As used in ORS 87.001 to 87.060 and 87.075 to 87.093:
(1) “Commencement of the improvement” means the first actual preparation or construction upon the site or the first delivery to the site of materials of such substantial character as to notify interested persons that preparation or construction upon the site has begun or is about to begin.
(2) “Construction” means creating or making an improvement or performing an alteration, partial construction or repair in and upon an improvement.
(3) “Construction agent” means a contractor, architect, builder or other person having charge of construction or preparation.
(4) “Contractor” means a person that contracts on predetermined terms to be responsible for performing all or part of a job of preparation or construction in accordance with established specifications or plans, retaining control of the means, method and manner of accomplishing the desired result, and that provides:
(a) Labor at the site; or
(b) Materials, supplies and labor at the site.
(5) “Improvement” means a building, wharf, bridge, ditch, flume, reservoir, well, tunnel, fence, street, sidewalk, machinery, aqueduct or other structure or superstructure.
(6) “Mortgagee” means a person:
(a)(A) Whose name and address appear as mortgagee or beneficiary in a mortgage of record or a trust deed of record that is recorded under ORS 205.234 with the county clerk of the county within which the property or improvement is located; and
(B) That has a valid subsisting mortgage of record or trust deed of record that secures a loan upon land or upon an improvement; or
(b)(A) Whose name and address appear as the assignee of the mortgagee or beneficiary in an assignment of mortgage of record or a trust deed of record that is recorded under ORS 205.234 with the county clerk of the county within which the property or improvement is located; and
(B) That has a valid subsisting mortgage of record or trust deed of record that secures a loan upon land or upon an improvement.
(7) “Original contractor” means a contractor that has a contractual relationship with the owner.
(8) “Owner” means:
(a) A person that is or claims to be the owner in fee or a lesser estate of the land on which preparation or construction is performed;
(b) A person that entered into a contract to purchase an interest in the land or improvement sought to be charged with a lien created under ORS 87.010; or
(c) A person that has a valid lease on land or an improvement and that possesses an interest in the land or improvement by reason of the lease.
(9) “Preparation” means excavating, surveying, landscaping, demolishing or detaching existing structures or leveling, filling in or otherwise making land ready for construction.
(10) “Site” means the land on which construction or preparation is performed.
(11) “Subcontractor” means a contractor that has no direct contractual relationship with the owner.