Website Design & Development

**ABOUT THE PROJECT** I am launching a flexible stone veneer brand targeting the San Diego residential and commercial market. Flexible stone veneer is a lightweight, natural stone product used on exterior walls, interior feature walls, fireplaces, pool surrounds, and architectural surfaces. I need a professional, image-forward website built to: - Showcase our stone collections and completed project gallery - Generate quote requests and sales inquiries - Rank strongly in local San Diego search results - Be discoverable by AI tools (ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Google SGE) — this is a specific priority There is NO e-commerce at launch, but the site must be structured so we can add it later without a rebuild. **PLATFORM** Preferred: I am open to your suggestions. Please do NOT propose WordPress unless you have a compelling reason — I want low maintenance overhead post-launch. **PAGES REQUIRED (8 pages at launch)** 1. Home — Hero, feature strip, gallery teaser, trust section, CTA 2. Gallery / Projects — Filterable portfolio (by application type and stone collection) 3. Products / Collections — Product display cards with specs, no checkout, quote CTA only 4. How It Works — Educational content on flexible stone veneer vs. traditional stone + installation steps 5. Who It's For — Segmented sections for homeowners, contractors, and architects/designers 6. San Diego — Location-specific page with neighborhood references for local SEO 7. FAQ — 12–15 questions with full written answers (critical for AI discoverability — see below) 8. Contact / Get a Quote — Lead capture form + contact details **DESIGN REQUIREMENTS** - Mobile-first — most of our traffic will be on phones - Large full-bleed photography (I will supply all images) - Clean, premium aesthetic — warm neutrals, minimal text, stone and architecture references - Sticky navigation with a persistent 'Get a Quote' CTA button - Filterable image gallery (filter by application type + stone type) - CMS access so I can upload new gallery photos without developer involvement - No auto-playing video, heavy animations, or cluttered layouts **TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS** - Page speed under 3 seconds on mobile (Google PageSpeed score 85+ target) - All images in WebP format with lazy loading - SSL / HTTPS - Fully responsive — tested on iPhone Safari and Android Chrome - Google Analytics 4 installed and verified - Google Search Console connected and sitemap submitted at launch - Contact form with email notification - Robots.txt and sitemap.xml correctly configured **LLM / AI DISCOVERABILITY — THIS IS A PRIORITY** I want this site to appear when people ask AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, or Perplexity questions like "what is flexible stone veneer" or "stone veneer supplier in San Diego." This requires: - Clean, semantic HTML structure (H1/H2/H3 hierarchy strictly followed on every page) - Local Business schema markup (JSON-LD) — name, address, phone, service area, business hours - FAQ page built with proper structured data / FAQ schema so answers are indexed by AI crawlers - Unique, descriptive meta title and meta description on every page - Image alt text on every image describing the stone type and application - Open Graph tags (og:title, og:image, og:description) for social sharing and link previews - No heavy JavaScript rendering that prevents crawler access to content - An educational 'How It Works' page structured as crawlable, question-answering content If you have specific experience optimizing for AI search / LLM indexing, please call this out in your reply **E-COMMERCE READINESS (TO BE LAUNCHED LATER)** No checkout at launch. However, product pages must be built in the CMS with the following fields ready: - Product name, SKU, description - Dimensions, weight, coverage per unit - Multiple image slots (minimum 5 per product) - Downloadable spec sheet / PDF slot - Price field (hidden until we activate e-commerce) - Stock status field (hidden) When we add e-commerce, we will use the platform's native solution. Do not propose a custom cart. **WHAT I WILL SUPPLY** - Logo (SVG + PNG) - Brand colors (hex codes) - All photography (hero images, gallery photos, product shots — 30+ images) - Complete written copy for all 8 pages - Contact details, social media links **TIMELINE** - Target launch: 4–5 weeks from kickoff (POST SELECTION OF PLATFORM) **QUESTIONS — PLEASE ANSWER ALL OF THESE IN YOUR PROPOSAL** I will not shortlist proposals that skip these. They help me quickly assess fit. 1. Which platform do you recommend — and why is it the right fit for this project specifically? 2. Have you built websites for stone, tile, building materials, or home improvement brands? If yes, share relevant portfolio links. 3. How do you approach LLM/AI discoverability and technical SEO? What specific steps do you take beyond basic meta tags? (This is a key selection criterion.) 4. How many design revision rounds are included in your quote? 5. After launch, how do I add new gallery photos myself? Walk me through the CMS process in one paragraph. 6. Who owns the site files and platform account at the end of the project — me or you? (The answer must be: me.) 7. What is your process if a bug is discovered after launch? What support do you offer and for how long? 8. When I'm ready to add e-commerce, can you handle that as a separate phase? Roughly what would that add to the cost? 9. What's your preferred way to communicate during the project — and what's your typical response time during business hours? 10. Share 2–3 portfolio examples most relevant to this project. Briefly explain what you built and what platform you used.