Learn English – Noun to use for a person who has commissioned work from a contractor

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Let's say I'm an independent software developer who gets paid, by the hour, to create tailored software for solving one person's particular problems; I'm a contractor and a service provider.

What's a good noun to use for the person who commissioned work from me? Employer came to mind, but that sounds very… "permanent," and client is a very loaded word in software development. Customer could work, but is there a more accurate noun that I could use?

Best Answer

That party is quite often referred to as the contractee

Project owner (also called client or principal) or other entity that enters into a contract with a contractor or vendor and receives specified goods and/or services under the terms of the contract (such as a purchase order).

The verbiage, "hereinafter referred to as the 'Contractee'” is often found in legal docments.
Here's an example document using that terminology.