Can we lien without contact in Colorado

We did a project in 2020 for a client and it ended successfully and without issue. In 2021 he had a pipe freeze and burst in his kitchen. He was out of the country and we had below zero temps and he hadn’t shut his water off. We turned in an insurance claim and they covered it. He called us back to make the repairs and now he is not paying us. There was no formal contract as we didn’t know what we were doing until we arrived on the job site. He supplied most material. Have text messages asking us to repair for him but when it came time to be paid he said he paid us enough with he first job in 2020 that we should have money left over to cover it. He knows we didn’t because we did a recap for him previously. When we sent him the breakdown of 2020 job w invoices, showing we went over budget by $24.00 he said he would have his accountant review but it’s tax season so it’ll take awhile. We are going on 10 weeks since work completed. When we said we’d need to be paid or we’ll have to start the lien process he said it was our fault the flood happened and that he would sue us and we’d lose. He owes us $8900. The previous renovation was $250,000. He knows he owes us money because he sent our designer an email saying he needed receipts from her so he could get us paid. The $250,000 job was fully permitted, licensed subs in all areas and passed all inspections. He says now it’s terrible work but prior to this we never heard one bad thing about our work. Do we pursue lien or let it go as we are in Colorado and don’t have a signed ‘contract’.