Two dated sites for a volunteer-run community organization, rebuilt in ten days into 720 pages its own staff keep current.

Where it started

PCBO is a federal not-for-profit in Hamilton, run by volunteers, that supports Pakistani-Canadian businesses, professionals and newcomers. Its web presence was two separate sites: pcbo.ca for the organization, and pcbodirectory.ca, a directory of 521 businesses built up over the years from business cards that volunteers typed in by hand. On a phone, the old pcbo.ca took 19.5 seconds to show its main content.

The problem

A directory is only worth something if people can find it and it stays current. Every new business and every correction went through a few volunteers, and the organization’s news, events and photos sat on a second site with its own upkeep. Keeping both current was more work than a volunteer team had time for, so the community was growing faster than its websites.

What I built

Both sites from one codebase in ten days, sharing one database and one staff portal. pcbo.ca carries the organization: programs, events, news, photo albums, 46 team profiles, partners and sponsors, membership and a page for newcomers. pcbodirectory.ca gives each of the 530 businesses its own page with hours, a map point and buttons to call, message on WhatsApp or get directions, plus search by name, service, area or phone number, 51 category, 14 sector and 25 city pages, a map, community listings and a jobs board. Businesses and people are stored separately and linked, so one person can be tied to several businesses and every business to its people. Owners add their business for free and staff approve it from a review queue. Staff publish posts, edit the team, run the homepage slideshow, schedule featured placements and import spreadsheets themselves, and every old address on both domains points to its new page.

The results

Both domains have been live since October 2026, with 720 pages in their sitemaps (94 on pcbo.ca, 626 on pcbodirectory.ca), each with its own title, description, share image and structured data. On a phone the main content now shows in 4.9 seconds instead of 19.5, the mobile speed score went from 56 to 80, and accessibility and best practices both score 100. With visitors’ consent the directory counts page views, calls and direction requests for each business, and Search Console numbers for both domains sync to the live results on this site. Built in ten days, by one person.

Built with

• Next.js
• TypeScript
• Postgres
• Vercel Blob
• MapLibre
• Resend

The services involved