contractor contractee?

H

happygringa

Senior Member
English Canada
If I am a "contractor", does that mean someone has hired me to fulfill a contract? If so, does that mean that person who has hired me is a contractee, or what legal word could be used to describe that?
Thanks in advance.
 
    • happygringa said:
    If I am a "contractor", does that mean someone has hired me to fulfill a contract? If so, does that mean that person who has hired me is a contractee, or what legal word could be used to describe that?
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    I have never heard the word "contractee," and the current edition of the American Heritage Dictionary, which deals with US English but also includes some words characteristic of UK or other usage, doesn't list it.

    People who have agreed upon something in a signed document (contract) that covers their mutual obligations, of whatever kind, are called parties to the contract.

    In the US (and I have just checked a UK dictionary; what I am about to say appears to be true there, as well), a contractor is someone who does work related to building construction or renovation. The word typically refers to a company or to an individual who operates as a company. A contractor usually performs the work under the terms of a contract with the owner of the property.
     
    Hi, I am translating a contract now, and have the same question. There are two Parties to the contract. One is providing services. I will call this Party the Contractor. In my dictionaries, a Contractor may or may not be a builder: "a person or firm that undertakes a contract to provide materials or labour to perform a service or do a job". I might call the other Party the Principal, but Contractee is an alternative according to this dictionary http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/contractee.html
     
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    acenname said:
    Hi, I am translating a contract now, and have the same question.
    Click to expand...
    What is the other party called in the original? If you simply translate that term, what will it be in English?

    This form CONTRACTOR AGREEMENT from the Internet Legal Research Group calls the two parties the Contractor and the Owner.

    That makes sense, because (a) there must always be a property or a business involved, which must have an owner (whether a person or a company), and (b) if the other party is not the owner, he must be a contractor himself who is engaging subcontractors.
     
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    The term "principal" is the one I usually use when drafting standard contracts for services- I have never even heard of the word "contractee".

    However, I prefer to use the names of the parties, defined at the beginning of the contract - for example, "Under this contract Acme Computer Supplies ("Acme") agrees to provide technical equipment to the International Trading Bank of London ("the Bank")"
     
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