Local | with Scott McMahon, APL Fabricator Support Manager

Listen as Scott speaks with Simon Farrell-Green, editor of HERE magazine, about how APL windows and doors can be reached from any part of New Zealand. But being 'local' holds value beyond just physical presence, it's knowing that the people you work with just get it. They connect with architects, builders, and homeowners to ensure seamless integration of window and door solutions. 

00:00 Introduction  
00:36 Scott’s Introduction  
01:34 About the Altherm, First, and Vantage networks  
02:07 What sort of coverage do they offer? How widely spread is it?  
02:26 How do they help me as a builder or an architect?  
03:13 How closely involved are they once a project reaches the site, and what do they bring to that process?  
04:23 How involved are they in their communities?  
05:24 Why is Scott passionate about this industry?

🎙️ About the Series – Made here, for you
Made here, for you is a storytelling series by APL & AGP, shining a light on the people, places, and processes behind New Zealand-made windows and doors. Every episode captures the craft, care, and Kiwi ingenuity that make our products truly local and built to last.

🏠 Explore Our Brands
• Altherm Window Systems
• First Windows & Doors
• Vantage Windows & Doors

🌿 Proudly NZ-Made
From design to delivery, every window system is created here in Aotearoa supporting local manufacturing, innovation, and communities nationwide.

💬 Connect with Us
LinkedIn YouTube Instagram Facebook

Produced by APL. All rights reserved.
“Made here, for you” stories of New Zealand-made windows and doors, told by the people who bring them to life.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction
• 0:36 Scott’s Introduction
• 1:34 About the Altherm, First, and Vantage networks
• 2:07 What sort of coverage do they offer? How widely spread is it?
• 2:26 How do they help me as a builder or an architect?
• 3:13 How closely involved are they once a project reaches the site, and what do they bring to that process?
• 4:23 How involved are they in their communities?
• 5:24 Why is Scott passionate about this industry?

Transcript

0:00

KELDA, I'm Simon Farrell Greene and I'm the editor of Hair Magazine. Welcome to New Zealand Made, a series of podcasts we're making with our friends at APL Windows Solutions. The question we're asking is essentially, what does it mean to build or renovate in an increasingly global and interconnected world? And how do we balance a desire to reduce carbon emissions and improve the performance of our buildings with the ever-increasing cost of doing so? To answer this, we're chatting with experts on the latest developments in building tech and a few other issues. I'm joined now by Scott McMahon, who's business support manager at APL. Hi, Scott. Hi, how are you? Good. Welcome. Easy start. Tell us who you are, what you're doing, what you're doing, and you've got 50 words or less. Yes, so I'm Scott McMahon. I've been in the industry pretty much since I left school. It helped me fund my way through university. And I often say that school's got into my blood and I know now I can't get out of it. It's an industry I'm absolutely passionate about. I guess I started my APL journey as an APL customer, so I was a fabricator. We set up a business in Auckland, manufacturing windows and doors of the APL product. And life's twists and turns, I wandered off and did some other things, built commercial buildings, and then came back in APL. And now I am a business support manager, so my role is to support our customers with whatever challenges they face on a daily, monthly or yearly, yearly battle, basically. And maybe we should talk about the alpha and first advantage networks. Tell us what they are and how that works in terms of the relationships between them and you. There are three customer facing brands in the market, a network of 70 plus manufacturing outlets through all of New Zealand, big cities and rural communities. Yes, so they are in the communities making our product, so we supply them aluminium and the systems, and they put them together as windows bespoke for each project that comes through their business. What's their coverage? Did they offer? How widely spread is it? There's no place in New Zealand that our manufacturers won't touch. Ultimately, they are in all sorts of communities around the country. And the more isolated rural communities, they just drive a bit further. There is nowhere in New Zealand they can't get to. So how do they work, Scott, more particularly, how do they help me as a builder or an architect? I guess they just link arms right at the beginning, and they understand what's required. Architects generally do a great job of drawing plans, but it is a perfect world. And when it gets to the side and it gets built, it's not perfect world. So quite often the builder has to come up with solutions to follow the design intent to make it work. And it's tough doing that on their own. So our manufacturers link arms with them and go through the journey from measuring it to getting it into the opening to sometimes even solving problems that have got nothing to do with the windows, but following trades and how they might be getting mechanical ventilation through the windows and doors. So it's a huge journey from start to finish. How closely involved are they once a project kind of hits the site, and what do they bring to that process? That generally along the entire journey. So they can be from sitting around a table dreaming about what you want to do through to being on site and making sure that every detail is going to work. So our manufacturer is there beside the homeowner knowing what they want, but then with the builder to make sure that the details actually work. The windows fit in the hole, the flashings work, all the cladding details. So the linked arm by arm, whether it be with the homeowner or the builder from start to end of the journey. Obviously just dropping the windows off is the end of the journey contractually, but there's still, hey, I need some help with this. It's not quite working how we expected, and a phone call can resolve something through to other complications at my rise. Think of one recently where a concrete guide literally dropped a whole lot of stuff on the ground outside of window, and there was a phone call through the manufacturer. Hey, how do I sort this? Instantly, it was product to use, how to clean it off, and the owner was saved. So all the way through the process. Tell me how involved in their communities are they? Oh, hugely. These are small businesses generally. I say small as they're owned by a couple generally, a husband and wife. They've put their life savings on the line, and they're running their business. But within that business, they've got 40 or 50 other people potentially working for them that are out in the community, working, doing their thing. So that means that they'll be at the school fair with you, flipping sausages there. If you own a cafe and you're buying some windows, it's highly likely that those workers will be at your cafe over the weekend buying your food and drinks. It's a huge network. So there's potentially thousands of people employed through that network. Oh, there is. There is. Yeah, there is literally thousands of people just like you and I working in these businesses, measuring windows, making windows, glazing, and they've all got families. You know, we're all intermingled in this network of a country, aren't we? So that's what happens. You said it is start that you've been in it your whole career. What's kept you in it? Why is it in your blood? One dose of really intricate. From the outside, they fit in the opening and they're done. But when you're actually in this industry and you realise how complicated they are, you know, you're talking about a finished product that turns up on site. It's completely painted all the hardwares on, the glass is there. It's a really challenging part of the build to get right. And I guess I've seen the challenges of when it goes wrong and what has to be done. So I'm really passionate about our customers getting it right because when it does turn up right and you've got this amazing house lot of windows that has gone in, it does completely transform home. That was Scott McMahon, Business Support Manager at APL, joining us for the New Zealand Mate podcast. Thank you, Scott.