César Peinture, a painting and decoration company based in Brest since 2014, had no online presence and managed their material stocks and timesheets on paper and spreadsheets. Without a digital showcase, the company was missing business opportunities in a market where online search has become the first reflex for homeowners.
The right solution was not to sell a website on one side and internal software on the other. The opportunity was to build one foundation: a professional showcase website editable from the same application, highlighting the team's craftsmanship through a filterable portfolio of completed projects, and internal management tools digitizing product inventory, multi-site stock tracking, and employee timesheets with digital signatures.
Context before the project
Founded in 2014 in Brest, César Peinture built a strong local reputation through the quality of their services: building painting, decoration, flooring, wall coverings, exterior work, and plasterwork. The trained and certified team works with both residential and commercial clients.
Yet the company had no website. Prospects discovered César Peinture only through word of mouth, unable to browse a portfolio of completed work or request a quote online. This lack of digital visibility significantly limited business development.
Internally, daily management relied entirely on manual processes. Paint and material stocks were tracked from memory or on scraps of paper, making inventories tedious and shortages frequent. Employee timesheets, filled out on paper, had to be re-entered for payroll with all the associated error risks.
Project objectives
To support its growth without multiplying subscriptions and separate tools, César Peinture needed a solution capable of:
- Creating a professional online showcase highlighting completed projects with a visual portfolio filterable by category.
- Managing product inventory with a structured catalog, barcode scanning, and multi-site stock tracking.
- Digitizing timesheets with a system for entry, digital signature, and management validation.
- Centralizing data in a single tool accessible to all team members according to their role.
- Optimizing local SEO to capture prospects searching for a painter in Brest and surrounding areas.
The implemented solution
We developed a single Rails application combining a public showcase website and an internal management space. The choice was deliberate: a small team does not need to administer three pieces of software to publish projects, track stock, and validate timesheets.
Public showcase website
- Impactful homepage with full-screen hero visual showcasing the team's work
- Filterable portfolio by category (painting, flooring, wall covering, exterior, plasterwork) with a photo gallery of completed projects
- Presentation pages detailing services, company history, and contact information
- Contact form and quote request to convert visitors into prospects
- Optimized SEO with JSON-LD structured data, OpenGraph, and automatic sitemap
Stock management and inventory
- Complete product catalog with categories, suppliers, and barcode scanning
- Multi-site tracking of stock levels with traceable movements (entries, withdrawals, transfers, adjustments)
- CSV import for bulk product addition with automatic format detection
- Alerts and visibility on stock levels to anticipate restocking needs
Staff management
- Monthly timesheets with daily hour entry and meal allowances
- Validation workflow : draft, signed by employee, validated by administration
- Integrated digital signature to paperlessly complete the process
- PDF generation of timesheets for archiving and accounting
Results achieved
What the project delivers
Found online
an online presence to be found locally
Centralized management
stock, time, projects, and content managed in the same place
Paperless
timesheets thanks to digital signatures
Local SEO
optimized to capture Brest-area prospects
The launch of the showcase website laid the groundwork for a professional online presence and an acquisition channel. The portfolio, filterable by category, allows prospects to discover the quality of work before even making contact. The team can manage it from the same application as its internal tools, without depending on a second back office.
Internally, stock management went from approximate tracking to a structured and traceable inventory. Stock movements are logged, levels are visible in real-time, and transfers between sites are documented.
Timesheets, formerly on paper, now follow a complete digital workflow: entry by employee, digital signature, validation by administration, and PDF export for accounting. This process eliminates re-entry and associated errors.
Testimonial
I want to thank Nathan for the outstanding work delivered on my application. Beyond his technical skills, I especially appreciated his attentiveness, his patience, and his ability to turn my ideas into something concrete and practical! I wholeheartedly recommend him. Thanks again for the support!
Evolution and roadmap
The César Peinture platform continues to evolve to support the company's growth:
- Job site management : tracking of ongoing projects with scheduling and team assignment
- Online quotes : creating and sending professional quotes directly from the application
- Portfolio enrichment : adding detailed descriptions and client testimonials to completed projects
Conclusion
César Peinture shows that complete business software can also be very simple: one application to be visible, publish projects, track stock, and manage timesheets. For a small business, that is often more useful than assembling SaaS products that each cover 20% of the need while still requiring manual re-entry.
The role of custom software here is not to make things complicated. It is the opposite: bring the right pieces together, remove paper where it actually slows work down, and ship a tool the team understands because it already follows how they work.