Rebuilding a 180MB broken ecommerce site into a 37MB fast custom PHP system

Client

Chehalem Green - a handcrafted sustainable wood products business

Project Overview

Chehalem Green originally ran on a heavily modified legacy PHP system that had grown unstable over time. The site was difficult to maintain, slow to edit, and prone to breaking from even basic changes.

I was brought in to audit the system and help stabilize it. After a technical review, it became clear that the existing architecture was beyond repair. So we rebuilt it from the ground up.

Problems with the original system

Before the rebuild, the site suffered from:

• Extremely large and bloated file size (180+ MB, 3000+ files)
• Redundant templates and conflicting PHP logic (1000+ violations from static analysis)
• Broken and fragile navigation
• Unused CSS and inconsistent styling
• Unreliable page rendering
• Difficult administrative workflow
• Risk of crashes from simple edits

Some images that demonstrate the old site:

The system had reached a point where improving or extending it would only make it more unstable.

Solution

I designed and built a completely new custom PHP architecture focused on:

• Simplicity
• Maintainability
• Performance
• Minimal dependencies
• Clean separation of logic and templates

So we cloned the system's core functionality and layout, instead of fixing the broken one, into a fresh and lightweight codebase.

What I Built

• Custom PHP core (no bulky CMS or plugins)
• Clean, minimal templating structure
• Dynamic product pages
• Admin panel for product management
• User authentication
• Contact system
• Payment system integration (Stripe / PayPal ready)
• Optimized database structure
• Front-end rebuild for speed and responsiveness

Results

The final system:

• Reduced the website size from 180MB -> 37MB
• Loaded pages significantly faster
• Eliminated redundant and unused code
• Made editing and maintenance substantially easier
• Produced a stable architecture ready for long-term growth

Client Testimonial

"Joseph scripted a completely new custom PHP website identical in form and function to the old site, but without the redundant files, templates, and broken logic.

Pages load faster, images display better, and the system is now easy to edit and maintain.

I have worked with dozens of developers over the years and Joseph is by far the most efficient and easiest to communicate with."

Tech Stack

• PHP (Custom Core)
• MySQL
• HTML / CSS / Tailwind
• JavaScript
• Stripe API
• FTP / Server deployment

My Role

• System auditing
• Architecture redesign
• Backend development
• Frontend rebuild
• Database design
• Payment integration
• Deployment support

Timeline

Several weeks of iterative development, testing and collaboration.

Summary

This project focused on removing complexity instead of adding features. We achieved better performance and long-term flexibility for a growing ecommerce business by rebuilding the system from scratch.