I am renovating my basement and being unable to finish some of it myself, I hired a contractor. Does the contractor have to sign his own contract?
It’s not a binding contract unless both parties sign it.
Yes … is the contractor suggesting otherwise? … better get another contractor …
Please: check the references, check on Performance Bond, check on Liability Insurance … or hopefully your location requires contractor licensing, which should verify the Bond and Insurance …
The good contractors appreciate your diligence in this …
Unless there is a section in the contract which allows the parties to sign separate pieces of paper and fax/scan/email them to each other, I would expect two signatures on the same exact document. If you had the former case and the contractor emailed it to you and you did nothing but sign, scan, and return, you could construe (weakly) that you had both signed the document as per the 1993? rule about email signatures. but that would be weak and you would probably have to show some other good reason why there was belief to be a jointly signed document.
So simplest answer is yes, contractor needs to sign.