One thing I can tell you is check for a soils report if you are in west LA, most likely you are on a hill and building setbacks such as H/3 requirements can really drive the cost of your foundation up.

So they don’t sell from underneath you.  

To get a more accurate quote for engineering costs the perimeter grade beam of foundation needs to be exposed (soil removed) to be evaluated... this is where I'm at right now.

Grading - you must have 6" in fall away for the house in the first 10' for all soil areas. 

Intalling cabinets first is usually easier but you can do it the other way around, too, as long as your flooring guy knows where the cabinets are going to go.Most cabinet guys prefer to put their boxes directly on the subfloor, regardless of what order your doing things in (unless the cabinets are on legs, then you run the flooring underneath, obviously).

Looked outside underneath, and a joist had rotted out. 

You may be able to get away without some of the following.Civil Engineering-Drainage/Utilities/Tank $10,000-$12,000Site Survey $3,000Geo-technical/Soils Engineering $3,000Mechanical/HVAC $3,000-$4,000Electrical Engineering $2,000Structural Engineering $4,000Architectural $15,000-$20,000Landscape Design $5,000It adds up quick. 

It creates a garage type of space underneath the house.

Hire orrent a skid steer and remove 4 inches of top soil.

--------------------------Subjacent support refers to the land which is underneath an individual’s property and keeps that property leveled, preventing the foundation from shifting.