It’s usually worth getting a second opinion on anything that expensive, and it’s usually worth waiting for a good engineer if they’re backed up.
I am an engineer, and I’ve seen good engineers and shit engineers. It’s terrible I have to say this, but if you’re buying a house and the owner has an engineer look at a potentially serious problem, you should probably still pay for an engineer to look at it as well. And it’s probably going to be expensive. $450 is a steal.
Also, if you know what you want the engineer to look at, specifically, it will cost less than “getting the house checked.” The former might be a fixed fee, the latter is likely to be hourly and well into 4 figures.
I have been trying to find a structural engineer to come look at my garage but I don’t even know where to look. Google wasn’t extremely helpful. Any advice on how to find structural engineers in my area?
I’d check with medium sized contractors or smaller 1-10 person) architecture firms. Very few of us (PEs) deal with small/residential work, but those are the people who are likely to need or know an engineer that does small jobs. The local building official might know somebody, but depending on their risk aversion they might not be willing to say for fear that they have (officially) recommended someone.