How detailed should scope of work be?

[Zach Whitt]

How detailed should my scope of work be when I'm walking the house with a contractor? I had two contractors put together bids on Friday, but I did a poor job of prepping beforehand. My mistake. There was a lot of "Well maybe I want this or that," and "how much would that cost?" Obviously those bids are going to come back higher than if I had a firm plan, right?

My thought is I need to have a firm, detailed scope that I can hand the GC as he walks in the house. Should this have measurements? SKUs of actual materials?

I'm a beginner, so I don't have established relationships where I can trust a contractor to make valuable decisions for me.

Thanks