Client details, names, photos and figures have been changed. Demo tools shown with sample data.
Case study / AI consulting

Respect what they built. Add what they're missing.

A three-layer pitch for Northfield Realty, an independent boutique brokerage: an upgraded site, an optional redesign and an AI toolkit, all built and demoed in a weekend.

RoleStrategy, design, build
TimeframeOne weekend
Built withClaude and Gemini
ResultComplete, working pitch
The challenge

A great firm with a dated site that was quietly compromised

Northfield is an independent boutique brokerage with a seasoned team of agents, a long track record and top ratings across its public reviews. Its reputation was stronger than its web presence.

The site

Dated design, a broken savings calculator, typos and dead links, with only a handful of testimonials shown against a long list of public reviews.

The hidden problem

While rebuilding the site, I found and fixed an SEO spam injection: hidden links injected into several pages, a poisoned robots.txt, and an outdated CMS. Found from public pages only, no scanning.

The risk of pitching

A team proud of its work does not want to be told to start over. An overhaul pitch would have been the wrong tone and the wrong plan.

Approach

Three layers, each optional and standalone

Nothing depends on anything else. The firm can take one layer, all three, or none, and never has to rebuild what already works.

1

Current site, upgraded

A pixel-faithful rebuild of every page of the existing site, with the problems fixed underneath.

  • Spam removed, calculator fixed, typos and dead links cleaned up
  • Contact form kept on the firm's own domain, photos stored locally
  • Ready to switch on: a large local-guides blog built for Google and AI search (schema markup, llms.txt, sitemap)
  • Seller-net, payment and affordability calculators that capture leads
  • Listing alerts and a testimonials page expanded to every public review
Fix and extend
2

Optional redesign

A modern, photo-first brokerage site in the client's own brand.

  • Static, no WordPress, a much smaller attack surface
  • Listing search on the firm's own domain, not a vendor's
  • Neighborhood guides, featured and sold listings, team and reviews
  • Valuation form, plus a go-live and IDX plan
Only if wanted

Open the redesign demo →

3

AI toolkit

Back-office tools, separate from the site. Every output is fair-housing checked and nothing goes out without approval.

  • Lead responder, review engine, listing launch kit
  • Virtual staging, vertical video ads, social engine
  • Past-client nurture and monthly market reports
  • A Team Hub that ties it together
Standalone
Highlight / Lead responder

Answered in under a minute, at any hour

A 24/7 responder replies by text and email, asks the right qualifying questions and books a showing straight onto the agent's calendar. Replies pass a fair-housing check, and agents see the whole thread.

Speed is the whole point. Most inquiries arrive evenings and weekends, when a small team is busiest or offline.

Sat 9:42 PM / new inquiry from the website
Hi, is the 3 bed on Linden Ct still available? We'd love to see it this week.
Hi Jordan, thanks for reaching out to Northfield. It is available. Are you pre-approved, or still planning your budget?
Pre-approved. We have a lease ending in March.
Helpful, thank you. Dana Reyes can show it Tuesday at 5:30 or Wednesday at 12:15. Which suits you?
Tuesday!
Booked on Dana's calendar / reply time 40 seconds
Sample conversation, sample data
Highlight / Review engine

Reviews earned on a schedule, never gated

  • DAY 0 / TEXTCongratulations on closing. Short, warm, no ask. Sent by approval
  • DAY 2 / EMAILThe review request, with every review link shown.
  • DAY 7 / REMINDEROnly sent if the first email was never opened.
  • DAY 30 / EMAILSomething useful: home-care tips and local resources.
  • 1 YEAR / ANNIVERSARYA note on the home's anniversary and current value.
Post-closing sequence, sample timing

A firm with top ratings should be easy to find, and its happiest clients should be easy to hear from.

Everyone receives every review link, whatever their experience. There is no review gating, which keeps the ratings honest and the firm on the right side of platform rules.

Highlight / Virtual staging

From mid-move clutter to market-ready

The tool empties a lived-in room, then stages it. Walls, floors and windows stay untouched, and each image comes with MLS disclosure copy. The whole demo cost pennies in image generation.

1. Mid-move, as photographed
2. Emptied, structure untouched
3. Staged, with disclosure copy
Inline illustrations standing in for sample before, during and after images
Highlight / Listing launch kit

One listing in, a full campaign out

Enter the listing once. The kit produces MLS remarks, headlines, social posts, emails, open-house invites and postcard copy, all in the firm's voice.

It runs alongside vertical video ads for TikTok, Reels and Facebook generated from the listing's photos, and a social content engine that turns a week of posts for the firm and each agent into about twenty minutes of review.

MLS remarks

Sun-filled three-bedroom a short walk from the park, with a renovated kitchen and a quiet back garden.

Fair-housing check passed

Social post

Just listed: light, space and a garden worth lingering in. Open house Sunday 1 to 3.

Fair-housing check passed

Open-house invite / email

You're invited. Come see the Linden Ct three-bedroom this Sunday afternoon.

Awaiting approval
Sample listing, sample copy
Highlight / Team Hub

One dashboard, every tool inside it

HubResponderReviewsLaunch kitStaging
New leads7
To approve4
Reviews out12
Open-house invite, Linden Ct 3BRApprove
Week of posts, Sam WhitfieldReview
Anniversary note, 1-year clientApprove
Sample tiles, sample data

Agents open every tool inside the app, with no new tabs and no logins to remember. They see new leads and approve anything going out under the firm's name.

The Hub is what makes eight tools feel like one product, and what keeps a person in charge of every message.

Highlight / Site health

Fixed underneath, unchanged on top

The upgraded site looks exactly like the one the firm built. What changed is everything visitors, search engines and attackers see underneath.

The redesign layer goes further: static pages and no WordPress mean there is far less to attack in the first place.

Before

  • Hidden spam links on several pages
  • Poisoned robots.txt
  • Outdated CMS
  • Broken savings calculator
  • Typos and dead links

After

  • Spam removed
  • Clean robots.txt and sitemap
  • Schema markup and llms.txt
  • Working calculators that capture leads
  • Contact form on the firm's domain
Findings came from public pages only
Deliverables

Everything needed to say yes, or no, with confidence

10-slide pitch deck

The story in one sitting.

Long-form growth plan

The full plan, presented with an estimated market value of services.

Security findings page

Plain-language findings and fixes.

Upgraded-site clone

Every page, pixel-faithful, fixed underneath.

Redesign demo

A photo-first, static alternative in the firm's brand. Open it →

Blog and tools preview

Local guides and lead-capturing calculators.

Eight working tool demos

Each running on sample data.

Team Hub

One internal dashboard for tools, leads and approvals.

Process and principles

How it was made, and the rules it followed

Built with Claude and Gemini (for image generation) in about a weekend, starting from research rather than from a template.

1

Research dossier firstPublic information on the firm, its market and its competitors came before any design or code.

2

Listen, then change courseFeedback from someone close to the client said the existing site lands well. The pitch shifted from overhaul to targeted additions.

3

Copy rulesNo promises the consultant can't make, no AI slop, never describe the firm as small, and keep the client's existing branding.

4

Approval gates everywhereEvery AI tool is fair-housing checked, and nothing goes out without a person approving it.

Outcome and what's next

Pitch built and ready to present

The complete package is built and ready to walk through. No results are claimed, because the work is still a proposal. The next step is for the firm to choose which layers, if any, to switch on.

What this project shows: a weekend is enough to turn a respectful, specific pitch into working software the client can click through.