I have a client who's invoice is $4,998.21 and he has deiced to take the insurance payment he received and keep it and pay us a $100.00 dollars at a time and he said there was nothing we can do as long as he is making a payment the insurance payment he got was for the work we did on his home and he spent it.
Your customer must pay you the full amount agreed to under your contract unless you agree otherwise. If your contract was directly with the owner, or you sent preliminary notice, then you may record a lien provided that you are within 90 days of project completion (absent any notice of completion). But given low amount owed, small claims may make more sense. It really depends on if you believe that the lien will be enough to encourage payment. If you do not think so, I would proceed with small claims now.