I agree with you. I believe boundaries can change as the relationship changes, however I think the most important stuff needs to be put in place from the beginning. I share a similar experience with my therapist too. On the first session, he asked me to inform him at least 24 hours before the session if I was canceling. That was that and it was all I agreed to. I was always on time or early for my sessions and the few times I canceled, I did so as early as I could and never later than 24 hours before the session. Then, almost a year later, while we were discussing something about my almost being late one day (but I had eventually managed to make it on time), my therapist suddenly told me that he has this policy with all his other clients and asked me to agree to pay for sessions I cancel less than 24 hours in advance. My first reaction was to agree, but after I went home it didn't feel right and I became annoyed, because I had NEVER cancelled a session without enough notice. The only time I would ever do that would be if I had some serious accident or something, which would be a time i would be needing him the most So the next time I came in I told him that i couldn't agree with his policy, that I needed him to realize he didn't make that contract from the beginning, that it was me he was talking to and I never canceled in such a way. So we agreed to drop this policy (and maybe resume it if it ever became necessary with me). On the other hand, I have no doubt that I would have agree to this without a second thought had he mentioned this on our first session, when we were establishing rules and he didn't really know that i wasn't one to cancel lightly. So yes, in my experience, it's definitely better to be upfront about it from the first session.

Though on the other hand, I think it's important how boundaries are stated and negotiated. A therapist sure wouldn't want the first session to feel like a set of rules to be followed. I find that, with some tact, boundaries can be incorporated naturally into the conversation and negotiation as to what therapy will be like.