A disgruntled homeowner who accused his Melbourne builder of shoddy work in a viral TikTok video faces a bill expected to exceed $1 million after losing a legal battle with the company and its directors.
Gurvinderpal Singh was ordered to cough up the whopping bill after he falsely alleged Singh Homes had 'ruined' his family's life with their 'selfish' behaviour and accused the company of being dodgy builders.
Last week, the County Court of Victoria ordered Mr Singh to pay $105,000 to each of Singh Homes' two directors for defaming them, on top of an earlier $673,000 award to the company, plus legal costs and interest.
Mr Singh hired the company in 2022 to build a home for him and his wife in Truganina, in Melbourne's west.
However, the relationship soured amid a dispute over delays, payments and the quality of the building work.
Two days after Singh Homes terminated the contract in February 2024, Mr Singh took to social media, posting a scathing review on the Facebook page Dodgy Builders Melbourne and uploading a Punjabi-language TikTok video that attracted about 220,000 views.
The video contained a series of false allegations about the company and its directors, including claims of poor workmanship, inadequate supervision and mistreatment of clients.
'I had a very bad experience with Singh Homes,' Gurvinderpal said, according to a translation cited in a court judgment. 'During the construction of the house … from the slab stage until now, whatever they … finished, major faults were found in everything.
Gurvinderpal Singh has been ordered to pay Singh Homes more than $1million after posted a now deleted Tiktok video defaming them
The builder and its directors, Parvinder Sarwara and Daman Anand (pictured), launched legal action after alleging Mr Singh's online campaign drove customers away
Gurvinderpal Singh and his wife hired Singh Homes to build a house in the fast-growing Melbourne suburb of Truganina (pictured) in 2022
'Many times, you call them, and they won't give any response to you because their time is valuable but your time has no value.
'A person thinks that he should commit suicide by throwing himself under a train; they put you in such a situation.'
The claims went to a jury, which found they were not true.
The builder and its directors, Parvinder Sarwara and Daman Anand, launched legal action in 2025, alleging Mr Singh's online campaign drove customers away and inflicted more than $1 million in losses.
After a four-week jury trial, County Court Judge Julie Clayton found in their favour, ruling the social media posts amounted to misleading and deceptive conduct and injurious falsehood.
Although Singh Homes sought more than $1.08 million, Judge Clayton ultimately awarded the company $673,000 after around a dozen customers aborted planned contracts with the company.
Clayton initially awarded the directors $5,000 each for a 'minor and temporary loss of commercial reputation', but found they had not established serious harm for their defamation claims. She found they had shown personal hurt without demonstrating concrete damage to how others viewed them.
However, the courtroom battle did not end there, with the builders' owners launching their own fight over the damage they said the viral posts had inflicted on their reputations.
The builder successfully sued Mr Singh over viral social media posts that it said damaged its business (pictured is a Singh Homes property under construction)
In August, the Victorian Court of Appeal overturned the original ruling and found there was evidence the video had been widely shared and discussed within the Indian community, and that comments had been directed at Mr Anand and Mr Sarwara.
During last week's hearing, the court heard Mr Anand had been personally affected by Mr Singh's defamatory publications and felt ashamed, prompting him to stop attending public events.
'Sitting in the Jury Trial watching, it made me feel very bad that the defendant has claimed that we are dodgy builders, that we are greedy and unqualified and that we harassed him,' Mr Anand said in his affidavit tendered to the court.
'None of this had any proof, but it made me feel worse when he was putting these arguments to the jury. It made me feel speechless and very bad that he was saying we had the name of dodgy builders in court.'
Likewise, Mr Sarwara gave evidence that he was very upset and stressed by the publications and felt shunned by the Indian community.
'I believed I was being falsely blamed for being a thief or being dishonest... I know that the Indian community were following this trial because a lot of people were asking me about it,' he said in his affidavit.
The owners had asked for $250,000 in damages. However, Judge Clayton dismissed that claim, instead finding an award of $100,000 each to be more appropriate.
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