contractor

Literally, a person who has assumed obligations as a party to a contract, but in common usage, a person who pursues an occupation or business, wherein he contracts to render services for others, including public bodies, in building, painting, excavating, etc., the most significant feature of which is that while he may have an "employer" in the broad sense of that term, he is not under direction in respect of the means by which his work is accomplished. Storm v Thompson, 185 Iowa 309, 170 NW 403, 20 ALR 658, 660; Smith v Milwaukee Builders & Traders' Exchange, 91 Wis 360, 367. As used in a mechanic's lien statute, a "contractor" is a person who furnishes labor and appliances necessary for the work, and who pays therefor, but who does not work or labor personally. Little Rock, H. S. & T. Railway v Spencer & Maney, 65 Ark 183, 47 SW 196. The word in a statutory provision giving his employee a right to claim compensation, under the Workmen's Compensation Act, from the principal where specific conditions are met, has the same significance as "independent contractor," and the test in determining whether the employer is a "contractor" is the same as that which determines whether a person who is himself claiming compensation is an employee or an independent contractor. United States Fidelity & G. Co. v Spring Brook, 135 Conn 294, 64 A2d 39, 13 ALR2d 769. See independent contractor; subcontractor.