Two websites. Total technical debt. Zero tolerance for downtime. We rebuilt it all — without missing a beat.
"A seamless cutover the business never had to think about. One website, one inbox, zero interruptions — for a federal contractor who couldn't afford any."
Web Design
Technical SEO
DNS Migration
Domain Architecture
Email Infrastructure
Project Overview
Background
This client is the go-to industrial coatings firm in New York’s Finger Lakes Region — a federal contractor with DOT, DoD, and municipal clients, and the only Heresite-certified applicator in the entire Northeast U.S. Their work is on some of the most recognized buildings in the country: Highmark Stadium, the Strong National Museum of Play, Sonnenberg Gardens, and an active project coating 7,000–8,000 individual exterior pieces at RIT.
Goals
- Combine two separate websites into one clean, trustworthy online presence
- Replace an outdated website with one that actually reflects the quality of their work
- Move all hosting, email, and technical setup to a new system — without losing a single message or going offline
The Problem
The business had grown, but the digital side hadn’t kept up. Two different website addresses were competing with each other online. The website looked nothing like the high-caliber work they were doing. And the entire technical setup — hosting, email, domain management — was spread across old systems that hadn’t been touched in years.
Industry
Industrial Coatings & Surface Preparation
Locations
Canandaigua, NY (Finger Lakes Region)
Notable Projects
Highmark Stadium, Strong National Museum of Play, RIT, Sonnenberg Gardens
Certifications
Federal contractor (DOT, DoD, municipal); only Heresite-certified applicator in the Northeast U.S.
Engagement Start
March 2026
Challenges
What we were up against.
01
Two websites splitting their online presence — confusing search engines and potential clients
02
Email running on an old, patched-together setup that couldn’t go down, even for a minute
03
Outdated website that didn’t reflect their federal-contractor reputation or landmark project portfolio
04
Technical infrastructure spread across multiple old systems, with gaps that could break things if missed
What We Did
The work, step by step.
01
Built a brand new website from scratch
Designed and built a modern site that puts their best work front and center — marquee projects like RIT, Highmark Stadium, and Sonnenberg Gardens on the homepage, with dedicated pages for every major service they offer.
02
Merged two websites into one without breaking anything
Moved everything to a single website address (sandmans.net) and set up automatic redirects so anyone landing on the old address gets sent to the right place. Every old link still works — 21 legacy pages mapped and preserved.
03
Moved all technical systems over safely
Transferred the domain, rebuilt the entire backend infrastructure, and migrated email — carefully preserving every setting that keeps their inbox running. Nothing was left to chance.
04
Solved a hosting problem in real time
When a third-party server stalled during the final switchover, we diagnosed the issue and rerouted traffic directly to the working server in under 30 minutes. The site came up immediately. No extended outage.
Results
A seamless cutover the business never had to think about.
Technical migrations for federal contractors require a zero-mistake execution. That’s what they got.
2→1
Websites merged into one clean, authoritative online presence
21
Old web pages preserved and redirected — no broken links, no lost traffic
0
Minutes of email downtime through the entire migration
<30min
Time to diagnose and fix a live hosting failure during the switchover
- One website now represents the business — no more split presence online
- New site reflects their federal-contractor reputation with a proper project showcase
- Email kept running without interruption through the full migration
- All old links still work — no traffic or search rankings lost in the move
- Technical infrastructure fully modernized and running on reliable, managed systems
Ready to evolve?
Your website should reflect the work you actually do.
If your digital presence hasn’t kept up with your business, we’ll rebuild it the right way — without disrupting what’s already working.