--- title: "Drupal 9 Upgrade for Great Southern Homes: Better Search, a Site Teams Can Run" description: "Great Southern Homes: 40% faster page loads. A Drupal upgrade with rebuilt property search and a CMS the team runs itself." url: https://www.specbee.com/work/great-southern-homes type: "Case Study" published: 2026-06-30 updated: 2026-09-17 --- # Drupal 9 Upgrade for Great Southern Homes: Better Search, a Site Teams Can Run The property search rebuild was the most user-facing change. The previous search experience was frustrating enough that it was called out as a specific pain point in the original brief. Buyers need to find the right home quickly. Stakeholders need to keep community availability current without a developer ticket for every update. The redesign addressed both. ## A home builder's site has to serve two audiences. Great Southern Homes' digital presence is a direct contributor to their sales pipeline. When a prospective buyer compares home builders, the website is often the first and most sustained interaction with the brand. A slow, outdated site loses leads to competitors whose sites load faster. Great Southern Homes is one of the fastest-growing home builders in the US. Their Drupal 7 website was a crucial lead generator, but it was struggling to keep up. - Page-load time was slow, making it hard to convert visitors into customers and hard to track leads - Launching new marketing campaigns required weeks of custom work for every new campaign page - Navigation and site organization were rigid and confusing, working against the marketing message - The search function was frustrating for buyers trying to find a property, leading to a low conversion rate ## A lead-generating website that couldn't keep pace with rapid growth ![Great Southern Homes](https://www.specbee.com/sites/default/files/2026-09/great-southern-homes-fav.svg) Great Southern Homes A Drupal upgrade with rebuilt property search and a CMS the team runs itself. ## Great Southern Homes: 40% faster page loads ![Great Southern Homes teaser](https://www.specbee.com/sites/default/files/2026-09/great-southern-homes-teaser.png) [Visit Website](https://www.greatsouthernhomes.com/) ![Great Southern Homes](https://www.specbee.com/sites/default/files/migrated/Banner-Greatsouthernhome.png) ## 40% faster ### Page-load time Reduced by 40% after launch. ## +10% ### New users Increase in new users one month after launch. ## Rebuilt ### Property search Faster, more relevant results for buyers. ## Drupal 9 ### Modern platform Drupal 7 replaced with a current installation. ## Self-serve ### Stakeholders Teams update communities and content without developer requests. ## A real estate platform built for buyers and the teams serving them Performance improved, search rebuilt, stakeholders empowered. Rebuilt with SearchAPI, Elasticsearch, Geolocation Self-serve content management Full redesign delivered New users (1 month post-launch) Specbee began with a thorough website audit covering architecture, performance, UX, and search. The upgrade to Drupal 9 followed, with Redis in the stack to support performance, hosted on AWS with CircleCI for deployment. - Full website audit of architecture, performance, UX, and search before work began - Drupal 7 to Drupal 9 migration - Redis added to the stack to support performance - Page-load time reduced by 40% after launch ![gsh-drupal-7-to-drupal-9-upgrade.png](https://www.specbee.com/sites/default/files/migrated/gsh-drupal-7-to-drupal-9-upgrade.png) ### Drupal 7 to Drupal 9 upgrade with performance focus The property search experience was rebuilt using Drupal 9's SearchAPI, an Elasticsearch connector, and the Geolocation module, replacing a search function the client described as a major pain point. - Search rebuilt with SearchAPI and an Elasticsearch connector - Geolocation module added to support location-based property search - Search now returns fast results, improving the buyer experience ![gsh-property-search-rebuild.png](https://www.specbee.com/sites/default/files/migrated/gsh-property-search-rebuild.png) ### Property search rebuild The new design brought Great Southern Homes' focus on quality, affordability, and energy efficiency to the front of the site. Layout Builder, Media & Media Library, and Business Rules modules gave stakeholders the tools to update content themselves. - Complete website redesign reflecting brand values (quality, affordability, energy efficiency) - Layout Builder and Media & Media Library modules for stakeholder-driven content updates - Business Rules module supporting content workflows - Stakeholders able to update and maintain the site without developer requests ![gsh-brand-redesign.png](https://www.specbee.com/sites/default/files/migrated/gsh-brand-redesign.png) ### Stakeholder CMS empowerment and brand redesign The design process moved through four stages: research, pencil sketches, wireframes, and final visual design, developed alongside Great Southern Homes stakeholders. The team used an Agile (SCRUM) approach, working in iterative sprints. - Four-stage design process: research, sketches, wireframes, visual design - Agile/SCRUM delivery in iterative sprints - Stakeholder engagement throughout the design process ![gsh-agile-design-process.png](https://www.specbee.com/sites/default/files/migrated/gsh-agile-design-process.png) ### Research-driven, Agile design process The project was delivered on time and within budget. Beyond the page-speed improvement, the redesign produced a measurable jump in new visitors within the first month. - Delivered on time and within budget - 10% increase in new users one month after launch - Page-load time reduced by 40% - Faster search results improving the overall user experience ![gsh-delivered-on-time-results.png](https://www.specbee.com/sites/default/files/migrated/gsh-delivered-on-time-results.png) ### Delivered on time and on budget, with measurable results ### Faster platform, rebuilt property search, and a CMS that doesn't need a developer for every community update Full platform upgrade Property search experience Page-load time reduced after launch Stakeholders update content independently Director of Strategic Markets, Great Southern Homes "Specbee looked at our needs & delivered both what we wanted & what we needed." - [Dr. Reddy’s 72-Site Enterprise Multisite: Launches, Support & Upgrades](https://www.specbee.com/work/dr-reddys-laboratories) - [HCG’s Platform Consolidation: 2 Sites, 25+ Hospitals, 1 AI Search](https://www.specbee.com/work/hcg-hospitals) - [Flat HTML mockups, rebuilt into a reusable Drupal component system for INX International](https://www.specbee.com/work/inx-international)