Any suggestions? I've heard vastly different stories.

Haven't had one built, but we've been considering. We've had multiple friends use Aquanauts and they've been happy with them. Communication was good and quality of work was solid. We'd probably move forward with them based on multiple good references.

Ultimate Poolscapes is another one I see a ton of signage for around the neighborhood, but don't have any experience or reference with.

Swimco built ours back around 2010 & did a great job.

https://www.wacoan.com/special-sections/swimco-pools/

Swimco did ours 8 years ago, no subcontracting. They did it all themselves and were great to work with. They are old school, quality equipment, tried and true, and that is what we were looking for.