For almost every business, having a functional, user-friendly website is a key to success in today’s world. For homebuilders, especially those adjusting to post-COVID shifts in the market, it’s a non-negotiable. It used to be common in the industry to say your website is your virtual model home, but with the current digital shift, your website is your entire business model—online.

So if you’re currently using a WordPress site or leaning toward one for your business, there are really important factors to take into consideration. Because while WordPress might seem like an inexpensive option on the surface, there’s more to the story than inexpensive pricing.

Plug-ins and integrations

WordPress sites are based on an open source code framework and is, by far, the most popular website-building tool available. One of the biggest pain points homebuilders experience with a WordPress site are the data feeds, plug-ins and integrations required to make their website worthwhile. The average builder needs six to ten different plug-ins to make their WordPress website functional—from on-site content like your photo gallery and blog to cross-platform sources like MLS and Zillow feeds.

What exactly is a plug-in? If we compare a WordPress website to a car, the engine is the code framework called WP Core (which is open source, so anyone can access the code framework). The body style and look of your car is the WordPress theme, and the way your site functions and how you add components (like those data feeds and photo galleries) is a plug-In.

Although plug-ins might not seem like an issue during the initial process of building your website, it will become a point of contention in the long run. First, plug-ins are developed to be agnostic—meaning they will work with any site and are not customized to fit the needs of your business. Because these themes and plug-ins are designed by a vast collection of developers all across the world (at the time of this writing, there are over 56,000 plug-ins available), they’re not always compatible with each other or your site when updated—resulting in conflicts that will cause your site to break.

When you work with a website developer like Builder Designs, everything is created under one roof and in conjunction with every aspect of your site. Not only is there an open line of communication between our team members, there’s always one between our team and you—our client. We build our sites to be backwards compatible, meaning they'll continue functioning as designed even when extensive updates are made.

Site security  

The popularity of WordPress sites has the unfortunate side effect of making them a target for malicious hackers across the world. Every year, hundreds of thousands of these sites get hacked, for the very reason that makes them so appealing in the first place: the plug-ins.

The most common hacks happen when:

• A plug-in or theme has a vulnerability and, because there aren’t as many eyes on it as the WordPress Core software, that vulnerability goes undetected
• The developer has stopped working on the extension but people are still using it
• The developer quickly patches the issue, but people just don’t update

When it comes to security on a builder website, there’s the potential of someone hacking into your site and stealing emails and passwords to share online, emailing customers and asking for wired deposits or downloading all of your contacts and selling them to a list service.

Our take? Unless your website needs are extremely basic, stay away from WordPress. The risk is too great and outweighs the reward.

Scalability and reliability

While your business might be in one place right now, you probably have goals for growing it in the future. Whether you’re starting with a few communities in a single city or already build in multiple areas or even across state lines—there’s always potential for your business to expand further. Your website can be a huge proponent in growing your business, but only if it’s designed to do so. That’s where scalability comes into play.

Scalability refers to the ability for your site to grow and expand alongside your business. A site that’s designed for scalability makes it easy to add new communities, floor plans, cities, states regions and programs to your site in a seamless fashion.  

When you build a site on WordPress, it all starts with the theme that you choose. Themes are based on looks and looks alone—not functionality, as that requires the use of (you guessed it) third-party developed plug-ins and integrations. So when the time comes to add new markets or products to your site, it can be a real headache trying to translate everything across multiple pages on your site.

Builder Designs focuses on the long-term scalability and reliability of your site, so there’s nothing holding you back from building more communities, targeting more customers and selling more homes. Our team of developers and project managers work on websites for homebuilders and homebuilders only—so they can offer best practice approaches to shifts in your business and changes to your website.

A team of industry experts

Perhaps the biggest benefit of choosing a custom or semi-custom website from Builder Designs—as opposed to a WordPress site from another firm or developer—is the insight you’ll gain into the world of thoughtfully designed, futureproof homebuilder websites. Most companies selling WordPress websites are not technical firms, just general marketing agencies that sell websites as an add-on. They don’t have a team of programmers, with specific industry knowledge, that are there to support the site when something goes wrong—and things always go wrong, even in the best of circumstances.

Builder Designs has been developing websites for builders of every size, at every price point in almost every region of the United States since 2008. We’ve learned a lot from our clients over the years, and have the art of creating cross-platform sites that sell more homes down to a science. A Builder Designs website can help take your business to the next level, without sacrificing looks or functionality.

If you’re a homebuilder in need of a site upgrade, it can be overwhelming knowing where to start. To learn more about our custom and semi-custom website packages, call Amber at (913) 393-3367 or email amber@builderdesigns.com.