I am using rsync to replicate a web folder structure from a local server to a remote server. Both servers are ubuntu linux. I use the following command, and it works well:
I had a similar problem and cheated the rsync command,
rsync -avz --delete root@x.x.x.x:/home//domains/site/public_html/ /home/domains2/public_html && chown -R wwwusr:wwwgrp /home/domains2/public_html/
the && runs the chown against the folder when the rsync completes successfully (1x '&' would run the chown regardless of the rsync completion status)