2020 marks twenty-five years in business for Madden and Associates. An amazing feat for any business let alone one in the construction and building industry.
To give some background on the history of where it all began for Madden, Steve, the company's director and founder gives us this brief insight on starting out in 1995...
I had been working in Australia for 5 years and noticed one of the industries I was working in had no representation when it came to Building works. That is, the only advice they obtained, came from the Builder who wanted to do the work. It soon became apparent to mean that the Builders were charging what they wanted, as opposed to what market forces said they should charge. In some cases, this amounted to many millions of dollars. It was at this point that I decided to work for myself and to give independent advice and service to the hospitality industry.
At first, there was enormous resentment and resistance from those Contractors who had had things there own way for many years and were not happy with an independent Project Manager coming in, on the Private Client side. As the years passed, our Client base grew with all of our Clients saving money in the millions, which at times they could not believe. But results speak for themselves, and other Builders were used who still delivered a high quality project for a much better price and more reflective of market expectations. Our Clients were soon asking us back for more projects and were enjoying having a Chartered Construction Manager and Chartered Quantity Surveyor to help them navigate through the entire building process. So, 25 years later, we are still here in Maitland but also have branches in Sydney and the Gold Coast. My son has just become Chartered and adds to our overall service with his international experience in London.
Twenty five years ago, we were in the middle of a recession, my office was the spare room in our house, my baby son was banging on the door, a fax, phone and milk crate for the fax was my office. My extensive experience as an independent Project Manager and Quantity Surveyor in Australia and Overseas gave me the confidence that I could provide a service that previously had not existed in my chosen industry. Some of our Clients have been with us for the whole journey, some Clients are just finding us now. The Madden team has now grown from those early days and that baby banging on the door so many years ago, is now a senior project manager in the business. Me, well, I am older and considerably wiser but I love the industry I am in and have met some wonderful people. I feel privileged to know these people, who initially were Clients and so many have become friends.
Twenty five years has come and gone in a blink, so much has happened, friends have retired or moved on, to enjoy their new adventure. Let's hope the next 25 years continues to excite our friends and our Clients.
