Property Portal Website Development
A portal for property listings in seven tropical countries. Another team designed and built its frame, and I did not. When it came to me, an upgrade had been left unfinished and much of it did not work. I repaired it and finished it for launch.
A big application with a lot of people in it
Owners and agents post listings, country managers approve them, and visitors search by map, price and type of property. It runs on Laravel, with one admin area for all of them.
That also means a small break can stop a lot of people. So I checked each fix against the pages and roles it touched, and read the error log after each round.
What did not work, and what it does now
The admin area
Every admin page returned an error.
All of them open, on a phone as well.
Search
Every search found nothing, even with no filter set.
It returns the listings, and each filter now matches the data.
Photo upload
Each upload failed with an error.
Owners and agents can add photos to a listing.
The phone layout
Pages slid sideways, and the admin left under half of the screen for content.
No page scrolls sideways, and the admin fills the screen.
Google Maps
The map did not load anywhere on the site.
It runs on a new key, and the site itself stops map requests before the free monthly limit.
Enquiries
The contact form sent messages to an old address.
They reach the owner's inbox, with spam protection on the forms.
What I added to finish it
- Mortgage and affordability calculators, in place of a page that only looked like one
- A filter window with every field that has data behind it
- Map pins that show which listings a visitor saved
- A new logo with a pin, and a hero video
- Emails to agents when a listing or application is decided
- Page titles, a sitemap and clean addresses for Google
Why this is not my design
The layout and the first version of this portal came from the team before me, and I still work on it. Before launch I ran a full audit of access rules, uploads and public pages, and fixed what it found. If you have a site that half works and a developer who has gone, start with website maintenance and support or a website migration. For agents with a smaller site, see web design for real estate agents.
Questions about taking over a project
Can you fix a site that someone else built?+
Yes. I start by reading the error log and testing the real pages, so the first list is what is actually broken and not a guess.
Do I have to rebuild it from scratch?+
Often not. This portal kept its frame and its data. Most repairs were small once the cause was found. The one that stopped every search was a single line.
What about the Google Maps bill?+
On this portal the site counts its own map requests and stops them before the free monthly amount runs out, so a busy month does not bring a charge.
How is work like this priced?+
By the job, with a fixed quote first. Regular upkeep is the Website Support plan, $100 a month.
Stuck with a site that half works?
Send me the address and tell me what is broken. See website support from $100 a month.
More case studies
Web Design Across Toronto & the GTA
For a planning session or on-site business photos, I'll come to you. Pick your city: