In today's economic climate, most of our customer's are looking to work within a specific budget. I will try and give some advice on how to go about that with your contractor.
First, I always think it is a good idea to share your budget with your contractor for jobs over $10,000. People tend to hold this number close to the vest, but I think it is good policy to share that number. After all, the contractor may be the only one to get you to the budget number and conversely can tell you if your budget number is unrealistic for the project at hand.