Andrew Fry — Fry Contracting, Tasman

Andrew Fry runs Fry Contracting alongside his father Kevin, based near Motupiko in the Tasman District.

Alongside the day-to-day contracting business, the Frys have built up a serious vintage machinery collection over the years - more than two dozen tractors and implements, mostly early two-cylinder John Deeres, plus a growing collection of memorabilia.

This collection had outgrown its space, and with more machines still to come home, the family needed somewhere purpose-built to keep it all together.

The Frys have built multiple Alpine sheds on their property since 2012, and this new shed is their fourth.

It was the straight poles, the quality pre-dried timber framing, and the relationship with Alpine that kept them coming back each time. There was no need to shop around again. 

Room to Move. This was never about maximum size for the sake of it; it was about being able to actually use the space.

"We wanted a shed that would be big enough to let us display the tractors and other equipment from the collection and have enough room so you can walk around them."

 Large Doors.  "The reason we went for large doors is so we can get more modern gear in here if needed. Our John Deere collection includes a large amount of early two-cylinder models, which are compact compared to the modern machines, but we also want to store larger tractors like our 3140 from the early 1980s, which was our very first contracting tractor."

Space for What's Still to Come.  An extra six vintage combines are scattered around the country, waiting to come home.

"We also have a bit of a vintage combine collection. We have six of them around the country that we'll get in here eventually, so we needed to make sure we had room for those."

Andrew built bigger than he thought he needed, and the shed is already close to full.

"We wanted a shed slightly bigger than I thought I needed, because we thought we'd fill it, and it's already almost at that point. So, we've future-proofed the shed by going higher than required for the tractors, for the vintage stuff."

The build itself came together fast once the floor was down, with everything arriving well organised and ready to assemble.

"The building went up so fast," says Andrew. "The floor pour was the longest part of the process, but once that was complete, Brad (the builder) put everything together quickly. Everything was well labelled and arrived in packs. I think Alpine just gets better and better at that stuff."

There's even flexibility with how the shed is used. With hops recently planted on the property, Andrew's noted the shed could one day pivot to harvest use if that side of the business takes off. Whatever comes next, there's room for it.