Four rules on every engagement, whether it is a one-day audit or a monthly retainer. They exist so you always know what is happening on your infrastructure and can walk away with it intact.
Before anything changes we look at the server, the accounts and the logs, and we write down what we find. You get that record whether or not you go ahead. The quote is based on what is actually there, not on a guess.
We send you what we intend to change and why, in plain language, before we do it. Routine maintenance under a retainer is agreed up front; anything outside it waits for your yes.
Migrations, upgrades and hardening all have a tested way back. We do not touch production without one.
Every engagement ends with a short document: what was done, where things are, how to run it. You can hand it to the next engineer, or back to us in six months, and nothing is locked in our heads.