Contractor

Wiktionary defines a contractor as a person or company that builds or improves buildings, or that does specific tasks such as electrical or plumbing work on a project. A general contractor is hired by a client, usually on the advice of the architect or engineer, and coordinates the whole job; he may also act as designer and foreman.

The 1930 census instructions said only persons mainly engaged in securing and supervising building or other construction contracts should be returned as builders or contractors. Craftsmen who usually worked with their tools were to be returned as carpenters, plasterers and so on.