What options when your not paid for commercial work

Depending on your contract and when you did your last work, you may still have a mechanic's lien right.  When you say "commercial customer" I am assuming that you did your work directly for the business, you weren't a subcontractor.  If you were a sub, there may be additinal hoops that you have to jump through.  FIling a mechanic's lien will secure your right to be paid by placing a lien on the property that you "improved" with your work.  There is a short time limit to file your lien, 75 days from your last real work on that project.   Whether you file a lien or not, you still have a contract right.  You can file a small claims complaint in your local small claims court (small claims division of the municipal court).  If your company is a corporation or LLC you can still file a small claims complaint for cases under $3,000.  Over that amount you must have an attorney.  If you are not a corporation or LLC, you can handle the case without an attorney.   There are a few options of which municipal court is appropriate if your company is located in one city, the work was done in another and the company is located in yet a third:  Where you did the work; the principal place of business of the defendant; where the contract was breached (this can include where payment was due--was payment to be mailed to you at your place of business?  If so, you can genearlly file suit there although you may get some pushback claiming that it the wrong venue).  This generally doesn't happen because, among other things, small claims defendants frequrently do not even show up for the hearing.  If they do, its a little like Judge Judy.  If not, you still have to appear and tell the judge (magistrate) your story. You may wnat to hire a lawyer to help you complete the small claims complaint, but generally, you can do that yourself.  You get a small claims complaint form at the municipal court.  Some courts that are on line let you download copies of the form.  One of the tricks is to tell enough of the relevant facts without saying too much.  The forms try to limit you to three or four lines of facts.