After a house fire ripped through our beloved family home, we salvaged what we could and are grateful for getting a second chance. With this in mind, we signed to rebuild with Metricon Homes, Australia’s largest home builder. The reason we chose this path was in an attempt to fast track our return back to our neighbourhood for our two young daughters. Now three years after the fire and having been cheated and unfairly sued by Metricon, our family is still not home. Unfortunately, countless home owners have similar stories of being put through hell by dodgy builders – THIS MUST STOP.

We are calling upon local, state/territory and federal governments to appropriately regulate the industry, enforce building standards and provide requisite consumer protections. The Class 1 building industry has been allowed for far too long to run with little oversight, due to deregulation and persistent industry lobbying that only takes care of large builder interests. As a result, rogue builders take shortcuts and compromise on quality, directly harming everyday Australians.

In our case, Metricon kept stalling completion of our home and after months of being pushed around, after we contracted an independent engineer, it was revealed that the brickwork was missing crucial “control joints” without which the house was likely to crack from thermal expansion. In fact, to hide their fault, Metricon created fake “photoshopped” images of joints, that in fact did not exist. Not only this but we also had defective mortar holding up all of the brickwork - too much sand, too little cement and no lime contrary to what was instructed by their own engineers! 

At one point, NSW Fair Trading told us they couldn't inspect nor help us, despite overwhelming evidence in our favour and instead advised us, an average Aussie family, to take on a multi-billion-dollar revenue company by taking them to the Tribunal (NCAT) - which we did. We felt we had no other options. What followed was a lengthy and expensive legal battle where we witnessed the building giant use the most reprehensible legal tactics in an attempt to win their case, at any cost. We were shocked by their ruthless tactics, including the threat of a Supreme Court injunction… and to think this was a multi-billion-dollar revenue company going after an average Aussie family.

We were severely let down by the system which is totally stacked against homeowners. Whilst Metricon is now being investigated for alleged fraud and unconscionable conduct by NSW Fair Trading, this sadly has come late; having spent hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to defend ourselves and to achieve a fair outcome - justice.  

Whilst our experience is hard to even retell, the truth is that thousands of consumers across Australia have been going through different versions of this abuse by their builders. Whether they be first home owners, migrants, investors or families the story is the same - builders unfairly using their imbalance of power, gaslighting customers until they give up. We need state and territory governments to urgently investigate the industry via parliamentary inquiries. This is paramount, especially given the recent scrutiny that has come about with solvency concerns surrounding the industry and of Metricon, in particular.

The industry sadly is in crisis, no matter which perspective you are looking at it from. For consumers the industry has been deregulated to such an extent that there is virtually no protection for homeowners anymore. We need existing standards to be adhered to and new protections and controls put in place. Building your home should be a rewarding process, not the nightmare it has become.

Metricon has deprived us of the precious memories that we could have created with our daughters. As parents, it’s been hard not to be able to give our young family the home and the attention they deserve. 

Please sign and share my petition to support calls for reform of the building industry to help everyday Aussies be adequately protected ...

BECAUSE one of your lifetime's biggest investments shouldn't be a GAMBLE!

If you want to find out more about our story, click on the links below:

• Complaint letter and complaint update to Metricon executives and their staff
• ABC TV news story and article
• MP raising concerns in NSW Parliament during Budget Estimates 
• A turn in the right direction with us invited to speak at the NSW Fair Trading & SafeWork NSW Leadership Conference 
• SMH and The Age stories, relying on our consumer advocacy
• Open letter to State Premiers, Territory Chief Ministers and respective Leaders of the Opposition
• Daily Mail news article

Sincerely, 

Melissa and Salv Barbagallo