As used in this chapter, the term:

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

(2) "Improve" means to build, effect, alter, repair, or demolish any improvement upon, connected with, or on or beneath the surface of any real property or to excavate, clear, grade, fill, or landscape any real property or to construct driveways and private roadways or to furnish materials, including trees and shrubbery, for any of such purposes or to perform any labor upon such improvements.

(3) "Improvement" means all or any part of any building, structure, erection, alteration, demolition, excavation, clearing, grading, filling, or landscaping, including trees and shrubbery, driveways, and roadways, on real property.

(4) "Owner" means a person who has an interest in the real property improved and for whom an improvement is made and who ordered the improvement to be made. "Owner" includes private persons and entities and state, local, or municipal government agencies, instrumentalities, or entities; provided, however, that the provisions of this chapter shall not apply when the owner is a county having a population of less than 10,000 according to the United States decennial census of 1990 or any such future census or when the owner is a municipality having a population of less than 2,500 according to the United States decennial census of 1990 or any such future census.

(5) "Owner's representative" means the architect or engineer in charge of the project for the owner or such other contract representative or officer as designated in the contract documents as the party representing the owner's interest regarding administration and oversight of the project.

(6) "Real property" means the real estate that is improved, including lands, leaseholds, tenements, and improvements placed on the real property.

(7) "Receipt" means actual receipt of cash or funds in the contractor's or subcontractor's bank account.

(8) "Subcontractor" means any person who has contracted to furnish labor or materials to, or has performed labor or supplied materials for, a contractor or another subcontractor in connection with a contract to improve real property. For purposes of this chapter, the term "subcontractor" shall also include materialmen as defined in Code Section 44-14-360.