.png)
Acheteur is the first real estate agency in Switzerland to offer a real estate brokerage service completely free of charge to the seller — they are paid by their qualified buyers.
The mission is to simplify the way real estate is bought and sold in Switzerland: Acheteur strives for a simpler, more transparent, fair, and digital process. Their vision is to create the largest base of qualified buyers in Switzerland, actively searching with verified financial capacity.
I was looking for an agency that had solid experience in Webflow design and development to make a website for a real estate startup. Warmdevs created a website for our MVP in two stages.
They did high-quality work; I enjoyed their flexibility and openness of mind.
In each project, we divide workstreams and determine milestones. Then we identify competencies needed to fulfill the tasks, calculate the work time of each expert, and approve everything with the client. After signing the contract, we allocate a separate team for the project. The project manager directs and supervises the process; he is the contact point for the client.
We set up a call with the client to discuss the project for Real Estate agency in detail. The requirements that were presented were taken into consideration alongside the gathered materials. The client’s insight and expectations for the website provided us with a solid base and core guidelines for the planning stage and the development itself. We analyzed the received information and proceeded to the ideation of potential solutions. We worked through our options thoroughly to identify the most efficient way to proceed with the development. Once the base plan was created, we presented an in-depth roadmap to the client, detailing every step of the project execution.
We discussed with the client the plan of action to receive approval for the chosen solution. For design it meant we had a specific Webflow dashboard template we have to transform. Before proceeding to the development itself, the project scope was clearly defined. We assigned the task to appropriate specialists, creating a dedicated team. We defined the time period of development and divided it into sprints, deciding on the deadlines and deliverables that should be provided by certain dates.
After the final review with the client, we made sure everything is approved by both sides and signed a contract.
The client had a clear vision of the website they wanted to create. A Webflow template from the library was chosen as the main reference, which meant we had to recreate a similar one from scratch, keeping the basic principles of it, but making it custom, referring to a template only as a base inspiration. So we analyzed the structure of the pre-made website, defined key points of the design, and started working on a personalized version of UX and UI, that corresponds with the client’s tastes and their business needs.
The new UX/UI front create from Webflow landing page template presents the company and the services they provide in an appealing and easily-comprehensible way. To achieve such a result, first, we compiled a creative brief and a design guide to serve as a starting point for the creation process, as well as a checkpoint that can be discussed and edited with the client. We have built the website structure based on the request and requirements as well as creating a wireframe and customer journey with each step thoroughly detailed. We presented everything to the client, and after the approval, moved to work in-depth on UX and creating high-fidelity UI in Figma.
We used the Webflow platform as a base for our development process. Part of it was choosing a real estate Webflow template. On top of that, Webflow provides low-code solutions to incorporate, which is a powerful tool to create an appealing frontside and intuitive design. Moreover, the client will be able to use some features on their own, including checking data analytics and incorporating relevant updates. All without the continuous help of developers once they have built the project.
Our developer did the work of incorporating custom javascript code with the help of Alpine.js, as it helped to implement more complex features than those available on Webflow. To not overload Webflow by storing new code there, we used third-party integrations to create a backend and optimize the website’s performance. Since there was a specific need for features not natively presented on Webflow, a lot of custom work was done within the frame of various third-party integrations.
After the completion of development, our tester performed QA to catch bugs and compile reports on all existing problems, so the developer was able to fix them. After everything was checked and brought into proper condition, we presented the project to the client. After the final approval, we deployed the product and handed the live website to the client. We also make sure to provide our clients with a Webflow usage video guide, as well as after-launch support to assist in handling websites’ functionality.
A major work was done with integrations. There are several things that were incorporated in order to enhance the website's capabilities, widen Webflow’s functionality, and add some custom features that are not available on the platform as a default.
We used Alpine.js to create some custom code. It was used to build a proper-functioning calculator, where a user can deduce a price for an agency’s commission depending on a real estate’s price. The calculator was programmed in a way where it takes calculated prices and compares them to the commissions of Acheteur.
Alpine.js was also used to create an authorization form where users can follow several steps to register on the client’s website.
Since Acheteur is a project dealing with real estate, the majority of forms on the website have spaces to input addresses. To simplify this process for users, we incorporated Google Autocomplete. Since using this feature for each user’s request could become costly while being low on efficiency, our developer optimized the autocomplete to proceed with presenting results only in relevant cases actively requested by a user. All the information provided by autocomplete is programmed to automatically disperse among the relevant field, e.g. a street, a region, a postal code, etc.
We could not store all custom code on the Webflow itself since the platform is not designed for such cases and would become clunky and slow immediately. For our purposes of keeping the website performance high, we used GitHub hosting services to resolve the issue.
It was important for the client to be able to store, review and edit internal data in a convenient and comprehensive way, so they wanted to use Airtable at first. But using Airtable could lead to several considerable problems in development. Airtable doesn’t have a frontend API, as well as the tools to generate security rules and database access. These things are vital, so they would need to be done from scratch, and that in turn would slow down the development significantly, increasing the cost of services as well. Not to mention Airtable’s API is quite slow in itself.
For the developer, it would be more convenient to work with Firestore, but we decided against it since it would be a less pleasant experience for the client. We looked for a solution that would be beneficial for every party, and decide to go with Rowy. It is an appropriate tool for the tasks requested by the client, it handles better than Airtable in our case, and it provides all features necessary.
The client will have access to a range of CMS templates to use for their data management while interacting with an easy-to-grasp interface. The question with security is resolved since all the information is stored on the client’s Firebase: all the access rights, security rules – everything is set up inside the client’s Firebase project, so all configurations are visible and up to manual editing. Only the webpage itself is hosted by Rowy. The service itself is free, and the cost will only be withdrawn for using the Firebase services themselves. Among other advantages that Rowy provided, it is an open-source service, and the tech support is very resnposive. There are also opportunities for automatization through the Firebase functions.
The client knew exactly what they wanted from the beginning, so after some discussions, we ended up forging a successful long-term partnership.
During the project implementation, the client decided they wanted to widen the functionality of the website based on the ideas and solutions we offered. So we separated the big chunk of development into more manageable parts, starting with the base features the client wanted to be implemented. We moved the project to the next stage to proceed working in-depth on upgrading it to the level of a complex web app.
The work with Acheteur was and continues to be an interesting and productive project for us, and our team is all happier to continue the good work.
Schedule a consultation with our representative to talk about development services with no obligations from your side. Take a part in a professional discussion that will provide you
