Le Chalet Automobile.

Le Chalet Automobile already had a professionally designed WordPress website when the project began, but the underlying implementation had accumulated several technical and frontend issues. The existing website relied heavily on custom PHP development, and a number of bugs, code-related problems, and inconsistencies had started affecting the overall experience.

A redesign had already been considered, with initial work taking place in Figma. However, completing the entire redesign process there was becoming increasingly time-consuming while the existing website still required technical attention. Rather than continuing to patch the old implementation separately, the team decided to combine the redesign and technical improvements into a broader website rebuild.

I worked with the company’s team to review the existing website, discuss the new direction, define the development scope, and determine the most practical architecture for the redesigned website.

One of the most important requirements was to avoid building the entire website purely with a visual page builder. The website contained several content-heavy and technically important pages, and the team wanted greater control over their markup, dynamic content, performance, and long-term maintainability.

We therefore agreed on a hybrid WordPress architecture. Major and content-heavy pages would use custom development, while simpler pages could use Elementor where a fully custom PHP implementation would provide little practical benefit. This allowed the website to combine development flexibility with easier content management.

The website was divided according to the technical requirements of each page rather than forcing the entire project into a single development approach.

Custom-Developed Pages

Major pages and content-heavy sections were developed using a combination of:

PHP · HTML · CSS · JavaScript · WordPress Dynamic Data

This provided greater control over page structure, dynamic content, frontend behavior, and technical implementation.

Elementor-Based Pages

Simpler pages with relatively lightweight content were implemented using Elementor. Using Elementor selectively meant those pages remained easier to edit without introducing unnecessary custom development. The result was a practical hybrid setup:

Custom PHP where technical control mattered. Elementor where visual editing made more sense.

Existing Website Audit

Reviewed the existing WordPress implementation to identify frontend issues, code-related problems, inconsistent behavior, and areas that would need attention during the redesign.

Because the website already contained significant custom development, understanding the existing structure was important before beginning the rebuild.

Scope Planning

Worked with the company’s team to discuss the redesign direction and finalize the technical scope.

Instead of treating every page identically, we identified which sections would benefit from custom development and which could remain builder-managed.

This helped establish a more practical development workflow before implementation began.

WordPress Redesign

Implemented the new website direction while maintaining WordPress as the core content management system.

The redesign improved the presentation and structure of the existing website while also providing an opportunity to resolve technical issues inherited from the previous implementation.

Custom PHP Development

Developed major website sections using custom PHP where greater control was required.

The custom implementation allowed dynamic WordPress data to be rendered directly within purpose-built page structures instead of relying entirely on page-builder widgets.

This approach was particularly useful for pages containing heavier content or functionality.

Dynamic Content Implementation

Structured dynamic website data so that content could remain manageable through WordPress while being displayed through custom frontend templates.

This provided a balance between:

Backend Manageability · Custom Frontend Control · Reusable Development

HTML, CSS & JavaScript Development

Custom HTML and CSS were used to reproduce the required frontend layouts and maintain consistency across the redesigned website.

JavaScript was incorporated where interactive frontend behavior was required.

Together with PHP, these technologies provided more precise control over the final implementation than a builder-only approach.

Elementor Integration

Elementor remained part of the website, but it was used selectively rather than as the foundation for every page.

Pages that did not require extensive custom logic or heavy content structures could remain easier for the website team to manage through Elementor.

Bug Fixing & Technical Improvements

The redesign also provided an opportunity to address issues within the previous website.

Rather than simply placing a new visual layer over the existing problems, technical issues were reviewed and resolved as relevant sections were rebuilt.

This helped create a more stable foundation for the redesigned website.

Responsive Development

Custom and Elementor-based sections were optimized across desktop, tablet, and mobile.

Particular attention was given to maintaining consistent behavior between custom-coded templates and builder-managed pages so that visitors experienced one cohesive website rather than two different development systems.

Key Challenge

The main challenge was deciding how much of the website should remain custom-coded and how much should be managed through Elementor.

Rebuilding everything with Elementor would have reduced technical control over some of the website’s more important pages.

At the same time, developing every simple page entirely in PHP would have introduced unnecessary development and made basic content management more complicated.

The solution was a hybrid architecture based on the actual requirements of each part of the website.

This allowed us to use:

PHP for control
HTML/CSS for precise frontend implementation
JavaScript for interaction
WordPress for dynamic content management
Elementor for simpler editable pages

Team Collaboration

This project involved close collaboration with the company’s team.

The redesign direction, technical requirements, page priorities, and development scope were discussed collectively before and during implementation.

My role focused on translating those requirements into the WordPress environment, contributing to the technical implementation, resolving existing issues, and helping create a maintainable balance between custom code and page-builder functionality.

Le Chalet Automobile evolved from an existing WordPress website with a heavily customized codebase and recurring technical issues into a redesigned, more structured implementation. Instead of rebuilding everything through a single tool, the project used a hybrid WordPress architecture tailored to the requirements of individual pages.

Content-heavy and technically important areas gained the flexibility of custom PHP development, while simpler pages retained the editing convenience of Elementor. The result was a redesigned WordPress experience that balanced custom development, dynamic content, maintainability, responsive design, and practical content management.