called a scope of work and it’s a very good idea to have it written down on paper. have one copy for yourself for each contractor and one copy for each of them. take notes on what is talked about, any suggestions made or ideas that you come up with. you may find that at the end of this phase your home improvement project will look much different than when you started. and you will have notes for each meeting to refer to. when you are all done you may want to touch base with each of them one more time to inform them of any changes to the plans 