About Dando Doors and Windows

Our Love of Wood

Dando Doors and Windows is a third-generation New Zealand timber joinery manufacturer.

Our story began in the 1940s, when my grandfather started his working life as a carpenter and joiner, building homes at a time when timber was the backbone of New Zealand housing. Alongside my father, he contributed to the construction of state houses and family homes, buildings designed to be solid, practical, and made to last.

But New Zealand’s connection to timber goes back much further.

Long before European settlement, Māori were building sophisticated timber structures using native species such as tōtara, kauri, rimu, mataī, and kahikatea. Marae and wharenui were built entirely from timber, with solid wooden doors forming the main entrance. These doors were both practical and symbolic, marking the threshold between spaces.

When European settlers arrived in the early 1800s, they naturally continued building in timber, using the same native species and expanding timber construction into framed houses with glazed timber windows and doors. Many of these early buildings are still standing today, some now more than 200 years old, which says a lot about how durable well-made timber can be when it’s looked after.

For well over a century, timber doors and windows weren’t a feature or a premium choice, they were simply how New Zealand homes were built.

That foundation shaped everything that followed for our family.

My father carried the business through decades of change in the building industry. Timber was still the norm, craftsmanship mattered, and joinery was made to be repaired, repainted, and adapted over time. My mother later joined the business, followed by my brother and sister, each adding their own skills and helping carry the family knowledge forward.

Today, I run the business as the third generation of the Dando family.

Over time, that hands-on trade background evolved into specialist joinery. Today, we are master joiners, recognised as one of New Zealand’s largest producers of compliant timber doors and windows by tag volume. We make joinery that meets current standards and performs in real New Zealand conditions, while staying true to the craft principles that have stood the test of time.

While materials, regulations, and building methods have changed, the way we think about timber hasn’t. We still believe that timber doors and windows, when designed, made, and maintained properly, are among the most durable, flexible, and long-lasting parts of a home.

Across New Zealand, there are timber doors and windows still in everyday use after 80, 100, and even 200 years. Many have been through several families, repainted in different colours, refreshed, repaired, and adapted as styles change. The joinery itself remains. Few materials offer that kind of lifespan or ability to evolve.

Aluminium joinery has become common only in recent decades. While it has its place, its finishes don’t last forever. Powdercoat systems age and fade over time, often leaving replacement as the only option. Timber behaves differently, it can be repaired, refinished, and updated rather than thrown away.

At Dando Doors and Windows, our love of wood comes from understanding this longer story.

We manufacture custom timber doors and windows for beautiful homes throughout New Zealand, using proven joinery principles combined with modern engineering, coatings, and glazing systems suited to local conditions. We choose timber carefully for its stability, durability, and performance, because timber, done properly, isn’t disposable.

As for the future, maybe one day one of my four kids will choose to pick up the baton and carry this craft forward into a fourth generation. If they do, the values will stay the same: respect for timber, pride in workmanship, and a belief in building things properly, for the long haul.

That’s our story.
And it’s still being written.

Aaron Dando

About the Owner

I’ve been involved in property and construction for most of my working life. I started my career in the early 1990s as a land surveyor, which gave me a practical grounding at the very front end of the development process—how land works, how planning constraints shape outcomes, and how buildings sit within their wider environment.

From there, my career moved into commercial property investment and development, including senior roles in the UK working within private family offices and estate trust environments. After returning to New Zealand, I continued investing and developing property through Dando Holdings, where I remain actively involved as a principal, developer, and long-term owner across residential and commercial assets.

Dando Doors and Windows is a family business that I returned to in 2005, after several years overseas working in property. Taking on the reins of the business allowed me to bring a broader property, development, and asset-management perspective back into the joinery world, one that looks beyond installation day and focuses on how buildings perform over decades.

Much of my work, both in property and in manufacturing, involves identifying opportunities, testing feasibility, navigating planning and consenting, delivering projects, and then holding and managing assets long term. That long-term ownership mindset strongly influences how I think about buildings, particularly the importance of durability, build quality, thermal performance, and decisions that still matter many years after construction is complete.

That experience directly informs how Dando Doors and Windows is run. The business is managed with the mindset of a developer and long-term owner, not a short-term manufacturer. We focus on doing things properly the first time, from specification and detailing through to manufacturing quality, performance, and longevity.

Understanding how buildings are designed, funded, constructed, and ultimately lived in has helped shape Dando Doors and Windows into one of New Zealand’s largest producer of JMF-compliant NZS 4211 timber joinery, by tag volume, supported by continued investment in people, systems, and processes to ensure consistent quality at scale.

For our clients, this means joinery that’s designed with real buildings in mind, joinery that considers insulation, moisture management, durability, and long-term maintenance, not just how it looks on installation day. It also means working with a supplier who understands construction programmes, budgets, and delivery risk.

Alongside running the business, I regularly write about the building industry, including insulation, timber joinery performance, building durability, and residential development, with a focus on practical, evidence based guidance rather than marketing claims.

I’m a Chartered Surveyor and a long standing full member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, and I apply those professional and ethical standards to how I work and how the business operates.

Aaron Dando