S.C. Supreme Court holds that mechanic's lien cannot attach if the contractor's work was for landscaping purposes

In Skiba v. Gessner, contractor performed work for the purpose of preparing the lot for landscaping. The work was not related to a building or structure. When contractor did not get paid he put a mechanic's lien on the property. S.C. Code Ann. § 29-5-10(a) states that for a person to have a mechanic’s lien, the person must perform or furnish labor or furnish materials that are “actually used in the erection, alteration, or repair of a building or structure upon real estate.” Section 29-5-10(a) provides that the “labor performed or furnished in the erection, alteration, or repair of any building or structure upon any real estate includes the . . . work of making the real estate suitable as a site for the building or structure.”

The Supreme Court held that no lien could attach because the contractor's work was completed for the purpose of preparing the land for landscaping and not in connection with the erection, alteration, or repair of a building or structure.