Rebuilding an outdated WordPress site from scratch.
Your WordPress installation is fine. The theme is the problem — outdated, slow, built on a framework that's been patched a hundred times. We keep WordPress, replace everything visual with hand-coded custom work, and migrate your content cleanly with no ranking disruption.
(Salterra Heritage)
No Purchased Themes
Dependencies
Before Launch
You can polish the outside of an old theme, but you can't fix the foundation from the surface.
A theme refresh solves how it looks. A rebuild solves how it works.
Many business owners come to us having paid an agency to "refresh" their site — new hero image, updated copy, different font. The problem is that the underlying theme hasn't changed. If it was built on a theme framework from 2014, it still is. If it was loading six font files and twelve plugin stylesheets, it still is. If it was failing Core Web Vitals, the refresh didn't fix that.
A WordPress rebuild is different. We keep your WordPress installation and your content, but we write a completely new custom theme from scratch. Every layout, every component, every line of CSS — written for your business and your content specifically. Nothing is inherited from a previous theme's constraints. The result looks different because it's built differently — not because we changed the colors and moved the logo.
Every WordPress rebuild ships with all of this.
No upsells, no add-ons. The base price covers the full scope below.
Full site audit before build
We catalog every page, post, custom field, and integration. What exists, what works, what should be restructured — documented before a line of new code is written.
New custom-coded theme
Hand-written PHP, HTML, CSS, JavaScript — from scratch. No theme framework, no parent theme, no shortcuts. Built specifically for your content and business.
Content migration (in-place)
Because we're staying on WordPress, content stays in the same database. We map custom fields and page templates to the new theme's structure so nothing is orphaned.
SEO carry-over and improvement
All existing meta titles, descriptions, and canonical tags reviewed and carried forward. Schema upgraded to current standards. Gaps in current SEO implementation identified and fixed.
Plugin audit and cleanup
Many old WordPress sites accumulate 20–30 plugins, many doing things the new custom theme handles natively. We remove plugin dependencies and reduce the active plugin count significantly.
Performance optimization
Lean front-end, optimized images, lazy loading, CDN-ready. Core Web Vitals improvement is a design goal, not an afterthought.
Security cleanup
Old themes and plugins are common attack vectors. The rebuild removes dormant code, updates active plugins, and hardens WordPress configuration against common exploits.
Staging build for approval
The full rebuild is done on a staging environment alongside the live site. You review and approve the new theme before any production changes.
Forms and integrations rebuilt
Every form and third-party integration rebuilt in the new theme — wired to the same destinations, tested, and working before launch.
30-day post-launch monitoring
We watch Search Console, GA4, and error logs for 30 days after launch. If a URL redirected incorrectly or a plugin conflict surfaces, we fix it.
Signs your WordPress site needs a rebuild, not a refresh.
A refresh is sometimes the right answer. A rebuild is the right answer when these four scenarios apply — and they often overlap.
Failing Core Web Vitals
If your WordPress site scores under 50 on mobile PageSpeed and you've tried optimization, the theme architecture is almost always the bottleneck.
→Theme or PHP Compatibility Warnings
Outdated themes often generate PHP deprecation notices and can't update to current WordPress versions without breaking. Rebuilding is cleaner than patching indefinitely.
→Original Agency Gone
If the agency that built the current theme is unreachable or out of business, no one can maintain it. A rebuild hands you something you own and can update.
→Visual Redesign Needed Anyway
If you want the site to look substantially different, doing the redesign in a fresh custom theme has no additional content-migration cost over doing it in the old one.
→The Tucson Web Design Co. Method.
Every WordPress rebuild follows the same four-phase lifecycle. You'll always know what phase you're in and what happens next.
See the full Method →Designed.
Strategy + visual design, walked through with you in real software.
Approved.
Nothing gets built until you sign off — every page, every word.
Built.
Custom-coded WordPress, weekly progress sent, no surprises.
Maintained.
We stick around — optimization, updates, growth partnership.
WordPress rebuilds, shipped.
La Roza Construction
Full WordPress theme rebuild replacing a sluggish framework-based install. Plugin count reduced, performance improved, and the client now controls their own content without agency dependency.
Prueter Engineering
WordPress rebuild for a specialized engineering firm. Old theme replaced entirely with a hand-coded custom build — authority-led design, clean schema, no framework debt.
The questions we get most.
What does "rebuild from scratch" actually mean for a WordPress site?
It means a new custom-coded theme is written from the ground up. Your content migrates over. Your WordPress installation, database, and domain stay the same. What changes is the theme — every visual element, layout, and front-end behavior. The old theme and all its dependencies are removed.
Can I keep my existing content during a WordPress rebuild?
Yes. Because we're staying on WordPress, content migration is cleaner than a platform change. Posts, pages, images, and custom fields carry over directly. We audit the content inventory first and note anything that needs restructuring for the new design.
Will my Google rankings be affected during the rebuild?
Not if managed correctly. We build on staging alongside the live site, preserve URL structure, carry over all SEO metadata, and validate everything before the DNS cutover. The live site stays up until the new one is approved and tested.
What happens to my plugins during a rebuild?
We audit every active plugin. Many things old WordPress sites do via plugins — forms, SEO, performance, schema — we handle natively in the new custom theme. The typical result is that 10–20 plugins get removed and you're left with 5–8 that do things the theme genuinely can't do on its own.
How is this different from just installing a new WordPress theme?
Installing a new purchased theme is a refresh — you're still constrained by that theme's design decisions, page templates, and code quality. A custom rebuild writes code for your specific site. No constraints inherited from a theme marketplace purchase.
My current WordPress site has a lot of blog posts. What happens to those?
Blog posts stay in the WordPress database. The new theme applies new templates to them. Post slugs, publication dates, categories, and tags all carry over. Featured images migrate. The posts will look different (better) because the new theme controls how they render — but the content itself is untouched.
How long does a WordPress rebuild take?
Six to twelve weeks depending on the number of unique page templates, custom functionality, and the volume of content that needs review. We scope it accurately in discovery so you have a written timeline before Phase 03 begins.
What's the cost range?
Most WordPress rebuilds fall between $5,000 and $12,000 depending on scope and page count. We share the full quote before any work starts. No scope creep, no surprise invoices.
Let's look at your current site.
Every WordPress rebuild starts with a 30-minute conversation. We'll audit your current install, benchmark performance, catalog what needs to migrate, and scope the rebuild before you commit to anything.
Send us your current WordPress site.
If you'd rather not talk yet, send us your URL. We'll run a technical audit — Core Web Vitals, plugin inventory, schema, and theme health — and send back a written assessment within 3 business days.
Get a free site audit