If you plan on renovations definitely get a 6.5' or full 8' box, you'll see generally everything is at least 8 feet in length and depending on what else you'd be getting into (structural) longer than 8.
As far as brand goes for me its a no brainer to get an f-150, I know a lot of old Chevy's that cost a looottt of money. The girlfriend works at a Chev dealership and just last week there was an 09 Silverado with 131,000km needed a new engine all customer pay they didn't goodwill any of it