Hawaii Revised Statutes

Haw. Rev. Stat. § 507-41 (2026)

  Definitions

✓ current as of July 2026
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PART II.  MECHANIC'S AND MATERIALMAN'S LIEN

 

     §507-41  Definitions.  As used in this part, unless a definite meaning clearly appears from the context:

     "Furnishing of materials" includes supplying of:  materials incorporated in the improvement or substantially consumed in construction operations or specially fabricated for incorporation in the improvement; building materials used during construction but not remaining in the improvement, diminished by the salvage value of the materials; transportation to bring the materials to the site of the improvement; tools, appliances, or machinery (but not including hand tools), used during the construction but not in excess of the reasonable rental value for the period of actual use.

     The delivery of materials to the site of the improvement or the delivery of materials other than to the site of the improvement, but upon the written statement by the general contractor or the contractor's agents that the materials are for a particular improvement, shall be prima facie evidence of incorporation of the materials in the improvement.

     "General contractor" means a person who enters into a contract with the owner for the improvement of real property.

     "Improvement" includes the construction, repair, alteration of or addition to any building, structure, road, utility, railroad, or other undertaking or appurtenances thereto, and includes any building, construction, erection, demolition, excavation, grading, paving, filling in, landscaping, seeding, sodding, and planting, or any part thereof existing, built, erected, placed, made, or done on real property, or removed therefrom, for its benefit.

     "Labor" includes professional services rendered in furnishing the plans for or in the supervision of the improvement.

     "Lien" means the lien provided in section 507-42.

     "Owner" means the owner of the real property or of any interest therein who enters into a contract for the improvement thereof and who may be the owner in fee of the real property or of a lesser estate therein, the lessee for a term of years therein, the person having any right, title, or interest in the real property which may be sold under legal process, or a vendee in possession under a contract for the purchase of the real property or of any such right, title or interest therein.

     "Person" includes natural persons, partnerships, corporations, firms, unincorporated associations, joint ventures, and any other party recognized at law as a person.

     "Visible commencement of operations" means the first actual work of improvement as part of a continuous operation, or the first delivery to the site of materials to be used as part of a continuous operation in the improvement, of such manifest and substantial character as to notify interested persons that the real property is being improved or is about to be improved. [L 1949, c 241, §1; RL 1955, §193-40; HRS §507-41; gen ch 1985]

 

Revision Note

 

  Definitions rearranged pursuant to §23G-15.

 

 

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 11 cases (1 in the last 5 years), 1975–2023 · leading case: Strouss v. Simmons, 657 P.2d 1004 (Haw. 1982).
Strouss v. Simmons, 657 P.2d 1004 (Haw. 1982). · cites it 6× “HRS § 507-41 defines "visible commencement of operations" as the "first actual work of improvement as a part of a continuous operation, or the first delivery to the site of materials to be used as part of a continuous operation in the improvement, of such manifest and…”
Jack Endo Elec., Inc. v. Lear Siegler, Inc., 585 P.2d 1265 (Haw. 1978). · cites it 4× “Pursuant to HRS § 507-41 an “owner of real property” may be a lessee.”
Shibuya v. Architects Hawaii, Ltd., 647 P.2d 276 (Haw. 1982). “The term “improvement” as used in this section shall have the same meaning as in section 507-41 and the phrase “date of completion” as used in this section shall mean the time when there has been substantial completion of the improvement or the improvement has been abandoned.”
Haines, Jones, Farrell, White, Gima Architects, Ltd. v. Maalaea Land Corp., 608 P.2d 405 (Haw. 1980). · cites it 2× “HRS § 507-41 (1976) defines “improvement” to include: the construction, repair, alteration of or addition to any building, structure, road, utility, railroad, or other undertaking or appurtenances thereto, and includes any building, construction, erection, demolition,…”
G. J. Hawaii, Ltd. v. Waipouli Dev. Co., 560 P.2d 490 (Haw. 1977). · cites it 2× “” HRS § 507-41 provides: ‘“General contractor’ means a person who enters into a contract with the owner for the improvement of real property.”
Reliable Collection Agency, Ltd. v. Aquarius Indus., Inc., 535 P.2d 129 (Haw. 1975). · cites it 2× “2d 222, 226 (1969), referring to HRS §§ 507-41 to 507-48, “The law was intended to compensate a person equitably, and was never intended to operate in a manner which might enable the subcontractor to recover twice or to oppress the defendants to his claim.”
Water Comm'n of Hawai'i v. Nat'l Am. Ins., 930 F. Supp. 1411 (D. Haw. 1996). “The term "improvement” as used in this section shall have the same meaning as in section 507-41 and the phrase "date of completion" as used in this section shall mean the time when there has been substantial completion of the improvement or the improvement has been abandoned .”
Bruno v. All. Rental Grp., LLC (Mass. App. Ct. 2023). “Bruno argues that Alliance furnished rental equipment only for those periods of time that the equipment was used to perform work on the project, and that Alliance last furnished rental equipment to the project on October 4, 2018, the date that the equipment was last used to…”
Media Five Ltd. v. Yakimetz, 631 P.2d 1211 (Haw. App. 1981). · cites it 2× “Fong Inn Estate is therefore not an owner within the meaning of that term as defined in § 507-41 since it did not enter into any contract for the improvement of its real estate.”
Nakashima Assocs., Inc. v. Pac. Beach Corp., 641 P.2d 337 (Haw. App. 1982). “Section 507-41 provides: “Improvement” includes the construction, repair, alteration of or addition to any building, structure, road, utility, railroad, or other undertaking or appurtenances thereto, and includes any building, construction, erection, demolition, excavation,…”
Quality Masons, Inc. v. Tomita, 626 P.2d 204 (Haw. App. 1981). “Under § 507-41, an improvement is defined as and including “the construction .”
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