Taking over something someone else built.
FIRST ACTION
Take a full backup before touching anything. Whatever state it is in, that state is your baseline.
Download it. Verify it opens.
THEN ESTABLISH
Whether any backup arrangement exists Where existing backups go, if anywhere Whether the schedule is running When the last successful backup was
WHAT YOU WILL USUALLY FIND
A plugin installed and configured to store backups on the same server A schedule that stopped running months ago, usually because cron was never set up No email archive at all No documentation
WHAT TO SET UP
Your own arrangement, from scratch, rather than trusting what is there.
Remote storage, sensible retention, verified running.
TELL THE OWNER
If the site had no working backups, say so in writing. It establishes what you found and what you changed.
THE FIRST RESTORE TEST
Do it early. An inherited site frequently has surprises: a database that does not import cleanly, hardcoded paths, or missing files.
Better to find them now than during an incident.
