Ask HN: Delegate VM configuration/troubleshooting?

I'm a freelance mobile/web developer whose company is growing to the point where I have to pull on help. One time consuming things that I haven't delegated is configuring or trouble-shooting things on VMs for clients.

I find this to be very time consuming however I am reticent to have a subcontractor do this as I'm nervous about giving root access, if even for a short while.

Is there a reasonable way to delegate this such that I don't have to worry about nefarious activity? Or a way that I can detect that someone has been doing something they shouldn't?