I imagine the only folks who like dust are dusting for fingerprints. The rest of us say no thanks!
In my experience, nothing sours a good relationship with customers more than dust in and near the room being remodeled. There is good news on the dust-front. It's not that difficult to keep 'em satisfied with a few easy steps.
We do a ton bathrooms. All of that tile and drywall work create a substantial amount of fine dust. If we don't take steps to avoid the dust getting EVERYWHERE, we will have a very unhappy homeowner on our hands.
Step 1.When possible isolate the immediate room with plastic and painters tape. If necessary, add an access zipper like the one from Zipwall, the poles are great too:
Step 2. Get some kind of filtration system running ALL DAY. It can be as simple as a box fan with a 20x20 filter on the intake side of the fan but do do something with fans and filters. Youtube is littered with ideas...
Step 3. Occasionally dust the horizontal surfaces with a cloth or duster. Mostly what irritates customers is the sight of dust.
Step 4. When the work is complete, do a reasonable cleaning of the dust you can see (and so can they).
Set 5. Change the HVAC system filters and let the customer know you did this in case they are regular filter-changers. It'll cost you less than $30 and make a cheerleader customer.
Todd Hudson
Owner, Peachtree Corners Remodeling, Atlanta-North, GA