Landscaper to receive $ 7,800 from homeowner

A British Properties homeowner has been ordered to pay $ 7,800 to a landscape company after fighting an invoice in court.

Absolute Landscaping Ltd. sued Sarjinder Dhaliwal of Stevens Drive in West Vancouver after Dhaliwal paid only $ 5,000 of a $ 16,700 bill for work done on her property in the spring of 2008.

Associate Chief Judge Nancy Phillips made the order after a two- day trial in Provincial Court.

During the trial, the owner of the landscaping company testified he had previously done work for Dhaliwal and was contacted to do some more landscaping on the property in the spring of 2008.

The eventual bill included building a fence on a neighbour’s property, which had to be removed and rebuilt, as well as excavation work for a “cascading waterfall” feature Dhaliwal wanted.

A pond expert later advised that it wasn’t possible to build that feature on the property.

After receiving the bill, Dhaliwal paid $ 5,000 and refused further payments.

In court, Dhaliwal questioned how much work the landscapers had done, saying that although she was usually home from work by 3: 30 p. m., she rarely saw either of the two landscapers on the property.

She also blamed the landscapers for planting a cedar hedge in contravention of municipal bylaws.

In making her decision, the judge deducted almost $ 4,000 of the bill for labour and supplies on the failed waterfall project, for extra travel time and for inflated costs to relocate the fence.

But she said Dhaliwal had to take some responsibility for telling the landscapers to build the fence on her neighbour’s property and for knowing which bylaws applied to her land.

He gave Dhaliwal until June 30 to pay the remaining amount: approximately $ 7,800, plus interest.