What’s your #1 rule for documenting a job before work starts?

It's not something that I necessarily document every single time but something I tell every client, is that I don't have a magic wand and pest control takes time. In most cases, your issue isn't going to be resolved overnight. A client must trust the process but after a certain threshold of time has passed and you are still seeing issues, that is when I will come back.

I think setting expectations is something that should be explained and documented, giving a client realistic expectations is very important.

I've start recording conversations with clients with a Plaud transcriber then sending them summaries after the meeting. This helps everyone know exactly what we talked about and we can all reference it if needed. This is great for initial walk throughs, change orders, checking in meetings, etc.