ForzaBuilt · Full-Stack B2B Platform Migration
Split-stack platform: Astro 5/Vercel frontend, Heroku Express/PostgreSQL backend, Salesforce lead sync, and migration-safe SEO across 200+ SKUs.
Senior Full-Stack Engineer · architecture, backend, migration, lead pipeline
99%
Lighthouse desktop
28
Qualified inbound leads (first 4 months)
200+
SKU catalog migrated
99%
Technical SEO health
ForzaBuilt is a B2B industrial adhesives manufacturer serving Florida and the Southeast construction market. They rebranded and outgrew WordPress. They needed a new platform, and they couldn’t lose search traffic in the move. The production platform shipped on Astro 5 with React islands on Vercel, backed by a Heroku Express/PostgreSQL catalog and lead system.
The problem
The legacy site carried three risks at once:
- Performance debt · media-heavy product pages with poor Core Web Vitals on a catalog buyers actually search by specification.
- URL sprawl · years of WordPress paths that procurement teams had bookmarked, linked, and indexed.
- Wrong information architecture · products organized for marketing, not how adhesive buyers search (application, substrate, compliance).
A failed migration would mean lost organic equity right when the rebrand needed inbound to work.
My role
I owned the platform end to end: Astro 5 frontend with React islands on Vercel, serverless proxy routes to a Heroku Express/PostgreSQL API, product/catalog admin ops, contact/newsletter lead pipeline with Salesforce sync, migration-safe routing, and internal AI tools for the team. Editors used a separate portal for catalog management.
What I built
Split-stack platform architecture
- Vercel/Astro public site · product catalog, blog, industry pages, contact/newsletter forms, and serverless API proxies.
- Heroku Express/PostgreSQL backend · authoritative product catalog, blog CMS, contact submissions, newsletter subscribers, images/documents, backups, and audit logs.
- Lead pipeline · validation, honeypot, IP-hash rate limiting, Postgres persistence, async Salesforce OAuth lead creation with retry and sync-status tracking.
Migration without the indexing cliff
B2B catalog migrations fail when redirect coverage is an afterthought. I treated URL continuity as a first-class deliverable:
- Canonical route structure replacing legacy WordPress patterns across 200+ product pages.
- Layered redirect rules · middleware plus edge configuration · preserving equity on high-traffic legacy paths.
- Pre-launch crawl/index validation so we could ship the rebrand and platform change in one transition.
B2B-native catalog architecture
Industrial buyers do not browse hero banners. I restructured IA around procurement intent:
- Category and product pages organized by application, substrate, and specification.
- Product and FAQ schema across the catalog for rich results.
- Downloadable spec paths and comparison-friendly layouts for technical buyers.
Production-grade performance
On a media-heavy catalog, I sustained 99% Lighthouse desktop through:
- Selective React hydration (islands) instead of shipping a full SPA.
- Image optimization and edge delivery on Vercel.
- Code splitting so category pages stay fast under real catalog weight.
Internal AI tools
Internal AI tools behind Microsoft Azure SSO and role based access:
- Meeting Master · voice brain-dump → Claude structured extraction → Microsoft Graph calendar match → Neon Postgres → email reminders.
- Manager Hub · Claude feedback generator from manager notes with DiSC/Crystal tone adaptation and role-based access.
Outcomes
| Metric | Result |
|---|---|
| Lighthouse desktop | 99% sustained |
| Technical SEO health | 99% post-remediation |
| Qualified inbound leads | 28 qualified inbound leads in the first four months |
Leadership credited the rebuild with the best single website contact in company history. The platform continued operating after my departure.
Organic search: The WordPress site sat at roughly 20 to 40 clicks per month for years. After the Astro rebuild launched in January 2026, traffic peaked around 244 clicks per month and held a new floor roughly 3 to 6 times the old baseline after handoff. Effectively zero qualified web inbound pre-rebuild; 28 qualified inbound leads in the first four months post-launch.
What this demonstrates
- Full-stack platform ownership: frontend, backend API, database, CRM integration, and production ops.
- Shipping a catalog migration on 200+ SKUs without the visibility loss common in B2B rebuilds.
- Layered redirect strategy when URL patterns change materially.
- Practical AI tooling for internal workflows · not public-site chat hype.
“Literally the best single website contact in the history of the company.”
Live system
forzabuilt.com ↗