We own an old school and we are getting ready to turn it into a beautiful house. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. This is going to be quite a project. Finding a contractor has proved to be quite difficult. Only 2 have shown up to bid. They both want to do the job by the hour, which is fine, but I need an estimate on total price to take to the bank to get the loan. I know it all depends on what kind of products we use in the house. Any suggestions for anything at all would be great. Thank you.

First thing is to have a complete plan, hand drawn even, for what you are planning to do. Then take that in to a contractor and see if it is something they would consider doing.
That's what we always did when we bought property that needed work and when I worked for my Dad he would ask customers to bring in the plans, then would go out to look over the possible job site. That gave him a chance to work up some ideas on what the job would take before he got out there and started hashing out the ideas with the owner. I would rather go in to a contractors office first any time than just calling them and asking them to come out. I like to see what type of office of whatever they work out of to see if they have a poor office appearance. That usually tells me a lot about the guys who work there. Messy and obviously busy is one thing but a dirty office and sloppy staff makes me wonder what kind of work they'll do. Just my .02 worth.