The Buzz Behind the Build: Honey Meadows Web App

1. 🐝 Project Overview

Honey Meadows Farm Inc., founded by Arielle Zwiers, offers custom-designed bee hives for both commercial and residential properties—along with ongoing maintenance services to keep the hives healthy and productive.

As her business expanded, so did the complexity of client communication. Manually sending hive updates via email was becoming inefficient and error-prone. That’s when BiTechX partnered with Arielle to build a custom web app that could scale alongside her growing client base.

2. 🧠 The Challenge

When a business grows, so must its systems.

What began as a few friendly update emails quickly turned into hours of administrative work and communication risks. Arielle needed a reliable and scalable way to send hive updates without manual effort or the risk of mistakes.

Key challenges included:

🕒 Time lost in repetitive manual emails
📥 Risk of sending updates to the wrong client
📁 No centralized system to track projects or updates
📈 Poor scalability as the client base expanded
🤯 Operational strain on the service team

3. 🛠️ Our Approach

We designed a system that scales as naturally as her hives.

Our goal was to reimagine how Arielle’s team communicates with customers—streamlining every step without losing the personal touch.

Key steps in our approach:

🧭 Conducted discovery sessions to map workflows and pain points
🖌️ Prototyped a flexible, scalable UX in Figma
🧱 Developed a custom web app with two dashboards (Admin & Client)
🔐 Built secure user roles with Firebase Auth
🚀 Deployed using Vercel, Google Cloud Platform (GCP) for speed and reliability.

4. 🔑 Key Features

Feature

Admin Dashboard

Client Dashboard

User Access

Invite and manage clients securely

Project Handling

Create location-based projects and associate multiple clients

View list of active and archived projects

Updates

Post updates with images and internal team notes

View full project histories

Notifications

Toggle email notifications on/off for each update

Opt in/out of email notifications from settings

Design & UX

Clean, intuitive admin UI for fast input and project switching

Mobile-responsive, simple interface for all client types

Security

Role-based access powered by Firebase Auth

Secure access to only relevant project data

5. 🎨 Design Highlights

Clean, nature-inspired interface reflecting the Honey Meadows brand
Card-based layout for easy scaling as more hives and updates are added
Accessible, calming UI optimized for users of all ages and tech levels
Designed with future growth in mind: from team expansion to new service types

6. 🧰 Technology Stack

Frontend

Next.js, Tailwind CSS

Backend

Node.js, Express.js

Authentication

Firebase Auth

Design

Figma, Adobe Illustrator

Database

FIrebase

Deployment

Vercel, Google Cloud Platform (GCP)

7. 📈 Outcome & Results

⏱️ 87% reduction in time spent on client updates
🔐 Zero incidents of update errors post-launch
💬 Improved customer satisfaction and professionalism
📊 Platform ready to scale with new features and user roles

8. 🚀 Wrapping Up: A Sweet Transformation

The best tech doesn’t feel like tech—it just feels right.

Thanks to this collaboration, the Honey Meadows team now spends their time focused on beekeeping and client relationships—not buried in emails. Her customers enjoy a modern, secure way to stay in touch with their hives, complete with photos and updates they can access anytime.

For us at BiTechX, this wasn’t just a build—it was a business transformation, created with clarity, craft, and care.

9. 🤝 Acknowledgment

Special thanks to Matthew Biggar, business coach and co-founder of biggartogether.com, who helped connect the dots between the business goals and technical architecture. His strategic insights helped ensure the solution was not just functional, but aligned with Honey Meadows' long-term vision.