Meet the Team.
European Windows & Doors is a family-owned Auckland glazing company. Meet our owners – father and son team Andy and Rikky Payne.
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Andy, Rikky and the team at the flagship company, Paynes Glass, have 50+ years' experience in the trade. Their glaziers have worked on some of the biggest jobs in New Zealand.
Paynes Glass worked on replacing the glass floor at Sky City, glazed the Sky City Hotel Expansion, completed the full exterior fit out and cells at Mount Eden Prison, worked on Auckland Region Women's Corrections Facility, and are also responsible for the work on bus ways and stations from Auckland's North Shore, right into the city.
Andy Payne
Andy’s career in glazing stretches back to 1984, when as a 20 year-old, he began a three-year apprenticeship at East Yorkshire Glazing in the UK. After serving his apprenticeship he spent four years as a tradesman supervising apprentices. At 27 he went to Scarborough Window Centre where his role was the installation manager looking after site evaluations and overseeing all the installation teams.
In 1994, Andy decided to start his own business as a one-man band. Ten years later, he had grown into a large showroom in the middle of town, with four installation teams and support staff. In a separate operation he called the “window doctor”, he travelled around North Yorkshire, fixing aluminium or PVC joinery when the hardware needed changing.
In 2004, Andy and his family packed their bags and moved to New Zealand. For the next 15 years he worked at Pilkingtons, Viridian, Euro Glass, and Metro Glass as a glazier, supervisor and eventually project manager. At that time, there was no PVC joinery being used here, it was all timber or aluminium frames with single glazing.
Rikky Payne
Rikky started out as an apprentice in 2008 and has experienced all aspects of glazing work in both the UK and New Zealand. He was introduced to working with and installing uPVC while still in the UK, long before it was available locally.
On relocating to New Zealand, Rikky worked for some of the biggest glass and glazing companies in the country, and steadily advanced his career to project manager – a role he held for five years.
In 2020, Rikky and Andy started Paynes Glass in Waiuku – a small glazing business employing six people and contracting around the country.
Like his father, Rikky understands the value of great teamwork and communication.
European Windows & Doors
PVC only arrived in New Zealand in the early 2000s having long been the preferred joinery option in the UK and Europe (it is installed in more than 80% of European homes). Andy and Rikky began working with uPVC and quickly understood its value and advantages for clients, and so, in 2023, European Windows & Doors was born.