Page:North Dakota Reports (vol. 2).pdf/279

In that case a party commenced the erection of a building for the purpose of manufacturing saws by hand. Before it was entirely completed he conceived the idea of changing it intoa steam manufacturing establishment, which required the erection of additional buildings and the outlay of much more money. He paid off all mechanic’s claims up to that date, and mortgaged the premises. Subsequently he began the erection of the additional buildings which, when completed, formed, with the building first erected, one establishment. A lien was filed for labor and material that went into the additional buildings, but the court held such lien juniur to the mortgage, on the ground that the steam manufacturing establishment was an entirely different structure from the one first erected, and was not commenced until the additional buildings were commenced. Judge SHarswoop in his opinion, adopted by the court, says: “The true question then is, was the whole establishment erected on substantially one plan and design from the commencement, or was the plan or design so materially changed during the progress of the work as to make the whole a different building from that which was or would have been erected had no such change taken place? I use this language cautiously, to exclude the idea that any project of subsequent alteration, whether vague or certain, whether entertained at the commencement or suggested during the progress of the building, and not embodied in the actual plan upon which it was commenced and carried on, could make any difference.” Further on he says: “It may be safely conceded that unimportant alterations in the plan, such as the height or number of the stories, the arrangement and finish of the rooms, or even the addition of one or more outhouses, not materially altering its character, would not affect the rights of subsequent claimants.” See, also, Pennock v. Hoover, 5 Rawle, 307; Insurance Co. v. Slye, supra. In this case the heating apparatus was furnished and placed in the building in the course of its erection. That it became a part of the structure is not questioned. The law would presume, iu the absence of all testimony, that the heating apparatus augmented the value of the building in an amount equal to its cost. The building, when completed, was