New Owner. New Website. 21× Monthly Traffic Value in 16 Months.
Shelter Solutions was acquired in 2023 by the owner of Stone Creek Building, already a long-standing client. They brought us in to build a new site and run digital marketing for the newly-acquired business. Sixteen months later, we'd built a digital foundation that hit all-time-peak performance the month our engagement ended.
The Challenge
Shelter Solutions builds high-end accessory dwelling units: projects that regularly run into six figures. Their work was excellent, but the inherited website was telling a different story. It was an outdated, template-based site that loaded slowly and looked like it was put together in an afternoon. For a company selling $100k+ projects, that's a real problem.
When homeowners are considering an ADU, they're doing serious research. They're comparing builders, looking at portfolios, reading reviews, and trying to figure out who they can trust with a major construction project on their property. If the website doesn't instill confidence, those prospects move on to the next builder in the search results.
Shelter Solutions wasn't showing up in local search results for ADU-related queries either, which meant they were missing the homeowners actively looking for exactly what they build. The new owner had already seen what we'd done for Stone Creek Building over the previous decade and brought us in to build the same kind of foundation for the newly-acquired company.
Our Solution
We took it in two phases: build a new custom website first, then layer ongoing search marketing on top once the foundation was in place.
Portfolio-Focused Website
We built a custom WordPress site designed around project galleries and detailed process documentation. Each completed ADU got its own showcase with professional photography, project specs, and timeline details. When you're selling six-figure projects, the website needs to look like the work it represents.
The site architecture walked potential clients through the entire ADU building process, from permitting to completion. We included sections on ADU types, floor plans, and FAQs that addressed the real questions homeowners have. The goal was to make someone feel informed and confident enough to pick up the phone, not to overwhelm them with marketing jargon.
Trust-Building Design
Every design decision was about building trust. Conversion-focused CTAs, professional photography, clear information about their licensing and insurance, and a transparent breakdown of how their process works. Potential clients could see exactly what they were getting before they even made contact.
We also prominently featured customer testimonials and reviews throughout the site. For high-ticket services like ADU construction, social proof isn't optional. Homeowners want to know that other people have gone through this process with Shelter Solutions and been happy with the result.
Hyper-Local SEO
Our local SEO strategy targeted the specific "ADU builder" and "accessory dwelling unit" searches happening in Shelter Solutions' service area. We optimized their Google Business Profile, built out location-specific content pages, and created a review generation process to build credibility.
We also ran a targeted PPC campaign to capture high-intent searches while the organic rankings were building. Given the high project values in ADU construction, even a small number of qualified leads per month from paid search made the ad spend worthwhile.
From a stagnant inherited site
to 21× monthly traffic value.
Pre-engagement, the site was generating $46/month in organic traffic value with effectively no investment behind it. By February 2025, after we'd built the new site and run 16 months of search marketing, that number was $967/month, and still climbing into our final month.
ADU construction isn't a high-volume search market, but a single qualified inquiry can be worth six figures in project revenue. Cumulative traffic-value figures undersell what these numbers mean for a builder in this category.
Engagement Length
16 moNov 2023 → Feb 2025
Monthly Value Growth
21×$46 → $967/mo
Peak Keywords
192Dec '24
Peak Monthly Visitors
296Feb '25 · final month
Pre-engagement vs. final month with us
Keywords ranking
87 → 182
Monthly visitors
85 → 296
Monthly traffic value
$46 → $967
Comparing October 2023 (the month before we took over the site) with February 2025 (our final month). Both data points are organic-search snapshots from Semrush.
Organic Keywords Ranking
Search queries Shelter Solutions appeared for · 16-month engagement
Estimated Monthly Search Traffic
Visitors arriving from organic Google searches
The owner had already worked with us on Stone Creek Building for nearly a decade. When they bought Shelter Solutions and needed a new digital foundation, the choice was easy, and the results came fast.
In just 16 months, we took the site from $46/month in organic traffic value to $967/month (a 21× lift) and ended the engagement at all-time-peak performance. In a market where every signed project is worth six figures, those numbers translate directly into revenue.