Modernizing Drees’ Digital Ecosystem with Optimizely at the Core​

As Drees Homes continued to expand its digital footprint, its fragmented digital ecosystem struggled to keep pace with evolving buyer expectations. The organization needed to modernize aging platforms, reduce operational inefficiencies, and create a more connected experience across buyers, sales teams, trades, and business partners.

Drees partnered with EX Squared on a multi-year transformation initiative to consolidate disparate systems, modernize its digital architecture, and enable scalable self-service experiences. The result was a connected ecosystem spanning Drees' flagship website, buyer-facing platforms, and internal operational tools, improving efficiency, strengthening customer engagement, and providing a scalable foundation for future growth.

What We Did

Optimizely DXP Custom Applications

Industry

Home Building and Real Estate Development

Project

Multi-Track Digital Transformation

Objectives

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 Outdated systems, disconnected back-end tools, and an inherited digital experience added unnecessary complexity.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:

  • A modern DXP-powered website that drives engagement and lead generation
  • A robust, evolving homebuyer portal that improves satisfaction and self-service
  • Internal tools that streamline operations, reduce development lift, and support cross-functional workflows
  • A sustainable application ecosystem spanning Drees’ marketing, sales, and construction teams

20

%

increase in overall engagement in the first three weeks post-launch

15

%

year-over-year increase in leads

34

%

increase in organic click-through rates

Talk with us

Let us know how we can help shape your future.

Sahil Dhawan​​

General Manager, India

Leading our international development and data science teams Sahil leads a team of over 200 highly skilled senior technologists. creating an award Winning culture has resulted in a team that delivers a level of excellence unmatched by our global competitors.

JW

Head of Design

With digital product design leadership and experience forged at great brands like Capital One, Intuit and Match®, among others, JW brings the deep experience our clients demand in order to launch award winning digital products that delight and amaze users.

Steve Darnell​​

Chief Financial Officer​

Steve Darnell is a strategic financial executive with deep experience in driving fiscal performance, operational efficiency, and long-term value creation. As CFO at EX Squared, he leads financial planning and analysis, capital strategy, and risk management while partnering across teams to align financial goals with company growth. Steve brings a data-driven mindset and a strong foundation in corporate finance, helping steer the organization through key investment decisions and scalable business initiatives.

Johanna Fernandez​

General Manager, LATAM

With over 15 years of experience in human resources and business administration, Johanna brings unique insights into stakeholder & conflict management, driven by my commitment to human development. As a licensed Practitioner of NLP and certified in Management 3.0, she is dedicated to creating collaborative environments and driving business success through effective management, conflict resolution, negotiation, and process improvement. Additionally, Johanna is a fierce advocate for women's equity in the tech industry, striving to break barriers and foster diversity and inclusion.

Mike Peloquin​​

VP

It's not every day you get to work with amazingly talented people. I'm thrilled to say I do. They're not just the people who work here at EXSQ; they're the people we collaborate with at our clients. Together we form brilliant digital product ideas into innovative enterprise-scale digital products for some of the world's best brands. We set the highest standards, we work damn hard and we have a blast doing it.

Lisa Carolan​

VP, Delivery and Operations​

Lisa brings energy and innovation to analyze needs and define technology solutions to meet our customer goals. Her experience spans recognizable brands including HP, Sony, Lennar Homes, SLB, and Bank of America along with startup and growth phase organizations.

With two decades of experience spanning major brands like HP, Sony, Lennar Homes, and Bank of America, as well as startups, Lisa excels at driving results-focused strategies that align with client goals. Her expertise in designing and implementing technology has helped organizations innovate and scale, ensuring measurable engagement and outcomes that drive mutual success.

Krishna Murthy

Chief Executive Officer

With a proven track record in helping businesses navigate the digital disruption occurring around them, his background is solidly founded in digital transformation. Under his leadership, EXSQ has grown into a premier technology partner, serving clients large and small. Krishna’s management philosophy is based on the principle of servant leadership and putting our clients first in all we do here at EXSQ, and he has set the benchmarks for how we hire and retain the finest talent possible, fostering a culture of excellence at EXSQ.

Krishna’s expertise spans technology leadership, eCommerce and SaaS development, mergers and acquisitions, and global business operations. He has notable experience in strategic planning, investor relations, and board-level interactions. With experience across companies at varying stages of maturity, Krishna also leads initiatives in data science, AI, analytics, and talent development, ensuring EXSQ remains at the forefront of innovation and operational excellence.

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