In this chapter:

1. (1) "Contractor" means a person who contracts with an owner to improve real property or perform construction services for an owner.

2. (2) "Improve" means to:

   1. (A) build, construct, effect, erect, alter, repair, or demolish any improvement on, connected with, or beneath the surface of real property;
   2. (B) excavate, clear, grade, fill, or landscape real property;
   3. (C) construct a driveway or roadway;
   4. (D) furnish any material, including trees or shrubbery, for the purpose of taking any action described by Paragraphs (A)-(C) of this subdivision; or
   5. (E) perform any labor on or in connection with an improvement.

3. (3) "Improvement" includes all or any part of:

   1. (A) a building, structure, erection, alteration, demolition, or excavation on, connected with, or beneath the surface of real property; and
   2. (B) the act of clearing, grading, filling, or landscaping real property, including constructing a driveway or roadway or furnishing trees or shrubbery.
4. (4) "Owner" means a person or entity, other than a governmental entity, with an interest in real property that is improved, for whom an improvement is made, and who ordered the improvement to be made.
5. (5) "Real property" includes lands, leaseholds, tenements, hereditaments, and improvements placed on the real property.
6. (6) "Subcontractor" means a person who contracts to furnish labor or material to, or has performed labor or supplied materials for, a contractor or another subcontractor in connection with a contract to improve real property.

Added by Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 479, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1993.