HI! Been lurking here a few weeks now and decided to post. Everyone is so friendly and helpful so I'm hoping someone can help us out.
We just began the quote process for a new pool and are so confused. Salt water? Chlorine? Heater types, etc. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Here is our basic info and quote. Bear with me cause I am just retyping their info from their proposal.

COMPANY A:

550 sq ft custom concrete pool
50 ft. spa
Goldline Salt Water Generator (includes salt)
Hayward 400K BTU Natural Gas Heater
Ecostar Custom variable Speed Pump
$55,410

1/2" steel rods in all beams in floor and walls on 12" centers
In the bond beams 1/2" steel rods will be placed on 6" centers (This protects the upper portion of your pool from frost damage)
Concrete shell 4000psi at 28 days of curing
top 24" of pool wall (frost beam) will be installed at 12"
Lifetime warranty on shell

Sub base of pool will be covered in crushed stone
Hydrostatic relief plugs installed - minimum of 2 common to have 3-4 for this size pool

Heater, filter and pumps set on solid concrete slabs
2 Hayward skimmers (sp10712s) and 3 wall returns, plus the cleaner return line
Anti-vortex double bottom drain in deep end with drain covers.
plumbing will be schedule 40 chemically sealed at all joints for max lifetime durability

1 Hayward Colorlogic LED light
Spa will have matching LED hayward light as well.

6"x6" row of frost proof tile installed below coping
12" custom travertine bullnose coping (double bullnose at the spa)
they will seal coping with a 31% solid base sealer for protection and look

Polaris 280 automatic cleaner that runs off a 3/4 booster pump
or i can choose the Polaris 9300 robotic cleaner which is electric and runs independent of pool filtration system

SPA - 50 sq ft raised 12" and tile faced with double bullnosed coping. 8 jets including one in 12" **** wall
Includes: dual elevation bench, 2HP Hayward North Star booster pump, double bottom drain (36" separation)
We will plumb the spa suction/return with 2" pvc as standard
wireless waterproof POD remote

Electrical work will be 1" conduit and they will bring 50 amps to the Goldline PS8 electronic panel to operate the complete system
Electrical work to included approx 200' of underground pipe work. Includes all bonding.

Patio/Decking - 350 sq. ft aggregate concrete decking. White expansion joints, subcompact base with roller and tamping device.
Custom skimmer lids.

COMPANY B
little bigger pool at 600 sq. ft with 50 sq ft spa (does not include water, other company does)
$55,891
400,000 BTU Jandy gas fired heater or we could do the Aqua Cal electric heat pump for $1800 more (is this worth it? my husband likes a warm pool and hot spa but we are in full sun all day)
ECO pool system with FROG (heard the FROG was pointless)
Polaris 360 pool cleaner
500 sq ft concrete aggregate decking
NOT SALT WATER (i can change this though but not sure yet how much it will cost)
2 full days of rock excavating (which we need here) free (above company charges extra $2500 per day)
12 year platinum equipment warranty- this is not pro-rated
Comes with deluxe cleaner with heavy duty vacuum and telescoping pole,leaf skimmer, wall brush, safety rope, floats, complete water testing kit and $200 gift card to their retail stores

Differences from Company A quote:
This company uses 2 wall returns. 3 solar recirculating floor returns and a separately plumbed MDX debris removal main drain system which will feed pool water into a Jandy Stealth 2 HP self-priming pump where it then will be pumped through a Jandy vertical grid diatomaceous earth filter (WHAT???)
All above ground piping will be 2" schedule 40PVC piping
Poos and spa is 2" schedule 40PVC
All joints will be chemically welded for max strength
Aquabrite ecofinish with a 10 year warranty
1 Jandy LED light
custom 6 ft bench
6' swimout in deep end with corner step

SPA: deluxe series hydrotherapy 50 sq ft raised beam spa which will be a monolithic portion of the pool structure
1-1/2 HP spa air blower
6 hydro therapy jets, MDX safety and anti-vortex main drain assembly, 100W quartz halogen light, bench seat and corner step
tile **** wall will separate the pool from spa

Hope you are still with me. Sorry this is so long but we are loving the warranty with Company B and love their sales guy. He really sat with us and we felt most comfortable with him and he just did my cousin's pool. I just need info/advice on the equipment and other confusing stuff. Should we do salt water. Its what we want but then we heard it can corrode the decking. I'm assuming Company B pushes their pools with chlorine so they are making lots of after sale chemical profits.
Thanks so much for reading and for the advice.

I wouldn't buy a pool because I like the salesman.

You mention rocks, so your location is north of Gulf Coast?

Location does matter. Where I live 12" centers for the steel is unacceptable. However, there are pool builders that will cut corners in that area.
A couple of my amateur observations.
I think you need more lights $$$
Heat pumps are for more northern climates so to extend the swim season. They do not have enough heating ability to bring a spa up to temp quickly.
I'm not a fan of pump operated pool cleaners but that is me.

The fist quote mentions 350 sq/ft decking. No mention of decking in the second. My experience is that is usually not enough and you'll want more $$$

How did your cousin's pool turn out? Would they use this PB again? If anything went wrong, how did the PB handle that?