15%
Year-Over-Year Lift In Leads
34%
Increase in Organic CTRs
7
Legacy Systems Retired
Challenge
To achieve their vision, several technical and operational challenges needed to be addressed.
Outdated systems, disconnected back-end tools, and an inherited digital experience added unnecessary complexity.
This slowed development, increased the need for vendor coordination, and made it harder to launch new features and grow.
Over time, the focus expanded to include:
Modernize the digital ecosystem by migrating to Optimizely and replacing aging architecture with a scalable platform.
Unify disconnected systems and streamline backend integrations to improve reliability, reduce complexity, and support long-term growth.
Deliver intuitive, self-service experiences that empower homebuyers throughout the homebuying journey, from contract through closing.
Equip sales, marketing, and operational teams with connected tools that improve collaboration, visibility, and decision-making.
Establish a responsive design system and integrated delivery model that accelerated execution, reduced vendor coordination, and created a consistent experience across digital touchpoints.
Solutions
A 15% year-over-year lift in leads. That's what Drees Homes saw after replacing a patchwork of disconnected platforms with a single, scalable experience on DreesHomes.com, one site serving homebuyers, employees, and business partners alike. Built on Optimizely and launched in just 8.5 months, the new architecture handles complex integrations and custom modules without slowing the experience down.
The Drees Homebuyer Portal turns the buying journey into one connected experience, contract, closing, and customer care in a single digital hub. Messaging and live, calendar-visible scheduling mean buyers always know what’s next. Since its 2021 launch, it’s anchored how Drees delivers on a relationship that’s built for life.
Keeping listings and product data current across third-party platforms used to mean custom development for every change, slowing campaigns and tying up engineering. Now a flexible syndication engine distributes that data automatically to channels like Facebook and Livabl. Marketing moves faster, content stays consistent, and the dependency on engineering is largely gone.
Everyone building a Drees home now works from the same selections, sales counselors, trade partners, and design teams each seeing the options that matter to their role. Launched in 2023, the tool channels design selections into purpose-built views, so coordination happens before problems do.
Buyers can explore a Drees community the way they’d actually walk it, zooming from a single lot out to the whole neighborhood to see what’s available, what’s already built, and what amenities are nearby. Launched in 2022, the interactive map layers Drees’ lot and home-plan data over Google Maps, and shows up everywhere buyers do: on DreesHomes.com, in sales centers, and on the kiosks counselors use.
Results
Since the engagement began in 2018, EX Squared has served as Drees' long-term digital transformation partner, with Optimizely at the center of the digital ecosystem.
The architecture EX Squared designed for the Optimizely launch retired 7 legacy systems, replacing a fragmented landscape with one sustainable platform. The result: a more streamlined buyer journey, stronger security through SSO and Optimizely PaaS, and marketing and technology teams free to focus on innovation instead of maintaining disconnected systems. Over the engagement, EX Squared has delivered:
