<prompt> Human: I thought that I would post my story since it may help some other first time home buyers save some money and hopefully avoid a money pit. I almost bought a half a million dollar money pit but a 600 fee from a structural engineer saved me.Im currently located in a HCOL city Austin, TX. Ive been looking at buying a starter home, which in central Austin is about 400-500k for a 21 up to a 32 the farther out you go maybe 5-6 miles from downtown.Many of these houses were built in the 1940s to 1980s and have foundation issues. I kept being told by my agent not to worry, that this is common.I found a property that I loved and put in an offer that was quickly accepted. There was some sloping of the house, which everyone told me was normal for an old pier and beam house. There also were some cracks in the walls that were indicative of foundation issues.I had a foundation repair man come out and he gave me a written quote to shim the house at 4,000. This means that he felt the house needed only to be jacked up with shims placed underneath to keep it lifted. I felt that something wasnt right with the quote and decided to get a structural engineer to look at it.This structural engineer came in, spent 3 hours assessing the house and gave me a very detailed written assessment. He was dirty as hell since he crawled under the house drawing detailed diagrams of the foundation and support structures. He informed me that 13 of floor supporting beams were broken and needed repair. An area over the kitchen has some sagging in the roof of about half a inch which was due to the owner removing a load bearing wall without proper support. He also noted that the garage foundation was of such poor quality that it was literally pulling away from the house. If not remedied, he expected the garage to fully detach from the house in the future.All in, he called another foundation company that he works closely with and informed me that the house needed 20,000 in repairs plus the costs of moving pipes to get under the house. This didnt include any residual damage from lifting the house 2-3 inches from the settling that occurred.This structural engineer also pointed out where the owner put in new grout and tile to cover previous cracks and put in caulk at some crack points and painted over them in an effort to hide the true damage. This was not disclosed on the seller disclosure and to be frank, pissed me off.Needless to say, this was the best 600 I ever spent in my life because I almost spent half a million on a property that has serious foundation issues and is in need of desperate repair.I terminated my contract today and went out to have a beer since I potentially just saved a ton of money and headache not purchasing that house.TLDR; foundation repair guysgals may not know what a house truly needs done to it and always be skeptical of a low estimate. A structural engineer will assess a house and write a prescription for how to remedy any deficiencies. The foundation repair guys then carries out those recommendations. If you have any concern about the foundation, consider hiring a structural engineer.  <response>: I absolutely agree with this because it can benefit you the opposite way as well. We bought a house that had been passed up a couple times because inspections showed foundation damage. Had someone actually look at it and give us an estimate, and ended up only costing 1000 to repair was just some mild water damage under the porch which didnt support any weight of the house. Got a great deal because no one else bothered to probe any further. 