When Van Dillen Antieke Bouwmaterialen [Antique Building Materials] began to experience rapid growth with their business model of collecting old building materials for resale, they needed a website to help interested customers see their available materials. CloudCannon Partner agency Fulldev, led by Sil Veltman, created a custom design to ensure that VDAB’s new website would match the stylish and authentic feeling of their antique materials.

VDAB's new website beautifully showcases the reclaimed and restored construction materials and helps customers reach the team more easily. Built with Astro and fully integrated with CloudCannon, the new site makes everything as easy as possible for anyone on the VDAB team to update their inventory online.

Custom design for custom materials Direct link to this section

The nature of VDAB’s refurnished materials means that every order is unique. And because customers commonly purchase these unique materials for their own homes, personal inspections are still the best way to decide which bricks, tiles, or fittings are most suitable. Rather than functioning as a ‘click and ship’ ecommerce site with online payments, then, VDAB’s new website needed to do two main things: showcase the look and feel of their products effectively, and direct customers to a contact form, enabling them to arrange to inspect the goods in person. To help direct visitors to the contact form, and maximize the results of the new website, Fulldev focused on delivering an effective custom design.

It was important that the website reflect VDAB’s authentic construction materials. Fulldev achieved this by showcasing high-resolution assets depicting VDAB's materials, combined with a restrained, natural color palette. The site design was built to be responsive to all devices, ensuring a quality experience for all users.

Van Dillen loved the new website’s style and premium look.

— Sil Veltman, Full Stack Developer, Fulldev​​​​

Easy website updates Direct link to this section

Whenever the VDAB team restocks their sales yard with new antique construction materials, they also need to make many changes to their website. With a small team, they needed an easy method to change the website content. Veltman knew that by choosing CloudCannon for a CMS, VDAB team members would be able to edit their site’s content with ease.

The CloudCannon interface explains itself; I did not have to explain anything. Clients just understand how to use CloudCannon, which saves me a lot of valuable time.

— Sil Veltman, Full Stack Developer, Fulldev​​​​

Git-based publishing workflow Direct link to this section

It’s also important for VDAB to be able to make changes to their website without publishing immediately. Fulldev tapped into the power of Git by providing a production branch (for the published website), and a staging branch (for the draft website) on CloudCannon.

Fulldev knew it would be important to offer this feature to ensure the website publishing workflow remains sustainable as the VDAB team grows and takes on more business: using a draft or staging website, multiple editors can collaborate on content changes with no risk of bottlenecks.

About Fulldev Direct link to this section

Fulldev is a web development agency and CloudCannon Partner based in Groningen, Netherlands. They build lightweight websites with sleek designs, using modern techniques. Fulldev designs custom websites to meet each customer’s goals, always making the most important content stand out.

About Van Dillen Antieke Bouwmaterialen Direct link to this section

Van Dillen Antieke Bouwmaterialen is a company with a vision to improve construction sustainability by breathing new life into old, atmospheric, and authentic construction materials. They offer a personalized service to their customers, helping them build and restore beautiful buildings.