How Metricon founder Mario Biasin became a home-building titan

Metricon boss Mario Biasin spoke candidly about the impact Covid lockdowns were having on his company and the building industry.

Mario Biasin came to Australia as an Italian child migrant in the 1950s, and worked his way up the business ladder to become one of the nation’s biggest names in house building.

As co-founder of Metricon Homes – a firm which had more than 6000 projects on the go in 2021 – he became very wealthy, amassing an estimated personal fortune of $60 million by the time of his sudden death this week that was linked to “mental health issues”.

However, Mr Biasin’s interests went well beyond the building industry – he was a part-owner of elite soccer club Melbourne Victory, and a passionate supporter of Essendon Football Club.

He also had a keen interest in an Italian football club in his home city of Trieste, in the country’s northeast.

Mr Biasin started his career at the former Melbourne Metropolitan Board of Works in 1969, but shifted to the building industry two years later when he joined a firm as an accountant.

In 1976, together with the late George Kline, he founded Metricon.

Metricon’s acting executive chair Ross Palazzesi and co-founders Mario Biasin and George Kline.

“Both of us, as child migrants to Australia, were acutely aware of the role a home plays in anchoring people, giving them a sense of belonging,” Mr Biasin said last year.

“I was in Sydney for a work trip about 30 years ago and saw rough sleepers – a sight I’d not witnessed in Melbourne. This started my thinking about how the construction sector could contribute to alleviating housing distress.”

Mr Biasin’s commitment to the issue is well known by former developer executive Rob Pradolin, who created construction industry charity Housing All Australians.

Mr Pradolin said that when he thought up the idea, Mr Biasin sent him a letter offering to put in $300,000 over three years to kick it along.

“I never actually asked for the money, but if it wasn’t for Mario providing that initial letter that gave me confidence, you never know if we’d be where we are without that genuine concern for fellow human beings,” he said.

Metricon later built housing for vulnerable women through the charity.

Rising from humble migrant beginnings, Mr Biasin went on to live in one of Toorak’s premier addresses.

In 2016, he sold his six-bedroom 1930s home at 65 Hopetoun Rd for $10.5m, and an adjoining four-bedroom house for $5m.

Metricon acting chief executive Peter Langfelder denies Metricon is at risk of financial collapse. Picture: Kiel Egging

Mr Biasin was a director and major shareholder of Melbourne Victory, an interest that cost him considerable time and money.

In 2016, it was reported that Mr Biasin and fellow Victory shareholder Anthony Di Pietro had thrown a 100,000 euro lifeline to “struggling” Italian club Triestina.

In a revealing podcast from May 2020, Mr Biasin spoke candidly about the effects pandemic lockdowns were having on Metricon and the wider home building industry.

“It’s been a rollercoaster ride to say the least,” he said.

“I didn’t expect this Covid-19 to have the effect it’s had all around the world.”

Master Builders Victoria chief executive Rebecca Casson worked closely with Mr Biasin and others to ensure home building could reopen during lockdowns.

“If it wasn’t for Metricon and the effort that Mario and (acting Metricon chief executive Peter Langfelder) put in through that pandemic time, our industry would have been in a much worse position that it is,” she told the Herald Sun.

Ms Casson said that Mr Biasin was a formidable businessman, but also “a very kind, very generous, very professional, very intelligent man – he was a wonderful human being”.

“He was very down to earth, he would always pick up the phone, and he was very approachable.”

The Metricon boss also had a fun side, calling British-born Ms Casson “my English rose”.

“It was his birthday a little while ago, and I rang him and sang happy birthday to him, and we were joking about how bad my voice was,” she said.

“He did have a great sense of humour.”

Mr Biasin leaves behind his wife Glenda, and four adult children Jason, Michelle, Bradley and Brent.

Originally published as How Metricon founder Mario Biasin became a home-building titan