A gym-loving couple who paid their pensioner neighbour to build a workout room in their garden during lockdown are now suing him in a £215,000 court fight after branding it "complete rubbish".
Fitness mad accountant Paras Dodhia and his "gym enthusiast" wife, Devina, paid next door neighbour Tommy Joyce £53,000 to build a luxury gym in the garden of their £560,000 home in Pinner, Middlesex, in a bid to beat the lockdown blues in late 2020.
But Mr Joyce, 66, is now facing a £215,000 lawsuit over claims they later had to demolish the building due to its “rubbish” internal build quality and "shoddy" workmanship.
Mr Dodhia, who is spearheading the claim, says the gym room had to be “gutted” due to its “atrocious” workmanship and complains his neighbour picked up workmen to carry out the ill-fated build "from the pub”.
The couple now want their neighbour to pay them around £215,000 following his "gross negligence" - £55,858 in compensation, plus £160,000 in legal fees they have spent fighting the case.
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Mr Joyce however claims he is not responsible for work carried out by the pub labourers and is accusing the couple of "destroying evidence" when they demolished the gym and built a new one.
Central London County Court heard that Mr Dodhia and his wife commissioned the work in late 2020 when Covid restrictions were fluctuating and they needed space to work out at home.
The homes of Paras Dodhia (right) and Tommy Joyce (left) in Pinner (Supplied by Champion News)They were both keen keep-fitters and desperate to stay in shape during lockdown, so grabbed the chance to get their own gym built by their next door neighbour, Mr Joyce.
Mr Dodhia’s barrister, Jeff Hardman, told Judge David Saunders: “Throughout early 2020, Mr Joyce was in the process of converting his (own) outhouse, and invited Mr Dodhia to consider similar works to his metal shed.
“In short, Mr Dodhia was touting for work from his neighbour, and suggested that he provide him with a quotation.
“Mr Dodhia discussed this opportunity with his wife, Devina.
“As gym enthusiasts, but with recreational pursuits restricted due to Covid, they were encouraged by Mr Joyce’s observations to convert their unsightly metal garage into a gym.”
Mr Joyce showed his neighbours the work he had carried out on his outhouse which “impressed them”, said Mr Hardman, prompting them to ask him about levelling their existing shed and building a gym and kitchenette in their garden.
“Plainly Mr Joyce was representing to Mr and Mrs Dodhia that he had the requisite experience and skill set to build the gym,” added their barrister.
But Mr Hardman branded Mr Joyce’s eventual building efforts in his neighbours' garden “complete rubbish,” with one expert saying “the only good thing was the ground works and the roof".
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"The shoddy work is unsurprising given that Mr Joyce says he picked up labourers from people he knew from the pub," said the barrister.
Mr Dodhia himself told the judge in evidence: “Tommy would offer ideas on what to do with the outbuilding - he was converting his own to a bedsit.
Paras Dodhia and wife Devina are suing their neighbour (Champion News)“As time went on, he would offer to quote me a price for constructing a similar building for us and told me about all the amazing builds he had done."
Mr Joyce submitted the Dodhias a handwritten quote in September 2020, but by February 2021 Mrs Dodhia was complaining to him that “the works were far from complete” and that the costs had far outstripped the original £36,000 estimate.
The same month Mr Joyce produced a further £7,350 quote for “additional garden works,” but soon after Mr Dodhia arranged for two builders to assess the project, Mr Hardman continued.
“They indicated that it required a lot of work to get the gym to a habitable standard and both quoted around £20,000 to correct the defects and poor workmanship," he said.
“One of the contractors approached Mr Joyce to discuss the works and the likely defects.
“An argument ensued: he said that ‘Tommy turned around and walked off, saying he wanted nothing more to do with the job and shouting profanities as he returned to his house’.”
In all, the couple shelled out £53,398 for their dream home gym, the court heard.
But a surveyor who examined the building slammed the workmanship as “generally of extremely poor quality,” advising that the entire building be gutted save for the block work walls, slab floor and roof.
He estimated that “remedial works” would cost £55,858, and the building has since been levelled and rebuilt.
Contesting the claim, Mr Joyce's barrister Nigel Woodhouse argued that he could not be held responsible for work carried out by other workers because he was not a builder.
“His position is that he did not represent himself as anything other than a retired groundworks foreman and machine driver," he told the judge.
“He denies offering to construct and design the outbuilding and says he was helping out Mr Dodhia to get the outbuilding constructed as Mr Dodhia’s brother-in-law - who was an experienced builder - was too busy to construct the outbuilding but was able to supervise the works.
“Mr Dodhia casts him as a design and build main contractor, whereas Mr Joyce says that he was assisting his neighbour to bring Mr Dodhia’s vision of constructing a home gym during lockdown to fruition.
"Mr Joyce accepts that he is responsible for works which he carried out himself.
"These works comprise demolishing Mr and Mrs Dodhia's old garage with the assistance of asbestos contractors, carrying out groundworks for laying pipe work and installing a soakaway and drain, digging out and laying trench foundations, taking down a garden shed and fence, digging out a retaining wall, putting in a temporary ramp at no charge and tiling the floors and the walls of the gym, kitchen and the gym bathroom.
"He does not accept that he is responsible for works carried out by others."
Nor was there any need to destroy the building, added Mr Woodhouse. "Mr Dodhia demolished the outbuilding without informing Mr Joyce that he was going to do so," he added.
“If any one by a deliberate act destroys a document which, according to what its contents may have been, would have told strongly either for him or against him, the strongest possible presumption arises that if it had been produced it would have told against him."
In his closing remarks to the court, Mr Dodhia’s barrister said Mr Joyce has expressed “no shame or remorse” for his work, adding: “he seemed to be saying he did this almost as a favour”.
“Any professional person would be wholly and utterly mortified and embarrassed to have performed these works in such an atrocious way,” he added.
After two days in court, Judge Saunders reserved his judgment in the case.
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