How to Sign a Contract on Behalf of a Corporation or LLC

 by Nick Gromicko, CMI®

The main benefit of doing business as a corporation or LLC is the limited liability it affords.  However, the doctrine of limited liability protects you only if your customers know you are doing business as a corporation or LLC.  This is why we encourage inspectors doing business under the umbrella of an entity to print “Inc.” or “LLC” on their business cards and all their business documents.  To avoid confusion, an inspector doing business as a corporation or LLC should also execute all legal documents pertaining to their business in a way that makes clear that they are not signing in their personal capacity.

Today, corporations are generally managed by a “President” or “CEO.”  Therefore, a proper signature on behalf of a corporation might look like this: 

XYZ Inspections, Inc. 

By: __________________________ 

                     President 

An LLC is typically managed by one or more “managers.”  Therefore, a proper signature on behalf of an LLC might look like this: 

XYZ Inspections, LLC 

By: __________________________ 

                     Manager 

Always remember that in order to preserve the limited liability an entity affords, you must make sure your customers understand that you and your entity are two separate things.  Signing legal documents as explained above is one simple way to do this.