Technologies
- WordPress Property listings maintained by the agency without developer involvement.
- Divi (child theme) Layout foundation, extended through a child theme where the custom PHP lives.
- ACF Structured property fields (city, neighbourhood, operation type, specs) that the custom code queries against.
- Custom PHP property filter Hand-built filtering over the property post type instead of a filtering plugin.
- Custom PHP context-aware WhatsApp button Composes the outgoing message from the current property, so the conversation opens with the visitor's actual interest.
- Scroll sequence Pinned scroll-driven hero sequence on the landing view.
Project Overview
JC Consultores Inmobiliarios (jcconsultora.com.ar) is a Buenos Aires real estate consultancy run by a licensed broker and public auctioneer, handling temporary rentals, sales and purchase operations, and residential development projects. The site is a property catalogue that has to answer one question fast (is there something here for me?) and then get the visitor into a conversation.
This one I built solo, and it’s the entry that shows Divi and ACF used as a foundation for real custom development rather than page assembly. Two pieces are written in PHP, not configured through plugins.
Objectives
- Filter, don’t scroll - Let a visitor narrow the catalogue by location before browsing anything.
- Structured property data - Model properties as real records with queryable fields, not as free-text pages.
- Contact with context intact - Make the enquiry carry the property the visitor was looking at.
- Agency-maintainable - Let the agency publish and edit properties without touching code.
Project Workflow
- Data modelling with ACF - Defined the property record (city, neighbourhood, operation type, specifications, imagery) as structured ACF fields on a dedicated post type, so every listing is queryable data rather than prose in a page.
- Custom PHP filter system - Built the filtering layer by hand against those fields rather than installing a filtering plugin. The control sits directly in the hero: Ciudad and Barrio selects with a Filtrar action, so the first thing a visitor sees is the way into the catalogue. Neighbourhood entry points (Almagro, San Telmo, Caballito, Belgrano) run through the same query layer.
- Context-aware WhatsApp button - Wrote a PHP-driven contact button that composes its own outgoing message from the page context. On a property page it pre-fills the conversation with the visitor’s interest already stated, carrying the property URL and its title, instead of opening on a blank “Hi”. The message is generated per property, so it stays correct as the catalogue changes and never needs to be maintained by hand.
- Divi child theme - Kept all custom PHP in a child theme so Divi updates don’t overwrite the work.
- Property page templates - Built the development and listing templates around the ACF fields, with galleries, location context, and a downloadable brochure path.
- Landing sequence - Implemented a pinned scroll-driven hero sequence on the homepage, with the filter persistently available over it.
- Service structure - Laid out the three business lines (temporary rentals, real estate operations, and development projects) as distinct paths.
Results and Impact
- Filtering without plugin overhead - The catalogue is narrowed by a purpose-built query layer, avoiding a general-purpose filtering plugin and the weight it brings.
- Enquiries that arrive pre-qualified - Because the WhatsApp message is composed from page context, the agency receives the property reference with the first message rather than having to ask what the enquiry is about.
- A maintainable content model - Properties are structured records, so new listings inherit filtering, templating, and contact behaviour automatically on publish.
- Divi and ACF as a development foundation - The visual builder handles presentation while the custom PHP handles behaviour, which is where the actual engineering in this project lives.
