Ace Building Co.

The Situation

Ace Building Co. is a construction and carpentry business on the NSW Central Coast. They specialise in high-end pergolas, decks, kitchen and bathroom renovations, and architectural carpentry. Over 20 years of experience, fully licensed (320446C), and insured up to $20 million.

The problem was their online presence. They were paying an agency over $3,000 a month for ad management and basic website maintenance. The ad creatives were mismatched, the website was dark and template-driven, and the whole thing looked like a trades directory listing. None of it reflected the quality of what they build. Their clients are affluent homeowners on the Central Coast investing in premium renovations, and the website was doing nothing to attract that audience.

The brief was to bring the website and positioning into line with the business’s work.

The Audit

Before touching any code, I did a full audit of their existing site, their ad spend, their competitors, and their target market. The findings were clear:

• Dark, heavy design that felt more industrial than premium residential
• Low-quality imagery that didn’t showcase their craftsmanship
• Generic copy with no clear positioning for the market they serve
• Poor SEO structure with missing metadata, no proper headings, and no sitemap
• A contact page buried at the bottom with no real call to action
• Agency ad spend with no measurable ROI

The review informed a more specific visual direction and clearer positioning for the intended audience.

Brand Repositioning

The first thing I did was shift the entire visual identity. The old site used a dark background with yellow accents, which felt more like a mining company than a premium builder. I moved to a clean white base with warm gold accents and soft earthy tones that better reflect the coastal, design-conscious market they serve.

The typography was updated to use elegant serif headings paired with clean sans-serif body text. The overall feel shifted from “tradesman’s website” to something that looks like it belongs in a home design magazine. That was the goal: when a potential client lands on the site, it should feel like the kind of business that builds beautiful things.

Content Overhaul

The old site had a plain bullet list of services on a dark background. No images, no descriptions, no reason for anyone to click through. I restructured the content into proper service cards with high-quality project photography, clear descriptions, and specific feature lists for each service area: decking, kitchen and bathroom renovations, pergolas and carports.

Every piece of copy was rewritten to speak to the homeowner investing in a premium renovation rather than hunting for the cheapest quote. The messaging highlights craftsmanship, attention to detail, and the quality of materials used.

Project Portfolio and Testimonials

One of the biggest missed opportunities on the old site was the lack of social proof. Ace Building has dozens of happy clients and beautiful finished projects, but none of that was being shown properly. I built a projects section that pairs high-quality photos of completed work with real client testimonials directly underneath each project.

Each project card shows the type of work (Decking, Renovations, Structural Work), a description of what was done, and a real quote from the client. The aim was to help prospective clients assess the work and the experience of previous customers before making an enquiry.

Contact and Lead Conversion

The old contact section was a “Get Free Quote” button buried in a dark footer. It was easy to miss and didn’t give the visitor any confidence about what would happen next. I redesigned the entire contact flow with a prominent “Book Your FREE Consultation” section, clear CTAs, and visible contact information including phone, email, and service area.

The footer was rebuilt to include a proper site map, service links, licensing details, and multiple contact methods. The goal was to make it as easy as possible for a potential client to reach out, while also reinforcing trust signals like the licence number and insurance coverage.

The Outcome

The redesign came with a full strategic repositioning. Ace Building Co. now has a digital presence that matches the quality of their work, speaks directly to their ideal client, and is structured to convert traffic into qualified enquiries. They also saved over $3,000 a month by cutting the underperforming agency.

What changed

Before vs After

Old Site

• Dark, template-driven design
• Low-quality, generic imagery
• Misaligned brand messaging
• No SEO structure or metadata
• Buried contact information
• No social proof or testimonials
• $3,000+/month agency fees

New Site

• Clean, premium custom design
• High-quality project photography
• Brand positioned for affluent market
• Full SEO foundation with proper structure
• Prominent CTAs and contact flow
• Real testimonials with project cards
• Self-managed, zero ongoing agency cost

The build

The React frontend uses custom components to support the revised visual direction and page structure. Responsive images and lazy loading support a photography-led website without requiring every full-resolution image to load immediately.

Metadata, a consistent heading structure, image descriptions, a sitemap and structured data provide the technical foundation for search visibility. These are implementation changes; they do not, on their own, establish an increase in enquiries.