. Is it time?
My association has to approve the shingle. How does that work?
Does a Highland Station house need historic approval for a new roof?
Can you get equipment to a house on Duck Lake or White Lake?
What warranty comes with a Highland roof replacement?
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