I am currently in a situation in Ohio where im not registered as a contractor or a business. I was asked if i could remodel a duplex for a landlord i had been introduced. I did work in first building and was paid on the spot. He provides material im just receiving labor pay. He asks on a per job basis of my estimated labor. Everything went fine for a few little jobs. I then was asked to do major work on an empty duplex that had caught on fire a few years prior. It had been improperly framed when i got to it and had some damage from being exposed for min of 2 years to my knowledge. I wrote up an estimate and materials needed. Sent it to him. He said "lets do it". Ive been plugging away for some months on the place putting in alot of hours and recieving very little on no certain schedule. I recently asked for a pull for the progress made becouse of my own stupid issues with child support. I asked 3000 of a 13000 dollar estimated total. Im past halfway done. There has been many additional changes to the job adding much more work and havnt had anything signed just been verbal besides my estimate wich was an online estimating app. He said he could only pay 800. And was having issues with the amount of money he has to work with each week. Im worried he isnt going to pay the remainder and wondered what i can do if not.
I am sorry about the issues you are dealing with. No one likes to do work and not get paid.
First, you may not think you have a written contract, but Ohio courts have worked with less than what you stated and found a written contract to be in effect. You seem to have all the elements of a written contract (a written document constituting an offer, acceptance of the offer by the other party, and consideration i.e. your work you performed). Depending on what your estimate says, I believe you have a written contract and the landlord is bound to pay those amounts.
One lien-related question that is important to answer is this, is the landlord the owner of the property (or if not the owner, is he at least acting on behalf of the owner)? If the answer to that question is yes, then you can file a mechanic's lien, for work that you have already performed, against the property. Since this appears to be residential property, the time for filing a mechanic's lien is within 60 days from the last date of work.
If the answer to the above question is no, then the landlord may only have a leasehold interest in the property, in which case you would want to state that in your lien.
Ultimately, a lien is probably your best option, so as to increase the pool of persons to collect from. After you file the lien, if they do not pay you can take them to court.
From this point forward you should be documenting everything. Get conversations with the landlord in writing (text message or email is fine). Document before and after photos of your work, etc. That way if you have to sue at some point in the future, you have hard evidence to back it up.