Right way to get bids for our new pool?

We will begin getting bids for our project soon. Should we tell builder our budget AND our must-haves; or just the budget and see what they can give for that budget; or what we must have (size and spa, etc) but no budget?

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I'm not sure I can give you any advice on your questions, but maybe those who have contracted pools will have some ideas.

Here's my take on giving a budget at bid time. I don't do it.

I would if the contractor was a friend or came highly recommended. That's about it.

Now, from a contractor standpoint, it goes both ways. I've had some jobs where they told me the budget up front and it worked out great. We were able to work out their needs and then see what 'wants' we could fit in. On the other hand, I've had some people tell me their budget up front. When my bid hit close to that budget, I got an uncomfortable feeling that the client might think I took advantage of the knowledge.

Right now I'm getting bids to build a room addition on the back of our house. I have a clear cut plan of what we want. That's what I tell the contractors. I'm getting bids all across the board. I'll find a few I liked with reasonable prices, and then start working with them on my budget.

It really is a crap shoot with contractors. There are some great companies out there, and there are some criminals. A whole lot of in-between also.

most contractors have there base package pricing , start with that....

We are in the same process. So far our practice has been to explain what we would like regarding size, extras like a spa or water feature, deck material, etc. and see what the designer comes up with. If the price falls within your range you have the pool you wanted sitting, on paper in front of you. All you have to do is pick the builder. Well, it sounds simple if you type it fast but we all know it's more difficult than that. Our first quote came back higher than I hoped and we sat down with the designer for about 45 minutes and worked on options for getting the price down without losing what we liked about the pool. We managed to trip about $4,000 and still have a pool design that meets 98% of our wants. You will have to prioritize the features you want in a pool and determine how far down you are willing to whittle the list before you get to the point where you are within your budget or have shaved enough features off the pool that you no longer want it. The pool designer had absolutely no problem with this method and so far we are fairly impressed with him and his company. Got two more quotes coming in and can't wait to see them. We have tried to provide enough specifics to the designer so that he will end up with a pool the size we want and still have some room to come up with something different from the other quotes in terms of design.