For the purpose of this chapter:
1. “Administrator” means the secretary of state.
2. “Building” shall be construed as if followed by the words “erection, or other improvement upon land”.
3. “General contractor” includes every person who does work or furnishes materials by contract, express or implied, with an owner. “General contractor” does not include a person who does work or furnishes materials on contract with an owner-builder.
4. “Labor” means labor completed by the claimant.
5. “Material”, in addition to its ordinary meaning, includes machinery, tools, fixtures, trees, evergreens, vines, plants, shrubs, tubers, bulbs, hedges, bushes, sod, soil, dirt, mulch, peat, fertilizer, fence wire, fence material, fence posts, tile, and the use of forms, accessories, and equipment furnished by the claimant.
6. “Mechanics’ notice and lien registry” means a centralized computer database maintained on the internet by the administrator that provides a central repository for the submission and management of preliminary notices, notices of commencement of work on residential construction properties, and mechanics’ liens on all construction properties.
7. “Mechanics’ notice and lien registry number” means a number provided by the administrator for all residential construction properties posted to the mechanics’ notice and lien registry.
8. “Owner” means the legal or equitable titleholder of record.
9. “Owner-builder” means the legal or equitable titleholder of record who furnishes material for or performs labor upon a building, erection, or other improvement, or who contracts with a subcontractor to furnish material for or perform labor upon a building, erection, or other improvement and who offers or intends to offer to sell the owner-builder’s property without occupying or using the structures, properties, developments, or improvements for a period of more than one year from the date the structure, property, development, or improvement is substantially completed or abandoned.
10. “Residential construction” means construction on single-family or two-family dwellings occupied or used, or intended to be occupied or used, primarily for residential purposes, and includes real property pursuant to chapter 499B.
11. “Subcontractor” includes every person furnishing material or performing labor upon any building, erection, or other improvement, except those having contracts directly with the owner. “Subcontractor” shall include those persons having contracts directly with an owner-builder.
98 Acts, ch 1142, §1; 2007 Acts, ch 83, §1, 2; 2012 Acts, ch 1105, §2, 27, 28; 2012 Acts, ch 1138, §13, 40, 43