Belviston Developments
A brand new website for a residential property developer restoring neglected buildings into high quality homes. The founder had a very clear vision and a website builder that could not deliver it. We replaced it with a hand built site she owns outright, and it went live inside a week.
6 days
Brief to live
2
Design directions offered
100%
Owned by the client
£0
Monthly platform fees
Overview
The Problem
Karen Hartland had just founded Belviston Developments, a residential property development company that takes disused and neglected buildings and restores them into high quality, sustainable homes. She needed a website that reflected the quality of that work.
She had started building it herself using the website builder bundled with her hosting. The problem was not effort or ideas. She knew exactly how she wanted the site to look and feel, right down to the layout. The builder simply could not produce it. She was left fighting a template, trying to bend a tool that was never designed to accommodate someone else's vision.
That is the trap with a bundled builder. It is fine while you want what it already does. The moment you want something specific, you are stuck, and there is nobody to ask.
The Solution
Rather than hand her another template, I built the site from scratch around her brief. She had been thorough, sending through a written outline and a rough layout plan, which made my job considerably easier and meant nothing was guesswork.
The result is a clean, single page site with a navy and light palette, strong architectural photography, and clear sections for the company, its approach, the team and contact details. Hand coded, fast, properly structured for search, and hers to keep.
Working Together
Her vision, delivered.
The whole point of working with a person rather than a platform is that you get listened to. Here is how the project actually ran.
A proper conversation first
We spoke on the phone before anything was designed. She followed up with a detailed brief and a rough layout plan, so I understood the business and the vision before writing a line of code.
Two designs, her choice
Rather than present one design and ask for approval, I built two complete directions and let her pick. She chose the contemporary version. It is her business and her website, so it should be her decision, not mine.
A fast feedback loop
Every revision went up on a private preview link she could open on any device. She reviewed, sent notes, and changes were turned around the same day or the next. No ticket queue, no waiting.
The small details matter
She spotted the contact email sitting slightly outside its box on her iPhone, something I could not reproduce on my own devices. She sent a screenshot, I fixed it that day. That is what a direct line to your developer buys you.
Honest advice, taken
I advised against a contact form for this particular site. For a developer whose enquiries are considered rather than casual, a direct phone number and email address work better. She agreed, and the form was dropped.
Live inside a week
From the written brief to the finished site going live at belviston.co.uk took six days, including the design choice, two rounds of revisions and final content.
Features
What I Built
A design built around her
Navy and light palette, generous architectural photography, and typography chosen to suit a property developer trading on quality. Not a template anyone else is using.
Single page, clear structure
Home, About, Our Approach, Team and Contact, all on one smooth scrolling page with anchored navigation. Everything a visitor needs without hunting through menus.
The three pillars
Quality craftsmanship, sustainability and character and heritage, presented as the company's approach. The restoration story is the selling point, so it leads.
A real face to the business
A team section introducing the founder, with her portrait. For a new company, people buy from people, so putting a name and a face to it matters.
Mobile first, properly tested
Built to work on a phone first, then scaled up. Where a real device threw up a layout quirk, it was fixed rather than explained away.
Built to be found
Proper title and meta tags, semantic headings, structured data and a clean accessible markup structure, so a brand new company has a fighting chance in search.
Screenshots
The Website in Action
Our Approach. The three pillars the business trades on, set on deep navy to break up the page and give the section its own weight.
The Team section. Putting a name and a face to a brand new company, because people buy from people.
The bigger picture
Getting out of the website builder.
Belviston is not an unusual story. More and more of my clients come to me after wrestling with the free builder bundled with their hosting, having lost evenings to a template that still does not look right and cannot be made to. They are not doing anything wrong. The tool was never built for them.
The difference is not just the finished design. It is owning the site outright, having no monthly platform fee, and being able to send a screenshot to a real person and have it fixed the same day.
Stuck with a website builder?Outcomes
What Was Delivered
Exactly what she pictured
The vision she could describe but not build herself, delivered as a finished website. She chose the direction, and the details were shaped by her feedback.
Free of the builder
No more fighting a template, and no monthly platform fee. The site is hand coded and owned outright, and can be hosted wherever she likes.
Live in under a week
Six days from written brief to a live website at belviston.co.uk, including two design concepts and two rounds of revisions.
Someone to call
A new company launching its first website has questions. She has a direct line to the person who built it, rather than a help centre and a chatbot.
Got a vision your website builder cannot deliver?
Tell me what you are picturing. No pressure, no sales script.