A website that actually gets finished
Charlie needed a website finished, not just started — five pages for a metals supplier trading since 1998. What began as a promise to deliver on time became something more: a lesson in getting every alloy code, certification, and supplier credit exactly right.
Builtly's first client — and a simple ask
AES Metals was Builtly's first client. Charlie Carden, the company's Director, was recommended by a friend of his who lived locally — and locality mattered to him. He wanted someone he could actually sit down with, not a name off a directory.
His request was simple on paper: a website, designed and completed on time. Underneath that simplicity was a real frustration — a previous designer had left his last site sitting in draft, with long waits between every stage. The brief wasn't really "build me a website." It was "finish what the last person didn't."
Builtly's answer was to start again properly: a new build from scratch, with a clear commitment that it would actually ship. A brochure was discussed early on too, but at the first meeting Charlie decided a compliments slip covered what he needed instead.
Where this started
- ReferralA local friend of Charlie's
- PrioritySomeone local to work with
- Previous siteStuck in draft, slow stages
- The askFinished, on time
- Pages5 — no e-commerce
- BuildCustom HTML/CSS/JS
- HostingNetlify
- Revisions2 rounds included
Two revisions. Each one closer to the truth of the business.
The build itself was never the hard part. What took real iteration was getting the details right — the kind of details that only matter to someone who actually buys aluminium and brass for a living.
First pass
A working prototype, deployed to preview, with the structure and framework of all five pages in place — ready for Charlie to react to something real rather than a description.
Revision I — the site starts telling the truth
After the first review meeting, one thing was clear: generic supplier copy wasn't going to represent a business built on twenty-five years of specific mill relationships. Real photography was sourced directly from AES Metals' four Italian mill partners. A defence and aerospace certification was added to the Aluminium range — and flagged back to Charlie to confirm it only appeared where genuinely earned, not applied broadly for polish.
Revision II — precision under review
The second round wasn't about how the site looked. Charlie returned with the complete technical picture — full alloy specifications for every product line, correct lead-free labelling, and the exact EN standards that actually apply. Two entire product categories that had no alloy specification at all were built from scratch. Every mill partner's photography was brought into one consistent visual system.
Every one of these had to be correct
By the second revision, the job had quietly become a technical proofreading exercise as much as a design one — alloy grades, standards, and lead-free labelling, checked line by line against Charlie's own notes.
A site that reads like it was written by someone who knows the material
Five pages, real supplier photography throughout, and specification tables accurate enough that a technical buyer could use them to actually qualify AES Metals as a supplier — not just admire the design.
aesmetals.uk — homepage
We don't treat a brief as a design exercise
We treat it as an exercise in getting a business's real expertise onto the page — correctly, revision by revision, until the site matches what the business actually knows.
No drift between what's agreed and what's delivered — changes outside scope are named and handled separately, not absorbed silently.
Where accuracy genuinely mattered — like a defence-grade certification — we raised it back to the client rather than making the call ourselves.
Revisions weren't cosmetic passes. Each one moved the site closer to a technically accurate representation of the business.
AES Metals was Builtly's first client. Charlie set a standard early on that we still hold ourselves to now: he was clear about what he needed, generous with feedback — including the constructive kind — and that made the work better with every round. We're genuinely grateful he took a chance on a new studio, and we hope this shows for it.
Following abortive work with another supplier, Zara listened to our requirements and delivered a draft that looked 90% finished from the start — no oversell, just a clear understanding of what we wanted. Within three weeks and a couple of technical revisions, the new site was ready to launch, on time and on budget. Without hesitation I'd recommend Builtly to anyone looking for a website and marketing support.