1:1 transition
Migration fidelity
Architecture & Built Environment
How Bellevue's premier architecture firm moved from WordPress to Next.js
Lockhart Suver needed a true 1:1 migration from WordPress to Next.js. When WordPress could not batch export the code and media cleanly, Alpath built a custom crawler to recover the site asset by asset, then rebuilt the experience on a faster client-owned stack.
Overview
A precise migration for a firm whose digital presence already had equity
Lockhart Suver is Bellevue's premier architecture firm, so the goal was not to reinvent the site for the sake of change. The project preserved the existing experience, recovered the media WordPress would not export cleanly, and moved the firm to a faster Next.js foundation they could truly own.
- Preserve the client-facing site experience without visual drift
- Recover code and media from a restrictive WordPress environment
- Improve performance while handing ownership back to the client
74 -> 99
Lighthouse score
Custom crawler
Asset recovery
Challenge
The client wanted the site to feel exactly the same after launch, but the underlying WordPress setup made that difficult. There was no clean batch export for the code or media library, so a standard migration would have missed assets, broken content, or forced a visual rebuild the client did not ask for.
System applied
- 1:1 WordPress-to-Next.js migration that preserved the existing site experience
- Custom web-scraper bot built by Alpath's principal engineer and founder to crawl the full site
- Individual media extraction for every asset WordPress could not batch export cleanly
- Next.js rebuild with optimized assets, routing, and page structure
- Ownership handoff so Lockhart Suver retained control of its codebase and media library
Implementation plan
Phase 1: 1:1 migration map
Audited the WordPress site page by page, mapped the existing experience, and defined the Next.js structure needed to preserve the design and user flow exactly.
Phase 2: Custom scraper and media recovery
Alpath's principal engineer and founder built a custom web-scraper bot to crawl the full WordPress site and download every media asset individually. Take that, WordPress.
Phase 3: Next.js rebuild and performance lift
Rebuilt the site in Next.js, optimized the recovered media and page delivery, and raised the Google Lighthouse score from 74/100 to 99/100.
Outcome
Before
- WordPress kept the site tied to a platform Lockhart Suver did not fully control
- No reliable batch export path for code and media created migration risk
- Google Lighthouse score sat at 74/100 before the rebuild
After
- Exact 1:1 Next.js transition preserved the client's site experience
- Custom crawler recovered the media library one asset at a time
- Google Lighthouse score increased to 99/100, and Lockhart Suver now owns its code and media
Measured impact
- Moved Lockhart Suver off WordPress without compromising the familiar website experience
- Recovered site media through a custom scraper instead of accepting WordPress export limits
- Improved Lighthouse performance from 74/100 to 99/100 on the rebuilt Next.js site
- Delivered a client-owned codebase and media library for long-term control