Building with Madison Homes??

Hi,

I'm new on this forum so I'm still learning

We have bought land approx 630m2 and its is a upwards sloping.

We are looking into building with Madison Homes , they are a custom home builder in SA. But whenever we mention Madison Homes to people most people have never heard of them, and I cant find any reviews online.

Have you heard of them, built with them or do you know anyone who has built with them.

here is there URL http://www.madisonhomes.net.au

thank you

Just notice your post

I built with Rino in 1999 when he was Norwich Homes.

This business ceased trading under that name and I was able to track him to his new business Madison Homes.

I had several issues and needed to get a building inspector in.

The report highlighted several problem, one being no waterproofer under tiling on Balcony and 1st floor verandah.

The balcony only water proofing and retiling was eventually carried out, after pressure from Consumer Affairs, by Rino's handy man.
I had the same issue with my 1st floor verandah, many cracked tiles, I am in the process of having it all replaced as it is getting worse and I fear it will compromise the safety of the verandah.

My enuite floor gave way whilst showering for the same reason.

I could not get Rino to co-operate to rectify this, even at my own expense, after he promised to do so. He blamed me for tardiness in maintenance, as some grouting had fallen out very early after moving in.
The floor under the shower recess was structa floor, no more than thick masonite and with no water proofing it was a disaster waiting to happen.

I evenutally called Gasparin Homes, who did an excellent job replacing the floor and I have not had a problem since.

I wish I had engaged the services of a building inspector during the building of the home, it would have been money well spent.

I just noticed the above post. Reno at Madison are also really bad payers to their contractors, all the best ones will not work for them any more, unless you don't know their reputation and get caught.

I bought a home 11 years ago built by Madison Homes. It was brand new. I would advise anyone thinking of building with this company to go somewhere else. The quality of the build is very poor. Door frames out of alignment, window frames out of alignment, poorly fitting doors which in a couple of cases were warped from day one. The biggest issue is moisture in the pillars at the front of the property supporting the portico. Within the first 2 years I had bubbling of the render and moisture. I tried negotiating with Rino but he is a very arrogant man who refuses to take responsibility for poor workmanship. I had to get Consumer Affairs involved. After about 18 months he finally agreed to get someone he knew to drill holes into the columns and pour chemicals in and I also had to get the paver to take up pavers around the whole house and put a waterproof membrane between the house and the pavers (which I did). I knew it wouldn't work and said so at the time, because although there was a dampcourse under the house, the portico and pillars had no such course. And as I predicted, the moisture has returned and I am now looking at having to get the pillars removed and a dampcourse put down and the pillars rebuilt - at my own expense.

I may read too much into things but usually im right.. it seems quite ironic to me that these posts are from people who have specifically joined to make this one post and nothing else. They have not provided any real evidence of even having built with these builder's.

My suspicion would be, having also read other reviews, that these reviewers are from rival companies or people with personal issues with other employees.

Provide genuine reviews that can be verified and dont waste people's time!!!!!!

Madison homes has a bad reputation. The director is Rino Varsalona. I have seen numerous of his clients and have not had any good reports from any of them. I have seen problems with many of his homes. One of his projects in Mawson lakes did not get termite prevention, and within 4 weeks there were termites discovered in the building. He only usually responds to an inspector. In this case, thats what happened and the perimeter paving was removed and then termite barrier was installed.
I had a home built by madison. It was 25% over their estimated cost (No changes had been made) and it took a long time, It sat through 3 months of winter without any trades turning up. Thankfully I sold it quickly (at a loss due to the length of time paying the mortgage, and the excessive building cost) after I sold it, there was serious roof truss issues, cracks coming through the ceilings, I was told by the new owner. They had to get an engineer and lawyer involved because Rino doesnt usually rectify otherwise. Another I saw had a leaking balcony since its construction, and it took about 4 years before he finally got to repair it.

We had our house built by Rino when he was Norwich Homes, and were very happy with the time he took to build our home, only six months and we had no issues whatsoever with our home. Everything was built to satisfaction, and we would have no hesitation building with Rino again, in fact several of his clients whom we know and recommended to Rino have built with him multiple times, so I dont believe some of the negative posts.
Regarding not paying his contractors, this is also incorrect as we are sub-contractors ourselves and have done work for Madison Homes numerous times and never had an issue with receiving payment, although we have had problems getting paid by other builders. The only reason there would be any issue with paying tradies is when developers or clients don't pay builders thus causing a delay for them to pay the tradies.

Seems to me that after being in the business over 30 years and only receiving a couple of bad reviews, Rino has done very well first as Norwich Homes with a former partner who moved interstate, and now as Madison Homes. It's a pity that satisfied clients usually give commendation in person and also recommend in person, they don't bother writing reviews in forums like this.

Yes I agree with you that their work is terrible. So many issues with my son's new home. Door doesn't slide properly and track at the bottom is all bent, screen door fell off and landed on the ground on 1st day there. 3 days later all sewerage was blocked in upstairs bathroom and plumber had to be called out and he said workmanship was terrible and whole toilet had to be removed and drains cleared etc. Other toilet was continuously running which turned out being due to papers etc being stuffed into top of the toilet from tradies. That's what happens I guess when you don't pay your tradesmen, the good ones won't come back and you end up with the lazy, sloppy ones carrying out the work. Aircond doesn't work, common lighting to the property doesn't work, plaster splattered on walls and left to dry there, tapware scratched, shower screen hits vanity when it opens and this was all found in first week. Can only imagine what will be uncovered over the next few months. Now we have to get them to fix all the defects, guessing we will have to fight for this and get consumer affairs involved which we have no problems doing. If they receive any good reviews, I would be betting it's from a family member !!

Perhaps you would like to see the terrible, poor quality work carried out at my son's new home. They have had major issues within 3 days of moving in and a huge defect list, as does one of the other owners who bought into the same group that we met and spoke to today. The plumber had to carry out major repairs and was horrified with what he found. The nightmare has just begun for anyone that buys into this new group but Rino will be held accountable or he may just find his company featuring on a local current affairs show. If your review is legitimate, then you are lucky and from what we have since learnt, this is a rare occurrence. Oh well, Norwich Homes, Madison Homes, bad reputation, easy, change the name and keep going.

So many people have issues with their drain and/or stormwater system yet so very few have a CCTV cam inspection done pre handover.

I considered this inspection based on reading your advice a few years ago, got it quoted. Decided not to proceed because tradies had been using all our toilets for almost a year and I inspected many times during and after heavy rainfall to see the drainage and retention systems working. Got Metricon to replace the box gutter system on the side parapet roof over the kitchen window because their standard design installed originally was not compliant with the plumbing code and prone to leaking.

Yes, I well remember the excellent thread you started that warned others about your builder's self admitted endemic non compliant box gutter drainage.

A new homeowner booking a pre handover forensic plumbing inspection needs a plumber who actually knows the regulations but many don't. While a CCTV cam inspection needs to examine for many issues including compliance with AS2870 for houses built on highly reactive soil and confirmation that flexible joints were used as well as examine for damaged pipes and other out of sight issues, a CCTV cam inspection needs to be complemented by an examination for regulatory roof stormwater drainage compliance, something that is certainly still ignored on a large scale here in Victoria.

How many new home owners out there are blissfully unaware that the non compliant box drainage issues you found also exists on their house?

We are contractors that did work for Madison homes, we had to take them to court to get paid for work that was completed a year before. My advise to any one considering building, or working for them, is DO NOT. Stay well clear of them, They can not be reached by phone, and they do not answer emails..Do yourselves a favour read all reviews and please do not engage with them.

Hi Critic
I am more than happy to provide you my story which adds to the similar issues that have had with the build that I bought which was built by Madison Homes.

I don’t want to provide my detail here, however if you want some evidence, I’m happy to give it to you.

This is my first post as have just come across this.

How does one contact Madison Homes?

Hi Wendy

I sincerely hope you didn’t build with Madison Homes..